In the fifth book in the Castle series, Steph Swainston returns to her uniquely imagined fantasy world. Fifteen years after the last devastating Insect attack, the immortal Circle is finally ready to launch an offensive against their implacable enemies. This time they have a new weapon - gunpowder. Hopes are high. But the Circle's plans are threatened when the vital barrels of gunpowder go missing. Jant, the Circle's winged messenger, is tasked to investigate. Soon it becomes clear that the theft is part of a deadly conspiracy . . . and Jant and his friends are among the targets. As tensions rise, Jant races to foil the conspirators. Can he expose them in time - or will the crisis blow the Fourlands apart?

This is the book Steph Swainston's fans have been waiting for. A prequel to the Castle novels. This is Jant Shira's life before the drugs took over, as a hunter in the mountains. Awian exiles are building a stronghold in the Darkling mountains, where the Rhydanne hunt. Their clash of interests soon leads to bloodshed and Shira Dellin, a Rhydanne huntress, appeals to the immortal Circle for justice. The Emperor sends Jant, half-Rhydanne, half-Awian, and all-confidence, to mediate. As Jant is drawn into the spiralling violence he is shaken into coming to terms with his own heritage and his feelings for the alien, intoxicating Dellin. ABOVE THE SNOWLINE tells the story of Jant's early years in the Circle and shows the Fourlands as you've never seen them before.

In the third of the Castle novels, Steph Swainston takes the reader ever deeper into a world of beauty and terror. . . The endless war for survival against the merciless Insects has reached yet another stalemate for the Circle, the immortals who serve the Emperor of the Fourlands. The building of a massive dam has driven the Insects back, but it's only a matter of time before they find another way to advance. Jant, the Emperor's winged Messenger, is called away from battle to find the daughter of fellow immortal, Lightning. Cyan has gone missing in the city of Hacilith, and Lightning wants him to bring her back. But Jant knows better than anyone just how much trouble a teenager can get into in Hacilith's underworld . . . So begins a hectic quest. A quest that will take Jant back to his past, back to the bizarre world of the Shift and, eventually, back to the Fourlands. Just as it faces a terrifying new threat.

In the fifth book in the Castle series, Steph Swainston returns to her uniquely imagined fantasy world. Fifteen years after the last devastating Insect attack, the immortal Circle is finally ready to launch an offensive against their implacable enemies. This time they have a new weapon - gunpowder. Hopes are high. But the Circle's plans are threatened when the vital barrels of gunpowder go missing. Jant, the Circle's winged messenger, is tasked to investigate. Soon it becomes clear that the theft is part of a deadly conspiracy . . . and Jant and his friends are among the targets. As tensions rise, Jant races to foil the conspirators. Can he expose them in time - or will the crisis blow the Fourlands apart?

The phenomenal follow-up to Steph Swainston's acclaimed The Year of Our War moves us effortlessly into new waters. It has been five years since the Insects devastated the Fourlands. Reconstruction proceeds under the watchful eyes of the Circle - the fifty immortals who serve the Emperor. Jant, the Emperor's winged Messenger, has other concerns. He suspects his wife is having an affair and a brilliant newcomer has joined the Circle, displacing Jant from his rightful position as centre of attention. Worse still, an inhabited island has been discovered three months' sail from the Fourlands and the Emperor has enlisted Jant for his diplomatic mission. Just perfect for a man terrified of the sea. Unfortunately for Jant, he is a pawn in an ancient political game. It'd be enough to drive anyone to drugs . . .

The most exciting, original and important new fantasy novel to be published since China Mieville's PERDIDO STREET STATION. A breathtakingly skilful debut. A superb work of literary fantasy. In a truly original imagined world of breathtaking, sometimes surreal beauty, fifty utterly alien but disarmingly human immortals lead mankind in a centuries-long war. Jant is the Messenger, one of the Circle, a cadre of fifty immortals who serve the Emperor. He is the only immortal - indeed the only man alive - who can fly. The Emperor must protect mankind from the hordes of giant Insects who have plagued the land for centuries, eating everything and everyone in their path. But he must also contend with the rivalries and petty squabblings of his chosen immortals. These will will soon spill over into civil war. Steph Swainston has written an astonishingly original literary fantasy. She writes beautifully. Her novel places her in a tradition of writing typified by Mervyn Peake, M. John Harrison and China Mieville. This is a breathtaking debut novel of the finest quality.