The villain is dead, long live the villain! The Complex holds its own against the traitor's forces on the border. Reality is starting to catch up with them, however. There was a second bottle, and what those bottles contained implicated more than just the one person known to come in contact with the liquid within. All mages' abilities are mutating, and they have no idea where their powers end, what logical restraints there are on the reach of their imaginations. Most of them don't know the mastermind is dead, but that doesn't stop his ghost from haunting them. Sparud scrambles to find a means to make peace. Mairid has new allies and a new vision. In Feinzad, the future everyone's been waiting for for twenty years is just around the corner. Only Alia knows about the new threat rising in the east, and she had no idea what it is. The people who are creating an evil god don't understand that they're at fault, and they may not figure that out before they unleash it on the world. Everything is changing, and the more powerful mages grow, the more they lose control.

Born to a couple of bon vivants with a Renaissance approach to intellectual curiosity, M.C. learned to taste wine, build a campfire, and think in terms of geologic time before quitting the nest. Early fascinations with anthropology and fantasy translated into a degree in English lit, but that's the last rational decision the author made aside getting married. In pursuit of a J.D., M.C. moved to the city of Chicago from (no joke) every other region in the country. Returned triumphant from the bar exam, the obvious next step was to put these tools to use writing adventures in imagined worlds. Biggest childhood influences, Pratchett and Pern, which come through in humor, vibes of science fantasy, and an unapologetic love for cities. There will be slang, cursing, magic, moments of great warmth. And cities. If that wasn't coming through: lots of cities.