* NOMINATED FOR THE DAVID GEMMELL AWARD FOR FANTASY 2011 *
'Kearney's mastery of plot, prose, and exposition is enviable' - STRANGE HORIZONS
'You'll love and hate, cheer and cry, and be shocked by what happens' - FANTASY BOOK REVIEW
'Kearney has once again demonstrated that he is criminally under-read' - FANTASY LITERATURE
IT IS TWENTY-THREE YEARS SINCE A MACHT ARMY FOUGHT ITS WAY HOME FROM THE HEART OF THE ASURIAN EMPIRE.
The man who came to lead that army, Rictus, is now a hard-bitten mercenary captain, middle-aged and tired. He wants nothing more than to lay down his spear and become the farmer that his father was. But fate has different ideas.
A young warleader has risen to challenge the order of things in the very heartlands of the Macht. A soldier of genius, he takes city after city, and reigns over them as king. What is more, he had heard of the legendary leader of the Ten Thousand. His name is Corvus, and the rumours say that he is not even fully human.
He means to make himself absolute ruler of all the Macht. And he wants Rictus to help him.
Autorentext
Paul Kearney studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, and Middle English and was a keen member of the Mountaineering Society and the Officer Training Corps. He has published several titles including the Sea Beggars series to critical acclaim, being nominated for the British Fantasy Award. Kearney lived in Copenhagen, New Jersey, and Cambridgeshire, but at present he makes his home a stone's throw from the sea in County Down, with his wife, two dogs, a beat-up old boat, and far too many books.
Zusammenfassung
The second book in an epic fantasy series by a critically acclaimed and highly praised author.It is twenty-three years since a Macht army fought its way home from the heart of the Asurian Empire. The man who came to lead that army, Rictus, is now a hard-bitten mercenary captain, middle-aged and tired. He wants nothing more than to lay down his spear and become the farmer that his father was. But fate has different ideas. A young warleader has risen to challenge the order of things in the very heartlands of the Macht. A soldier of genius, he takes city after city, and reigns over them as king. What is more, he had heard of the legendary leader of the Ten Thousand. His name is Corvus, and the rumours say that he is not even fully human. He means to make himself absolute ruler of all the Macht. And he wants Rictus to help him.