IT'S A BLOODY BUSINESS, OVERTHROWING A KING

Field Marshal Tamas's coup against his king brings bread to the starving, but it also provokes war in the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics and a greedy scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies.

Stretched to his limit, Tamas relies on his few remaining powder mages to keep the peace. But amid the chaos, a whispered rumour is spreading. A rumour of a broken promise, omens of death and the gods returning to walk the earth.

Surely nobody really believes those old legends.

Perhaps they should.

'Tense action, memorable characters, rising stakes . . . Brian McClellan is the real thing'
BRENT WEEKS