With the Gun Golems and their god defeated, the Empire proceeds on its quest for The Place with Many Doors. On Sarsa, Jav Holson enlists the aid of Raus Kapler, and together they set out to subdue what little resistance the rest of the planet has to offer. That proves to be more than anticipated when Jav finds himself abandoned by the Kaiser Bones and neither he nor Raus are able to raise their armies of the dead. On Zahl, another outsider, this time a cousin of sorts to the Emperor, joins the ranks of the Shades to help bolster their numbers along with Blue Squad, called out of retirement until new Grans-the Empire's giant mobile weapons-can be completed. The Place with Many Doors still lies far ahead, but the Three Worlds await and will prove to be the Empire's greatest challenge when Garlin Braams exercises the Blood Solution, a plan more than 600 years in the making to meet and turn back the Viscain invasion. In their still-weakened state, can the Empire survive an encounter with the concerted might of three planets long-prepared for their coming and armed with the Entitlement of God?