The Skull Throne of Krasia stands empty. Built from the skulls of fallen generals and demon princes, it is a seat of honor and ancient, powerful magic, keeping the demon corelings at bay. From atop the throne, Ahmann Jardir was meant to conquer the known world, forging its isolated peoples into a unified army to rise up and end the demon war once and for all. But Arlen Bales, the Warded Man, stood against this course, challenging Jardir to a duel he could not in honor refuse. Rather than risk defeat, Arlen cast them both from a precipice, leaving the world without a savior, and opening a struggle for succession that threatens to tear the Free Cities of Thesa apart. In the south, Inevera, Jardir’s first wife, must find a way to keep their sons from killing each other and plunging their people into civil war as they strive for glory enough to make a claim on the throne. In the north, Leesha Paper and Rojer Inn struggle to forge an alliance between the duchies of Angiers and Miln against the Krasians before it is too late. Caught in the crossfire is the duchy of Lakton--rich and unprotected, ripe for conquest. All the while, the corelings have been growing stronger, and without Arlen and Jardir there may be none strong enough to stop them. Only Renna Bales may know more about the fate of the missing men, but she, too, has disappeared…

Udgivet af Harper Collins Publishers U.K. 

Peter V. Brett
The first non-school book without pictures Peat ever read was The Hobbit. Around the same time, his older brother left a copy of X-men #162 lying around. These two seemingly random events would shape the course of his life to come. After some years of failed attempts to become a comic book artist, Peat began writing in earnest in high school, finishing his first novel, AN UNLIKELY CHAMPION, in 1990. (Not so very) tragically, the manuscripts for that awful, awful, book are lost. He went on to the University at Buffalo, where he studied Dungeons & Dragons, fencing, and girls. Somehow, he also managed to earn a (totally useful!) Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a minor in Art History in 1995. Following college, Peat spent approximately 8 months managing a comic shop and pondering what to do with his life. He then went into medical publishing, squandering ten years of his physical prime sitting in a cubicle. He contented himself with writing books he never hoped to sell. In June of 2007, his hard work and perseverance paid off, as he sold his 4th novel, The Painted Man, along with two sequels, to Del Rey Books. Several international sales for the book followed, and in October of 2007, he left his day job to pursue writing full time. Peat lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Dani, their new daughter Cassandra, and their evil cat, Jinx.