Book description
The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and
Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell
Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by
ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a
city that no longer seems like home.
The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who
refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something
more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the
former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are
coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again.
Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits
them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire before heading
off to Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even
to himself he subsequently ended up in law and has worked as a legal
executive in both Reading and Leeds, where he now lives. Married, he is
a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor, has trained in
stage-fighting, and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind,
possibly excepting his son.
This is the fifth novel in the Shadows of the Apt series following
Empire in Black and Gold, Dragonfly Falling, Blood of the Mantis and
Salute the Dark.
