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When the last member of the oldest noble family in Avryn is targeted for assassination, Riyria is hired to foil the plot. Three years have passed since the war-weary mercenary Hadrian and the cynical ex-assassin Royce joined forces to start life as rogues-for-hire. Things have gone well enough until they're asked to help prevent a murder. Now they must venture into an ancient corner of the world to save a mysterious woman who knows more about Royce than is safe and cares less about herself than is sane.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Legends of the First Empire and The Rise and Fall comes the nineth installment of fast-paced fantasy adventure about his most popular rogues-for-hire known as Riyria. Although part of a series, it's designed to thrill both new readers and Riyria veterans wishing to reunite with old friends.
List of contents
About the Book
Author’s Note
The Cycle Project
Reading Buddies
Map of Elan
The New Sign
The Artist
Maranon
Beyond the Sea
Castle Dulgath
The House and the Bedchamber
A Game of Ten Fingers
Eye of the Hurricane
Theft of Swords
Ghost in the Courtyard
Brecken Moor
Lady Dulgath
Fawkes and Hounds
The Note
The Painting
The Road South
Shervin Gerami
Broken Bones
Pageantry
Assassin
The Storm
Long Story Short
Monastery by Night
A Need to Kill
The Fifth Thing
Afterword
Sullivan’s Spoils
About the Author
About the Font
About the author
Michael J. Sullivan is a
New York Times (3 titles),
USA Today (3 titles), and
Washington Post hardcover (2 titles) bestselling author, and no one is more surprised by those facts than he. When just a boy, Michael found a typewriter in the basement of a friend's house, inserted a blank piece of paper, and typed, "It was a dark and stormy night." He was just ten years old and mimicking the only writer he knew at the time: Snoopy. That spark ignited a flame, and Michael's desire to fill blank pages became a life-long obsession. As an adult, Michael spent more than ten years developing his craft by studying authors such as Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. During that time, he wrote thirteen novels but garnered no interest from the publishing industry. Since insanity is repeating the same action while expecting a different result, he made the rational choice and quit, vowing never to write creatively again.
Never turned out to be too long for Michael, and after a decade, he returned to the keyboard in his forties, but with one condition: He wouldn't seek publication. Instead, he wrote a series of books that had been building in his head during his hiatus. His first reading love was fantasy, and he hoped to foster a similar reaction in his then thirteen-year-old daughter who struggled due to dyslexia. After reading the third book of this series, his wife insisted that the novels had to "get out there." When Michael refused to jump back onto the query-go-round, Robin took over the publication tasks, and she has run the business side of his writing ever since.
Currently, Michael is a hybrid author with nineteen novels released through big-five publishers, a small press, or indie-produced.
- The Riyria Revelations: 6 books sold as 3 two-book omnibus editions from Orbit (fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group) — Theft of Swords • Rise of Empire • Heir of Novron
- The Riyria Chronicles: 2 books released from Orbit, 2 indie-produce, 1 in production — The Crown Tower • The Rose and the Thorn • The Death of Dulgath • The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter • Drumindor (release date TBD)
- Legends of the First Empire: 3 books released from Del Rey (fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House) and 3 indie-published) — Age of Myth • Age of Swords • Age of War •Age of Legend •Age of Death • Age of Empyre
- The Rise and Fall Trilogy: all indie-published — Nolyn • Farilane • Esrahaddon (coming 2023)
- Standalone science fiction thriller: released by Tachyon Publications — Hollow World
Michael's stories center around unlikely heroes who rise to the occasion when history comes knocking. Unlike much of modern fantasy, which focuses on dark themes and anti-heroes, Michael's stories are optimistic and infused with humor, fast-paced plotting, and epic adventure.
