Part of Emberverse, book 9
First published 2012
Rudi Mackenzie has become Artos the First, High King of Montival, but his crown means little without unity. The war against the Church Universal and Triumphant continues to devastate the former United States, despite key victories won by Artos and his allies. Bodies pile up while the land bleeds. Artos and Queen Mathilda face a greater challenge than any battlefield: forging the fractured realms into a single kingdom that can achieve lasting peace. The leaders of this Changed world will only accept his rule if he completes an ancient ritual. Artos must journey to the Lake at the Heart of the Mountains for a crowning ceremony that will bind him to his people, his ancestors, and the land itself. Only then can he secure the allegiances he needs to march his forces into enemy territory and end this war once and for all.
Genres: adventure, action, epic-fantasy, alternate-history
Vibes: epic, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, found-family
Setting: Montival, United States, Lake at the Heart of the Mountains
Period: Changed World
336 pages · Hardcover · Roc
Content warnings: violence