First published 2015
Prince Jalan Kendeth has a system. Avoid danger, pursue pleasure, and let his grandmother the Red Queen worry about the fate of empires. Tenth in line to the throne of the Broken Empire, Jalan spends his days gambling, chasing women, and perfecting the art of running away. He is, by his own cheerful admission, a liar, a cheat, and a coward. The system works beautifully until he crosses paths with Snorri ver Snagason, a massive Norse axeman with a dead family, a burning purpose, and no patience for excuses. A strange binding ties the two men together, and suddenly Jalan finds himself heading north into freezing, monster-haunted lands he wants absolutely nothing to do with. Snorri needs to reach the icy north. Jalan needs to survive long enough to get back home. Neither man gets what he wants easily. At its core this is a story about what happens when a man who refuses all responsibility gets chained to a man who takes on too much of it.
Genres: fiction, adventure, fantasy, dark-fantasy, epic-fantasy
Vibes: character-driven, dark, fast-paced, gritty, humorous
Tropes: forced-proximity, found-family, odd-couple, reluctant-hero
Setting: Broken Empire, Norse lands, icy north
502 pages · Paperback · HarperVoyager
Content warnings: death, violence