Part of The Red Queen's War
First published 2015
Prince Jalan Kendeth wants one thing: to get back to the warm palaces and easy pleasures of the South. Instead he is stuck in the frozen North, waiting for winter to loosen its grip, sharing quarters with Snorri ver Snagason. The viking warrior carries Loki's Key, an object that can open any lock in the world, and he intends to use it on the gates of Hell itself to pull his wife and children back from the dead. Jalan would rather not be anywhere near that plan. He is a coward by vocation and a prince by accident, and neither qualification prepares him for what the winter holds. While the two companions wait out the ice, the Dead King moves to take the Key for himself. With it, the dead could rise everywhere and rule the living for good. And somewhere behind all of it, the Red Queen is still arranging her pieces, steering kings and pawns toward an endgame only she can see. Jalan just wants to survive long enough to spend his winnings.
Genres: adventure, fantasy, dark-fantasy, epic-fantasy
Vibes: dark, epic, fast-paced, gritty, suspenseful
Tropes: forced-proximity, found-family, quest, reluctant-hero
Setting: The North, The South, Hell
480 pages · Kindle Edition · Ace
Content warnings: death, gore, violence