Flesh and Spirit

Winner of the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. Finalist for the 2008 Colorado Book Award.

Cover painting by Luis Royo.

In a land torn apart by civil war, pestilence, and shaky alliances, a man branded a traitor may be the world's only hope...

The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society – and his family – ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his doom in water and blood and ice. And her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen, half dead, in a rainy wilderness, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure and possessing only a stolen book of maps.

Offered sanctuary in a nearby monastery, Valen discovers that his book – rumored to lead men into the realm of angels – gains him entry into a world of secret societies, doomsayers, monks, princes, and madmen, all seeking to unlock the mystery of the coming dark age. Now, to preserve the lands of Navronne, Valen must face what he fled so long ago. For the key to Navronne's doom is buried in half-forgotten myth – and in the secrets of his own past...

Praise for the novels of Carol Berg:

"Powerfully entertaining." – Locus

"Gut-wrenching, serious fantasy fiction." – Science Fiction Romance

"Fascinating [and] most commendable." – Booklist