Watcher of the Dead

"Relentless and powerful. This is damned good stuff." - Glen Cook on the Sword of Shadows series

The epic saga of the Sword of Shadows has come to this: Clan Blackhail, perhaps the foremost of the northern powers, is in disarray. A usurper wages war in the clan's name while Raina Blackhail, widow of its murdered chief, plots to take back the clan. Her exiled clansman Raif Sevrance, who possesses the legendary sword Loss, may be the prophesied warrior who can reunite the clans. But having just recovered from a near-fatal blow by an Unmade, one of the undead souls who relentlessly attack the living with swords whose mere touch bring instant death, Raif is captured by those who fear his legendary name: Watcher of the Dead.

Raina and Raif both face trials - she, the challenge of traitors within her clan; he, an entire armed camp of enemies sworn to kill him. Tested in the crucible of their struggles, each, in a unique way, is true to the oaths they've taken, even as they perform acts neither one could have imagined. If they fail, Blackhail and the entire northland will fall - first in battle among themselves, and then to inexorable evil of the Unmade.

In a sharply observed narrative that illuminates these riven lives, Jones has crafted a human drama full of the excitement, suspense, and sheer storytelling power that have made the Sword of Shadows a fantasy series that transcends genre to become a memorable tale of human striving and triumph that speaks to readers as have few others.