At the end of her bestselling Coldfire Trilogy, C. S. Friedman
challenged readers to imagine what a world would be like if sorcery
required the ultimate sacrifice... that of life itself. Now, in a
groundbreaking new fantasy series, The Magister Trilogy, she
introduces us to a terrifying world in which the cost of magic is just
that - in which the fuel for sorcery is the very fire of the human
spirit, and those who hunger for magical power must pay for it with
their lives. In this epic tale of nightmare shadows and desperate hope, the greatest threat of all may not be that of ancient enemies returned, or ancient wars resumed, but of the darkness that lies within the
hearts of men.
Against all odds, the young peasant woman Kamala
has proven strong and determined enough to claim the most powerful
sorcery for her own - the sorcery of the Magisters. Only the Magisters
can draw on the power of a human soul without dying for it - by draining
the soulfire of others - and they guard this fearsome secret above all
else. But Kamala's rise to power is not without cost. Now this shadowy brotherhood hunts her for killing one of its own, and her only hope of
survival may lie in fleeing to the northern Protectorates, where spells
are warped by a magical barrier called the Wrath that even the Magisters fear. Intended to protect humanity from the demons called souleaters,
the Wrath now appears to be weakening, and the shadow of the ancient
enemy is once more spreading across the land.
In the High
Kingdom, where the monk Slavator Aurelius has just claimed his father's
throne, the unity of a great empire is about to be tested... along
with its ruler's faith...
In the north, the Guardians of the
Wrath will discover the terrifying truth of the Wrath's origin... and the ultimate sarifice that knowledge demands...
And in the
sun-kissed southern climes of Sankara, the woman called the Witch-Queen
is about to receive an offer she dare not refuse: true immortality, and revenge upon the Magisters who used and abandoned her. But acceptance
will require that she become something other than human, and agree to
serve those who pave the way for the souleaters' return... for this
time the enemy has allies...
Against a backdrop of
knife-edged politics and dark prophecies, those who are sworn to protect the human lands must uncover the reality that lies at the heart of
ancient legends, as they struggle to defeat an enemy that once brought
mankind to the very brink of destruction.
