Search results for ""author mazarkis williams""

The Cerani Empire reaches a tipping point in the thrilling conclusion to the Tower and Knife trilogy.The world is at its breaking point. The nothing, a terrible darkness caused by the festering wounds of a god, bleeds out the very essence of all, of stone, silk—and souls. Emperor Sarmin thought he had stopped it, but it is spreading toward his city, Cerana—and he is powerless to halt the destruction.Even as Cerana fills with refugees, the Yrkmen armies arrive with conquest in mind, but they offer to spare Sarmin’s people if they will convert to the Mogyrk faith.Time is running out for Sarmin and his wife, Mesema. The Mage’s Tower is cracked; the last mage, sent to find a mysterious pattern-worker in the desert, has vanished; and Sarmin believes his kidnapped brother, Daveed, still has a part to play. The walls are crumbling around them . . .As the Tower and Knife trilogy thunders to the finish line, author Mazarkis Williams expands his masterful world-building a final time, putting the pieces in place for an explosive conclusion.Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

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Only a forgotten prince and a girl from the grasslands can stop the Patttern Master in this 'compelling and wholly convincing fantasy' (Ben Aaronovitch, author of The Rivers of London). Written under a pseudonym by a Sunday Times bestselling author and a critically acclaimed writer, this 'riveting and intense novel' (Publishers Weekly) is perfect for fans of Mark Lawrence and Brandon Sanderson. There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani empire: a plague that first marks its victims, then covers their skin in geometric patterns until they die in agony - or are subsumed, their bodies now in thrall to the Pattern Master. Emperor Beyon's law is that any hint of the pattern means death, before they become another puppet for the sorcerer to use for his evil ends - to see the Cerani Empire reduced to dust and whispers.No one but his mother knows the emperor himself is infected, and so she looks to her only other living son, Prince Sarmin, locked in a tower since Beyon ascended the throne. A bride is chosen, a girl from the grasslands quite unused to the politics and intrigue of the imperial court - but she is strong-willed and determined, and she once saw a path in a pattern in the waving grasses: a path that might just save them all.

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There's a murderer loose in the Imperial Court: it could mean war in this 'twisty and enjoyable tale' (SFX) and 'wholly convincing fantasy world' says Ben Aaronovitch, bestselling author of Foxglove Summer.After years locked in a tower, Sarmin has come into his own: he has been crowned emperor, he has wed Mesema of the grasslands, and the Pattern Master is dead. Everything should be happy-ever-after.But war is threatening, Sarmin has no royal assassin and both Mesema and his mother have given birth to sons, throwing the succession into question. The last thing anyone needs is for the Yrkman peace envoy to be murdered in his bed.There are numerous possible killers, and it's up to Grada, Sarmin's trusted investigator, to follow the clues - no matter how close to the throne they lead her.Conspiracies, secret agendas and betrayals abound in this riveting sequel to The Emperor's Knife.

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There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony, or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Anyone showing the tell-tale marks is put to death; that is Emperor Beyon's law...but now the pattern is running over the Emperor's own arms. His body servants have been executed, he ignores his wives, but he is doomed, for soon the pattern will reach his face. While Beyon's agents scour the land for a cure, Sarmin, the Emperor's only surviving brother, awaits his bride, Mesema, a windreader from the northern plains. Unused to the Imperial Court's stifling protocols and deadly intrigues, Mesema has no one to turn to but an aging imperial assassin, the Emperor's Knife.As long-planned conspiracies boil over into open violence, the invincible Pattern Master appears from the deep desert. Only three people stand in his way: a lost prince, a world-weary killer, and a young girl from the steppes who once saw a path in a pattern — a path that might save them all.Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

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