The only magic left comes from consuming the dead.
Long ago, Ritakhou was a flourishing empire filled with light, life, and magic. Then came the Schism. Now the kingdom is called Rimbaku and is a pale shadow of its former self, a land stripped of its glory and its power. The only magic left comes from aitachi, the Relicant Touch—the ability to absorb skills and memories by consuming the bones of the dead. Throughout the land, status and success are based on one’s aitachi and theaishone or relic bones one can attain, and the so-called Relicant Empire has grown stale and stagnant as a result.
The young emperor, Hibikitsu, recognizes this but feels powerless to change centuries of habit and reliance. His finest warrior, Misataki Shizumi, also feels stifled—despite her prowess she is a commoner and can never rise above the rank of sergeant in the elite Honjofu, even though her commanding officer is a nobleborn fool. Seikoku, a koshitsu or graverobber, wrestles with the horror of what she does and the need to survive, while Chimehara, a beggar turned killer, has no compunctions against using every weapon at her disposal to attain her goals. And all the while Rimbaku’s enemies are circling, testing the nation’s borders. They know the empire is weak, and are determined to push it over the edge and then strip its bones as it has done to its dead for so long.
Meanwhile, the brothers Kagiri and Noniki set out from their small village with a handful of aishone and a great deal of hope. They soon find the world a bigger, darker place than they imagined, and are forced to accept a dangerous proposal, one that will put both of them at risk for not only their lives but their very souls—but that may change the Relicant Empire forever.
Author Biography:
Steven Savile has written for Doctor Who, Torchwood, Primeval,Stargate, Warhammer, Slaine, Fireborn, Pathfinder, Arkham Horror, Rogue Angel, and other popular game and comic worlds. He won the International Media Association of Tie-In Writers award for his novel, SHADOW OF THE JAGUAR, and the inaugural Lifeboat to the Stars Award from for TAU CETI (co-authored with International Bestselling novelist Kevin J. Anderson). Writing as Matt Langley his young adult novel BLACK FLAG was a finalist for the People's Book Prize 2015. He wrote the story for the multi-million copy bestselling computer game Battlefield 3 and has worked with Paradox Interactive on several of their forthcoming computer games. His latest books include SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE MURDER AT SORROWS CROWN, published by Titan in September 2016, PARALLEL LINES a brand new crime novel coming from the same publisher in March 2017, and GLASS TOWN, a mythic fantasy novel published in hardcover by St Martin's Press in April 2017. Aaron Rosenberg doesn’t limit himself to one media or genre. He’s written novels (including Collective Hindsight for Star Trek: SCE, the Daemon Gates trilogy for Warhammer, the Scribe-nominated Beyond the Dark Portal for WarCraft (with Christie Golden), Hunt and Run for Stargate: Atlantis, and the upcoming Substitution Method for Eureka), children’s books (including work for PowerPuff Girls and Transformers Animated), roleplaying games (including original games like Asylum and Spookshow, the Origins Award-winning Gamemastering Secrets, and sections of The Supernatural Roleplaying Game, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, and The Deryni Roleplaying Game), young adult novels (including the Scribe-winning Bandslam: The Novel and books for iCarly and Ben10), short stories, webcomics, essays, and educational books, and ranges from mystery to speculative fiction to drama. You can visit him online at gryphonrose.com or follow him on Twitter at gryphonrose.
