The People's Covenant and God's Hammer have raged a Cold War that has lasted for over twenty years. A war without armies, where battles are fought in the dark and information is the most dangerous weapon.In this world —which sometimes seems the Middle Ages, sometimes the Renaissance and sometimes the Nineteenth Century— lives Yáxtor Brandan, empirical adept at the service of the Queen of Alboné. A relentless, amoral and unscrupulous character, Yáxtor fights to recover his own past as he tries to prevent a new player in the espionage game to end the world, as he knows it.A fascinating fast-moving and complex plot, with excellent pacing, a highly disturbing main character, memorable secondary actors, a unique atmosphere at once strange and familiar, strong underlying background, tension, surprises, a shocking resolution crying out for a sequel —in short, a totally addictive, and highly original, read.—Steve Redwood, author of "Fisher of Devils"