In a depressed mill town, out-of-work history teacher Jonathan Strange has reached a low point in a life liberally pockmarked with low points.On a planet many light-years distant, isolated bands of natives offer human sacrifices to their gods.Deep in the galactic core ancient beings make a decision that will profoundly affect the future of humanity.In the velvet darkness between the stars a nova-born lump of cosmic slag is on a collision course with a populated space station.These are threads of a tapestry that bind Jonathan Strange to his destiny.In the far past a patient and resourceful thinking machine, its purpose known only to its ancient makers, created a prophecy. Now that prophecy is about to be fulfilled in the person of Jonathan Strange. It will lead him from beggar to king; from the bleak winter of his despair to the golden summer of his eventual triumph—and slightly beyond