Description

This is the first volume in a brand new trilogy from the incredible fantasy Author Robin Hobb. The two hundred year war between the kingdoms of Vania and Landsing finally ends and the Landsingers find themselves in possession of Vania's coal and coastal territories.

Thirty years later and King Troven has assumed the throne of Vania with determination to restore Vania's former glory by colonising the steppes and plains to the east. It takes the next twenty years to clear the territory of the native nomadic tribes.

Things are not as they seem however, the settlers encounter the strange race "Specks" who pass on a virulent plague that they themselves seem unaffected by.

Robin has again written from the first person, and again this style really does work. This novel is little slow to really get going and for the characters to really develop however it is really worth persevering.