With its engaging thief-taker hero, this YA series from the acclaimed author of THE ADAMANTINE PALACE is perfect for fans of Trudi Canavan and Robin Hobb. Berren has left his past as an apprentice thief-taker behind him, in a mist of blood and screams and death. Press-ganged as a sailor, his old life is now just a distant memory. Until the day he spots someone who might well be his old master, Syannis, the man who killed Berren's first love. Syannis was thought dead, but he is a hard man to kill. As Berren chases down the man he believes to be an enemy, he finds himself caught up in a web of political machination and danger unlike anything he has encountered. For Syannis is a deposed prince, and he is willing to go to any lengths - including dealing with the black-hearted sorcerer Saffran Kuy - to regain his throne. As Berren struggles to understand his feelings towards Syannis and his mad quest, he slowly comes to realize that the world is going to war - and Berren is caught in the middle.

Can he navigate a path through the dangers which surround him? Will he find a way to extricate himself from the sorcery and intrigue that follow him at every step? And who is destined to be the King's Assassin?.