Nish's only choices are a humiliating surrender to his father or a suicidal fight to the death. Yet Nish and Maelys have to fight, and somehow they have to win, for the beautiful world of Santhenar is in peril and no one else can save it. Stilkeen, an all-powerful shape-shifting being from the Void, has come to recover the stolen chthonic fire that once bound its physical and spirit aspects together. And it wants revenge for the mortal insult that was done to it. But it may be too late for Santhenar. Chthonic fire has been released from its casket and is now eating away the Antarctic lands, as it once devoured the world of Aachan. Even if, by some miracle, Nish and Maelys can defeat the God-Emperor, there may be no way to stop chthonic fire, or Stilkeen, before the whole world is consumed. "A compelling adventure in a landscape full of wonders." - "A page-turner of the highest order ... Formidable!" - on "It is the most engrossing book I've read in years." - Van Ikin, "Readers of Eddings, Goodkind and Jordan will lap this one up." - "Utterly absorbing." Stephen Davenport, "For sheer excitement, there's just no one like Irvine." "As good as anything I have read in the fantasy genre." - 'This precise and beautifully crafted novel blooms from its ascetic opening to a resonant and rewarding climax. Makes what's currently available on fantasy shelves seem hackneyed and formulaic. Utterly absorbing." - Stephen Davenport, "Hang on with both hands, because this story waits for no one." Sandy Auden, . "The final payoff is fantastic. The most unflaggingly inventive storyteller we've seen in years." 'Unbelievably, Irvine has managed to increase the pace of his story in this third and final volume - for sheer excitement, there's just no one like Irvine around at the moment.'