Quickening

How could the City of the Magicians, avowed pacifists, embroil themselves in a warriors' battle to the south? For the nefarious 5th School it's the lure of becoming an imperial capital; for Purdu, the Barbarian leader, it's proof of his divinity; for others, it's an exciting adventure.

Back in the City, Shoan, Council Strategist, urges Lalya to make a public repudiation of the 5th School. She would love to, but Sas warns it is premature.

Hyur, suffering from a curse sickness, tells anyone who will listen that his venomous sword is "returning to the place of its making"but he's mad, so no one believes him.

Gleswea, recovering from a knife attack, is being coached into a position of safety, but her chance comment wrecks the plans and puts her on a show trial for heresy. Gamblers set the stakes high that she'll be found guilty and sentenced to death by rending.

Sas, disillusioned with his part in Shoan's manipulations, puzzles at a shadowy phenomenon drawing the City towards an unseen destiny. Are the underpinnings of existencethe sentience of Reality itselfbeginning to show?

Unexpectedly, the battle in the south unleashes a secondfor the City's very soul!

Quickening concludes the City of the Magician's first trilogy, where complacency and compromise have brought Citizens to the cliff edge of change. They ask themselves, Do I slow, stop, step away . . . or jump?

Dettagli