Nicholas has taken on the identity of a underworld figure and gathered a somewhat disreputable team around him, but, with the final goal in sight, they uncover disturbing evidence that someone in the gas-lit city is practicing necromancy.I took a long time to feel properly emotionally invested, partly because these characters are more inclined to toss off lighthearted comments or tell each other not to “be so damned sentimental” than wallow in emotion. Set a hundred years after The Element of Fire, this is a complicated and compelling mystery, with characters who try to conceal just how deeply they care.Nicholas Valiarde wants revenge on the man responsible for orchestrating the wrongful arrest and execution of Nicholas’s foster-father on charges of necromancy. Even the help of Ile-Rien's greatest sorcerer may not be enough, for Nicholas faces a woefully mismatched battle-and unthinkable horrors await the loser. Nicholas and his compatriots must destroy an ancient and awesome evil. And when a spiritualist unwittingly leads Nicholas to a decrepit mansion, the monstrous nature of his peril finally emerges in harrowing detail. Children vanish, corpses assume the visage of real people, mortal spells are cast, and traces of necromantic power that hasn't been used for centuries are found. Someone with tremendous magical powers is opposing him. Montesq orchestrated the wrongful execution of Nicholas's beloved godfather on false charges of necromancy-the art of divination through communion with spirits of the dead-a practice long outlawed in the kingdom of Ile-Rien.īut now Nicholas's murderous mission is being interrupted by a series of eerie, unexplainable, even fatal events.
On the gaslight streets of the city, Nicholas assumes the guise of a master criminal, stealing jewels from wealthy nobles to finance his quest for vengeance: the murder of Count Montesq. He is also the greatest thief in all of Ile-Rien.
Consumed by thoughts of vengeance, he is consoled only by thoughts of the beautiful, dangerous Madeline.
Nicholas Valiarde is a passionate, embittered nobleman with an enigmatic past.
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