The Chosen (Stone Dance Of The Chameleon)

Hidden within a volcanic crater, the earthly paradise of Osrakum is the very heart of the Three Lands - a vast empire ruled over by the imperious and cruel Masters. Carnelian is a Master but, living in exile with his father on a remote island, he has grown up free from their pomp and ritual, humanised by the love of his household.

Years later, through bitter winter gales, a great black ship arrives to shatter his world. It brings three mask-clad Masters come to beg Carnelian's father to return to oversee the election of a new God Emperor. Seemingly powerless to refuse, Carnelian journeys with him, across the seas and the Guarded Land, to fabled Osrakum.

In the city's echoing halls and forbidden gardens, bitter, bloody lessons of power and intrigue have to be learned, love sought and treachery endured, and in fulfilling his destiny, Carnelian sets in motion the concluding events in a story 4,000 years old...

The first book in a remarkable new trilogy, The Chosen heralds the arrival of a dazzling and original new voice.

Ricardo Pinto's first novel opens a fantasy sequence titled "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon," exploring a complex and hierarchical empire with a vaguely Asian flavor. Young hero Carnelian journeys from his aristocratic father's remote, wintry house of exile to the heart of power--moving stage by stage from carefree family life to an imperial court dominated by unchangeable rituals that make the regimentation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast seem like an anarchic free-for-all. This obsessiveness is reflected in ornate masks and formal clothing, growing more bizarrely exotic as travelers approach the center of the Guarded Land, and culminating in massive "robes" of precious woven metals built up on scaffolding, plus shoes that are virtually stilts. Masks are socially necessary because any commoner who sees the face of a Master (the immensely tall ruling class) must be blinded--as Carnelian learns to his horror after briefly forgetting to cover up. Far worse mutilations are commonplace. But even amid the poisoned splendors, suffocating protocols, and treachery of court life, there are tiny opportunities to break loose: our hero discovers illicit knowledge and a forbidden lover. Then, after the new God Emperor's election, there's disaster leading to a sudden cliffhanger ending. Full of rich imagery, haunting horror, and the slow-motion quality of dreams, this is a series to watch. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk