King of the Dead

The optician Nazhuret saves his homeland from war in the award-winning Lens of the World series that “promises to become a landmark of the decade” (Kirkus Reviews).
 
Book two of the award-winning Lens of the World trilogy, this volume finds the half-breed orphan Nazhuret as a modest and fastidious lens grinder. Although he could have chosen an exalted and wealthy life as a noble member of the court, he wishes to live in humble and undisturbed poverty with his lady Arlin.
 
But the ordinary life that Nazhuret wants is abruptly shattered when a vicious attack by paid assassins forces him to run. With possible enemies on all sides, the only place to go is the neighboring kingdom of Rezhmia, where Nazhuret has an ancient blood-tie. However, he finds that Rezhmia is no safe haven, for dark clouds are gathering there, intent on destruction of the homeland of Nazhuret’s heart. Evil tidings, treacherous family members, and powerful sorcery threaten to overtake him, but Nazhuret must survive for the sake of those he loves.
 
“The understated and unusual fantasy series begun in Lens of the World continues to delight in this second volume. . . . MacAvoy’s series has some of the flavor and subtlety of Gene Wolfe’s modern classic The Book of the New Sun, but her own unique elements—a fascination with shifting genders and the mysteries of death—make this series distinctive in the often monochromatic fantasy field.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“Nazhuret and his sword-wielding mistress Arlin are provocative, complex people—like the world in which they live.” —Library Journal
 
“Remarkable.” —Publishers Weekly
 
 

R. A. MacAvoy is a highly acclaimed author of imaginative and original science fiction and fantasy novels. Her debut novel, Tea with the Black Dragon, won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She has also written the Damiano trilogy, the chronicles of a wizard’s young son, set during an alternate history version of the Italian Renaissance; The Book of Kells; and Twisting the Rope, the highly acclaimed sequel to Tea with the Black Dragon. She is also the author of the beloved and much-praised Lens of the World trilogy.