Deborah A. Wolf

Nominated for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award In the heart of the singing desert, the people are fading from the world. Mothers bear few live children, the warriors and wardens are hard-pressed to protect those who remain, and the vash'ai—the great cats who have called the people kithren for as long as there have been stories—bond with fewer humans each...

In The Forbidden City, Jian begins a brutal and bloody climb up the ranks of the Daechen as the Emperor's long plans near fruition. Sulema is likewise initiated into the ways of Atualon and the power of Atulfah, and finds that her father's bright city is built on a foundation of dark and terrible secrets. Hafsa Azeina begins a trek...