There is a deep history in the Osserian Saga, from the opening of the prologue to the richness of his wizards. David Forbes has created a rich world that would do well under further exploration … Forbes tears down a number of the clichés of the genre and reveals hidden truths behind what seem to be typical elements of an Epic Fantasy story.

– SFFWorld.com

Gerin has temporarily driven back the Havalqa invasion, but they remain in Osseria, more determined than ever to find and take the Words of Making. Gerin’s hated enemy, the Voice of the Exalted, has opened the Path of Ashes as a means of bringing even more troops from their distant homeland.

With his family dispersed through the country and the nobles scheming against him, Gerin is more isolated than ever, as well as unsure in his new role as king. The nascent religion of the One God — whose divine messenger appeared to Gerin years earlier — is already splintering and threatening to ignite civil war in Khedesh.

In the midst of this, Gerin receives a mysterious message that may lead him to the secret of the Words of Making. But to reach them, he must undertake a long and difficult journey through enemy lands.

While Gerin embarks on his perilous journey, a bitter young man bent on revenge finds the long lost Commanding Stone, which wields the ability to control dragons that once ravaged the continent. But he soon finds himself a pawn in a deadly game, and his plan of revenge grows into a plot to murder the man he feels is responsible for the deaths of his brothers — Gerin Atreyano.