Darkness has fallen on the lands of the sun as an army of misshapen fey spill out from beyond the Shadowline. At their head is Yasammez, dark creature of nightmare. A furtive bargain was struck at the gates of Southmarch and the castle was spared, but centuries of enmity will not be so easily appeased. Meanwhile Barrick, heir to Southmarch and cursed with madness, has crossed the Shadowline into the realm of his people’s ancient enemy. There are stranger things than death here - stranger and older.

Much further south, shadow is also falling over the reign of the Autarch, god-king and supreme ruler. Quinnitan, junior wife, must flee the royal household or die, her greatest secret as yet hidden even from herself. Ancient blood flows through her veins and she will become a unique weapon in the fight against her greatest terror.

And beyond the ken of all but a chosen few, the gods are awakening and the world is changing …

泰德•威廉姆斯（Tad Williams）

世界著名科奇幻作家，1957年3月生于美国加利福尼亚州。

他的作品在全球范围内畅销百万册。主要代表作品为史诗奇幻、史诗科幻、都会奇幻小说，以及漫画和剧本等。泰德·威廉姆斯的作品影响了一代作家的创作。比如著名奇幻小说作家乔治•R.R.马丁就对泰德赞不绝口，表示正是读了他的书，才悟出奇幻文学的创作可以有如此多的可能性，他的代表作《冰与火之歌》在故事构架和叙述手法上延承其甚多。

泰德·威廉姆斯的代表作主要有：雾影四部曲之《雾影边境》（Shadowmarch）、《雾影游戏》（Shadowplay）、《雾影升腾》（Shadowrise）、《雾影之心》（Shadowheart），《回忆、悲伤与荆棘》（Memory, Sorrow and Thorn），《异国》（Otherland）等。其中雾影四部曲荣获德国幻想文学奖，入围鹅毛笔大奖、英国幻想文学奖，并被《轨迹》杂志评为年度最佳奇幻小说。