Böcker av Celia Friedman

THE WORLD PREPARES FOR WAR - AND THE END OF DAYS DRAWS NEAR An ancient enemy has returned to the human kingdoms. These creatures prey on the souls of men - and if both magic and might fail to defeat them, the Second Age of Kings will fall into darkness. Magisters are marshalling their sorcerous powers to form a war alliance, but treachery is already eroding its ranks. Magister Colivar is withholding a deadly secret that links sorcerors to the Souleaters themselves. In this time of change, Kamala may finally win acceptance as the only female sorceror. If she can locate the Souleaters' stronghold, the Magisters might lift her death sentence. Yet to do that she will have to embrace an alien and terrifying birthright - and all the souls of men will be tested in the aftermath.

In a world where the price of magic is life itself, a group of seemingly immortal sorcerers appear to have cheated the system. And now Kamala has breached their secrets, she seeks to join their ranks as the first female Magister. But they would rather see her dead, forcing her to flee to the frozen north. There Kamala will find an evil far greater than a sorcerer's enmity, and will hear a dire prediction of a future war.In a past age, an ancient bloodline was cultivated to stand in the path of darkness. Now its warriors must unearth the truth at the heart of the legends, and stand firm against an enemy that brought mankind to the very edge of destruction. And Kamala must join their battle.

In the High Kingdom of Danton Aurelius, magisters from across the known world are gathering for an unusual meeting. The High King's son is dying of an apparently incurable wasting disease, and he has charged them with providing an explanation and a cure. There is a mystery here, but not the one the High King thinks: the magisters know the cause of the prince's illness but they dare not reveal it for fear that it will expose the secret at the heart of their order. No, the mystery is not what is responsible, but who. . .Now the magisters must embark upon a manhunt, racing against time, before the High King learns the truth. But they have not counted on the young prince's determination to control his own fate, nor on the existence of Kamala, a young woman schooled in their own arts, who will soon shake the world to its very roots.

Over a millennium ago, Erna, a seismically active yet beautiful world was settled by colonists from far-distant Earth. But the seemingly habitable planet was fraught with perils no one could have foretold, and the colonists found themselves caught in a desperate battle for survival against the fae, a terrifying natural force with the power to prey upon the human mind itself, drawing forth images from a person's worst nightmare or most treasured dreams and indiscriminately giving them life.Twelve centuries after fate first stranded the colonists on Erna, mankind has achieved an uneasy stalemate, and human sorcerers manipulate the fae for their own profit, little realising that demonic forces which feed upon such efforts are rapidly gaining in strength. Now, as the hordes of the dark fae multiply, four people - Priest, Adept, Apprentice and Sorcerer - are about to be drawn inexorably together for a mission which will force them to confront an evil beyond their imagining, in a conflict which will put not only their own lives but the very fate of humankind in jeopardy ...

Despite opposition by his Patriarch, warrior priest Damien Vryce again seeks the assistance of the immortal sorcerer Gerald Tarrant. While racing against time to prevent the enslavement of their world, the two men find themselves trapped between justice and retribution. Betrayal and loyalty assume ironic forms in this conclusion to Friedman's complex and compelling Cold Fire Trilogy. The richly detailed setting and strong supporting characters give substance to a tale that explores the consequences of embracing evil in the hope of achieving its redemption.