making a location the main character is a considerable challenge and it's testament to Tchaikovsky's skill that he can make it work.' - SFX 'Paints a vivid detailed backdrop and populates it with colorful personalities and elaborate religious, political and economic systems. 'A gritty adventure fantasy of uncommon breadth, fashioning a universe brimming with magic and treachery… an accomplished, imaginative fantasy novel.' -Foreword starred review 'Clever and engaging fantasy.' - Booklist starred review ' Highly recommended for lovers of big sprawling sagas who don’t want to wait years for a climactic conclusion.' - Library Journal ' Rich, inventive worldbuilding and nuanced intrigues will have fantasy readers on the edges of their seats.' - Publishers Weekly 'A refreshingly new take on post-dystopia civilizations, with the smartest evolutionary worldbuilding you'll ever read' Peter F. 'Entertaining, smart, surprising and unexpectedly human' Patrick Ness 'Brilliant science fiction and far out worldbuilding' James McAvoy Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration?ĭespite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood – that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. Clarke winner Adrian Tchaikovsky's triumphant return to fantasy with a darkly inventive portrait of a city under occupation and on the verge of revolution.

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