The Book and the Sword

There will be blood. There will be death. This is the path of anger....

Year 10 of the new republic, in the remote port city of Masalia: Dun-Cadal, once the greatest general of the empire, has been drinking his life away for years. Betrayed by his friends and grief stricken at the loss of his apprentice, he's done with politics, with adventure, and with people. But people aren't finished with him - not yet.

Viola is a young historian looking for the last emperor's sword, said to have been taken by Dun-Cadal during the empire's final, chaotic hours. Her search not only leads her to the former general but embroils them both in a series of assassinations. Dun-Cadal's turncoat friends are being murdered one by one in the unmistakable style of an imperial assassin.... But, as Dun-Cadal comes to realize, none of these developments - not even the surprise of meeting his supposedly deceased apprentice - has been the result of chance.

An intrigue transcending the fates of the individual characters has been put into motion, and its secrets are revealed one by one as the story unfolds.

In this debut novel, Antoine Rouaud displays an astonishing virtuosity, sustaining a high level of suspense seldom seen in a work of fantasy. Depicting mortal characters thrown into the maelstrom of history and who ultimately become figures of legend, The Path of Anger proves to be one of the most hotly anticipated fantasy debuts of this year.