Publisher's Synopsis
"A full-bodied cast and enjoyably dense plot elevate this fantasy tale." - Kirkus Reviews
Lyaphend Farwalth is a fugitive ex-government operative in Golem, an autocratic, technologically advanced colony isolated from the rest of the world. Having escaped into a life of relative simplicity alongside her affluent adoptive family under the employment of a cyberterrorist clan, she is left with questions regarding her upbringing and the inner workings of a nation she barely knows: What is the history of Golem's mysterious ruling family? What are her faint memories of a faceless woman lost in a meadow? What is the nature of her supernatural power and the madness dormant within her? Wave Haizer, the young daughter of Golem's dictator, is hosting a lavish party to commemorate Golem's 1000th year and her older brother's upcoming inaugural address; Lyaphend considers this the perfect opportunity to confront her anonymously and determine the source of a foreboding influence within the building. Wave, having expected her company, has a proposition for her to claim the freedom she has sought since her childhood, but only under the condition that she reclaims her past. Lyaphend's consciousness is whisked away into an olden era in which she was among the ghastly entities prowling the lands beyond Golem's borders-one whose pact with a human woman would forever brand Lyaphend as a threat to existence in its entirety. As she struggled to accomplish in her past life, she must come to terms with the contradiction of what she is and who she wants to be to earn her place in the world.
