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From iconic storyteller Tobias Buckell (Crystal Rain, The Tangled Lands), a powerful novel of humanity's passion for the written word, both for good or for ill. At the intersection of magic, betrayal, and long-forgotten truths, a naïve royal and a hunted outcast shake the very foundations of a world outgrowing its human--and not-so-human--overlords. Lilith has heard an oblique warning all of her life: "Thou shall not suffer a librarian to live." Prior to the appearance of a stranger at the citadel, the youngest musketress of Ninetha's life has been one of hard training. But Lilith's days have also contained the many royal pleasures of her family's guardianship of the Cornucopia, a mystical source of limitless bounty. When Ishmael, a librarian, shows up outside of the Afriq Gate, compassionate Lilith can't help but intervene. She saves him from immediate execution by her father's second-in-command, the zealous Kira. As Lilith's curiosity draws her to the Ishmael, she also lets slip her family's most dangerous secret to Kira, sparking a deadly rebellion. Ishmael is running from a danger far larger and less comprehensible than Kira's relentless pursuit. A broken god-machine stalks him across their world; a killer made to uphold an ancient covenant governing humanity's right to the written word. As they flee across the wasteland outside of the citadel, Lilith and Ishmael will discover the truth of their world's origins--at least until their pasts catch up to them.
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