KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE, AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER

A Dragon and ten Barrani wouldn’t be anyone’s ideal roommates if a person wants peace and tranquility at home. The residue of three Draco-Barrani wars can make things pretty awkward–on a good day. Kaylin Neya has run out of good days.

In the upheaval surrounding the Academia, the Tower in the fief of Candallar is now without its lord. The Towers were created to protect Elantra against Shadow. Dragon Bellusdeo wants to captain the Tower and continue a war she’ll never be able to abandon. But Sedarias, leader of the Barrani cohort, wants the Tower for the cohort. And Barrani and Dragons don’t negotiate, even when they’re living under the same roof.

If there were ever a time for Shadow to strike, it’s now, when alliances are fractured and the Tower is vulnerable for the first time in centuries. More than ever, Kaylin needs her friends to work together if they’re going to be able to stop the threat to Elantra.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?

Private Kaylin Neya thought her home couldn’t possibly get more crowded. But when one of her housemates, Annarion, decides to undertake the Barrani Test of Name, his friends refuse to let him face his task alone–and Kaylin’s sentient home, Helen, is the only structure capable of shielding the rest of Elantra from the magnitude of their power.

Annarion and Mandoran almost caused the destruction of the High Halls once already. Add nine of their closest friends, and the danger is astronomically higher–especially since these guests are at the heart of a political firestorm. Imprisoned almost a millennium ago, their recent freedom threatens the rulership of several prominent Barrani families, and the machinations of those Lords make it almost impossible to tell friend from foe.

As political tensions ramp up, the shadows beneath the High Halls are seeking a freedom that has never been possible before. Kaylin must find a way to keep those shadows from escaping, or that freedom will destroy her city, the empire and everything she holds dear.

Dead men tell no tales

When Corporal Kaylin Neya is assigned front desk duty–a task hated by every Hawk–the only thing she can look forward to besides an endless stream of complaints is visits from a dotty old woman. She always brings baked goods along with information passed on by her friends…who happen to be ghosts no one else can see. But then the old woman’s invisible friends have news about Severn Handred: his unusual weapon has caught their attention. Concerned, Kaylin accompanies the woman home because she has a few questions to ask these so-called ghosts.

Sadly, Kaylin can also see them. And she can see other spirits in the woman’s house as well–four children who’ve been trapped there for decades. When Kaylin looks into the deaths in the records at the Halls of Law, something doesn’t add up. Factor in a building that isn’t supposed to exist, and nothing makes sense. But Kaylin is a Hawk, and she’s determined to free the trapped ghosts of the children, even if she’s suddenly landed in the middle of the bad kind of Barrani history. Someone doesn’t want the past to be uncovered, and they’re perfectly willing to destroy Kaylin if it preserves the secrets of the dead…

“A satisfying combination of contemporary-feeling secondary world, city-based fantasy, and go-big-or-go-home epic.” —Tor.com on the Chronicles of Elantra series

Kaylin returned from the West March in one piece. Now that piece is fraying. She’s not at home in the Imperial Palace-and she never intends to be. All she wants is normal garden-variety criminals and a place of her own. Of course, normal in her new life involves a dragon as a roommate, but she can handle that.
Kaylin can’t as easily handle the new residents to the city she polices, because one of them is Nightshade’s younger brother. On a night when she should be talking to landlords in perfectly normal buildings, she’s called to the fief-by Teela. A small family disagreement has become a large, complicated problem: Castle Nightshade’s latent magic is waking.
And it’s not the only thing.

New York Times bestselling author Michelle Sagara returns to the city of Elantra with a thrilling tale rife with ancient magic, assassination attempts and political intrigue.

Private Kaylin Neya already has Dragons and Barrani as roommates. Adding one injured, flightless Aerian to her household should be trivial. Sure, the Aerian is Sergeant Moran dar Carafel, but Kaylin’s own sergeant is a Leontine, the definition of growly and fanged. She can handle one Aerian.

But when a walk to the Halls of Law becomes a street-shattering magical assassination attempt on the sergeant, Kaylin discovers that it’s not the guest who’s going to be the problem: it’s all of the people who suddenly want Moran dar Carafel dead. And though Moran refuses to tell her why she’s being targeted, Kaylin is determined to discover her secret and protect her at all costseven if keeping Moran safe means dealing with Aerian politics, angry dragons and something far more sinister.

In the aftermath of a vicious battle between darkness and light, the city of Elantra has emerged victorious. But Shadows continue to haunt every corner of its streets
Elantra stands strong, but countless numbers of Hawks, the city’s staunchest protectors, were lost in the brutal attack. Humans, Barrani, Aerians, Leontinesnone of the races emerged unscathed from the defense of the city. Homes were lost, families were scatteredand the outcast Barrani Lord Nightshade is missing from his castle in the fiefs.
Yet as the chaos surrounding the battle begins to wane, Private Kaylin Neya’s duties must resume, despite her grief. Called in to investigate a triple murder in a quiet part of town, Kaylin and her companions are soon embroiled in a case that is anything but routine. Evidence of the deadly Shadows that still threaten the city leads to hints of ancient, forgotten magicsand everything can be traced directly to Ravellon, the heart of the Shadows and the darkness they contain.
But it is there that Lord Nightshade will be foundif he still survives.

POLITICS ARE HELL
Kaylin wasn’t sent to the West March to start a war. Her mission to bring back nine Barrani might do just that, though. She traveled with a Dragon, and her presence is perceived as an act of aggression in the extremely hostile world of Barrani-Dragon politics. Internal Barrani politics are no less deadly, and Kaylin has managed–barely–to help the rescued Barrani evade both death and captivity at the hands of the Consort.
Before the unplanned “visit” to the West March, Kaylin invited the Consort to dinner. For obvious reasons, Kaylin wants to cancel dinner–forever. But the Consort is going to show up at the front door at the agreed-upon time. The fact that she tried to imprison Kaylin’s guests doesn’t matter at all…to her.
A private Barrani Hell, built of Shadow and malice, exists beneath the High Halls. It is the High Court’s duty to jail the creature at its heart–even if it means that Barrani victims are locked in the cage with it. The Consort is willing to do almost anything to free the trapped and end their eternal torment. And she needs the help of Kaylin’s houseguests–and Kaylin herself. Failure won’t be death–it will be Hell. And that’s where Kaylin is going.

SOMETHING IS WAKING

The fiefs that exist at the heart of the city of Elantra are home to sentient Towers that guard the world against the incursion of Shadow. But between the fiefs exists the gray world of the border zone. In it, geography changes between one passage across a border and the next. The rules of magic are different there–and yet somehow familiar to Kaylin Neya.

When a Shadow escapes, Kaylin must find out how…and why. If Shadows can breach the barrier erected by the Towers, the whole of Elantra will be devoured. It’s happened on other worlds. Bellusdeo, Kaylin’s Dragon companion, absolutely believes it can happen on theirs.

The border zone holds secrets and ancient histories, and people are gathering there in search of its power. Without even understanding what that power is, or why it exists, Kaylin is in a desperate race against time to find those secrets first. She doesn’t know who her enemies are. She doesn’t know how many she’ll face. But she won’t face them alone.

Beyond the Emperor’s law
In the city of Elantra, the law is upheld by a few groups, and the most feared are the Wolves–the Emperor’s executioners. The newest member of this elite force is Severn Handred.

Granted a leave of absence to pursue information about his unknown past, Severn joins a mission to an enclave well outside the boundaries of the Empire. And he will be in danger the entire time. Still, the instincts that led him to the Wolves and the sense of duty that keeps him there can’t be discarded as easily as the tabard he wears.

While he’s in the heart of the West March, enmeshed in a tangled web of mysteries that have been held for centuries, Severn’s belief in justice is going to be tested. It’s one mortal man and his single ally against a community of immortals who will kill to keep their secrets. But they don’t know who they’re up against.

“This world feels so complex and so complete.” —ReadingReality.net on The Emperor’s Wolves

The Wolves of Elantra

Book 1: The Emperor’s Wolves
Book 2: Sword and Shadow

“Enjoyable, entertaining, engaging fantasy.” —Tor.com

AT THE EMPEROR’S COMMAND

Multiple races carefully navigate the City of Elantra under the Dragon Emperor’s wing. His Imperial Wolves are executioners, the smallest group to serve in the Halls of Law. The populace calls them assassins.

Every wolf candidate must consent to a full examination by the Tha’alani, one of the most feared and distrusted races in Elantra for their ability to read minds. Most candidates don’t finish their job interviews.

Severn Handred, the newest potential recruit, is determined to face and pass this final test–even if by doing so he’s exposing secrets he has never shared.

When an interrogation uncovers the connections to a two-decade-old series of murders of the Tha’alani, the Wolves are commanded to hunt. Severn’s first job will be joining the chase. From the High Halls to the Tha’alani quarter, from the Oracles to the Emperor, secrets are uncovered, tensions are raised and justice just might be done…if Severn can survive.

The Wolves of Elantra

Book 1: The Emperor’s Wolves