Adam Burch
47North
Edmon Leontes’
birth was marked in spectacular fashion by a new Fracture opening in
the heavens above the tidally-locked world of Tao. His father Edric,
proud ruler of the House of Leontes proclaimed its appearance an omen that
his son would one day be mightier than he, that the new Fracture
would lead to wealth for Tao as it traded with new worlds. Thereafter
he seemed to forget about Edmon, allowing him to remain in the care
of his mother Cleopatra, matriarch of the Island of Bone in the
perpetual light of the Dayside.
Edmon’s idyllic
upbringing crashes to a halt one day when a stranger arrives on the
island to claim the rights and privileges of fostering. Phaestion of
House Julii is impossibly beautiful and adept at the arts of combat
to an uncanny degree. He moves through life with all the assurance of
one born to rule – and he claims Edmon for one of his Companions,
his elite bodyguard. Edmon must move away from home to begin
initiation into the dark and savage martial culture of the more
technologically advanced Nightside, where the powerful Houses jockey
for position around the throne of the decrepit Wusong, ruler of Tao.
On the Nightside trial by combat is held as the ultimate expression
of humanity, yet Edmon discovers there are secrets the glittering
nobility prefer to remain hidden. When a shocking act of betrayal
casts him far from his privileged upbringing, Edmon must use all the
resources he has and can find and become a player, not a pawn – or
else the world he knows will end.
Adam Burch’s Songof Edmon is a powerful debut with distinct shades of Herbert’s
epic Dune novels.
The world of Tao and its cultures come to life with a clarity that is
sometimes brutal but never less than gripping.
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