The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and
diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what
society--and his family--have ordained for him. His own mother has
predicted that he will meet his doom in water, blood, and ice. Her
divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen in a rainy
wilderness half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to
pleasure, and possessing only a stolen book of maps.
Offered sanctuary in a nearby monastery, Valen discovers that his
book--rumored to lead men into the realm of angels--gains him entry into
a world of secret societies, doomsayers, monks, princes, and madmen, all
seeking to unlock the mystery of a coming dark age. To his dismay, Valen
must face what he fled so long ago, for the key to Navronne's doom is
buried in half-forgotten myth and the secrets of his own past....