When the mysterious daughter of Prester John appears on the doorstep of
her father''s palace, she brings with her news of war in the West--the
Crusades have begun, and the bodies of the faithful are washing up on
the shores of Pentexore. Three narratives intertwine to tell the tale of
the beginning of the end of the world: a younger, angrier Hagia, the
blemmye-wife of John and Queen of Pentexore, who takes up arms with the
rest of her nation to fight a war they barely understand, Vyala, a
lion-philosopher entrusted with the care of the deformed and prophetic
royal princess, and another John, John Mandeville, who in his many
travels discovers the land of Pentexore--on the other side of the
diamond wall meant to keep demons and monsters at bay. These three
voices weave a story of death, faith, beauty, and power, dancing in the
margins of true history, illuminating a place that never was.