Nevare Burvelle was destined from birth to be a soldier. The second son
of a newly anointed nobleman, he must endure the rigors of military
training at the elite King's Cavella Academy—and survive the hatred,
cruelty, and derision of his aristocratic classmates—before joining the
King of Gernia's brutal campaign of territorial expansion. The life
chosen for him will be fraught with hardship, for he must ultimately
face a forest-dwelling folk who will not submit easily to a king's
tyranny. And they possess an ancient magic their would-be conquerors
have long discounted—a powerful sorcery that threatens to claim Nevare
Burvelle's soul and devastate his world once the Dark Evening brings the
carnival to Old Thares.