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Magic is women's work; war is men's. But in the coming battle, none of that will matter.

Men do not become mystics. They become warriors. But eighteen-year-old Salo has never been good at conforming to his tribe's expectations. For as long as he can remember, he has loved books and magic in a culture where such things are considered unmanly. Despite it being sacrilege, Salo has worked on a magical device in secret that will awaken his latent magical powers. And when his village is attacked by a cruel enchantress, Salo knows that it is time to take action.

Salo's queen is surprisingly accepting of his desire to be a mystic, but she will not allow him to stay in the tribe. Instead, she sends Salo on a quest. The quest will take him thousands of miles north to the Jungle City, the political heart of the continent. There he must gather information on a growing threat to his tribe.

On the way to the city, he is joined by three fellow outcasts: a shunned female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and a deadly assassin. But they're being hunted by the same enchantress who attacked Salo's village. She may hold the key to Salo's awakening--and his redemption.

Salo's queen has finally accepted his desire to be a mystic despite taboos concerning men's use of magic. But her acceptance is not support; it is strategy.

Under a disguise of the queen's making, Salo enters Jungle City as a pilgrim to the Red Temple, only to find a magical barrier barring his entrance. Left at the mercy of the warring political factions that run the city, Salo faces a series of obstacles wrought by an unseen hand, knowing he cannot return home without completing his pilgrimage.

But Isa, King of the Saire clan, has her own plans for Salo. She needs his help to extract the Covenant Diamond from the Red Temple's inner sanctum--an artifact with the power to end her tribe's divisions, prevent a genocide, and even save herself from her fate. His new task in hand, Salo navigates a cursed maze of invisible authority--and when he encounters shocking revelations about the power residing in the depths of the undercity, he must wield his magic to finally bring the truth about his world's history to light.

Salo is dead?and the world he left behind is at war.

In the midst of their grief, Salo's closest clan members begin to experience strange phenomena: visions visit one, while seizures plague another. The clan's new mystic divines that an arcane signal from the far west is calling, so they set out toward the desert--and encounter a caravan of travelers following the same mysterious call.

Meanwhile, Salo's loyal allies Ilapara and Tuk embark on a bold mission to raise Salo from the dead. And their sorcery works... or seems to. While the resurrected Salo ignores his friends' warnings and forms dark alliances, Ilapara and Tuk struggle with their growing unease, even as they follow Salo westward on a quest in which the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

With magic spiraling into mayhem, is this the end of Salo's saga--or an epic new beginning?