The Crown of Silence [Paperback]

When Shan was fifteen years old, dark soldiers came out of the west, like a cloud of evil boiling over the soft hills of his homeland. They commanded terrible beasts, which killed with hook claws like scythes and cold eyes that dripped icy fire. The soldiers wore helmets that looked like fiends, tusked and snarling and sneering.

The terrible consequences of war have left the boy Shan wounded in body and mind by the invading army of Magravandias. He's taken from his devastated village by the magus Taropat, chosen by the master's mysterious impulse to become the wizard's pupil, and a weapon against the invading empire.

Storm Constantinehas written over twenty books, both fiction and non-fiction and well over fifty short stories. Her novels span several genres, from literary fantasy, to science fiction, to dark fantasy. She is best known for her sci fi Wraeththu series and the fantasy Magravandias Chronicles.

Neil Gaiman, author of theSandmangraphic novel series, once said: Storm Constantine is a mythmaking, Gothic queen, whose lush tales are compulsive reading. Her stories are poetic, involving, delightful, and depraved. I wouldn't swap her for a dozen Anne Rices!

Constantine crafts her characters beautifully and with a sure hand: These are people with whose pains and shortcomings one can readily identify, caught up in a story redolent of myth, magic and political intrigue. Booklist

Storm Constantine is a literary fantasist of outstanding power and originality. Her work is rich, idiosyncratic and completely engaging. Her themes, constantly explored and re-examined through her novels, have much in common with Philip K. Dick--the nature of identity, the nature of reality, the creative power of the human imagination--while her sensibility reminds me of Angela Carter at her most inventive. Michael Moorcock