Shadow's End [Paperback]

“Tepper takes the traditional icons of fantasy, restores their resonance, and makes them her own.”—MinneapolisStar Tribune
 
A century ago, a mysterious force wiped out human life on all surrounding worlds, leaving the planet Dinadh untouched. Now the unknown force is back—and this time humanity’s only hope lies with a woman who’d give anything not to get involved.

Lutha Tallstaff’s mission is to locate the famed adventurer Leelson Famber, who has disappeared, taking with him what may be the only clue to the nature of the deadly threat. But Lutha cannot know that finding Famber will be the easy part of her journey. Through terrain alive with savage winged wraiths and fountains of fire, she will fight her way to the holiest place on the planet. And only then will she discover the shocking truth about the coldly inhuman force that threatens the future of mankind.Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) is the award-winning author of A Plague of Angels,Sideshow,Beauty,Raising the Stones,Grass,The Gate to Women's Country,After Long Silence,and Shadow's End. Grass was a New York Times Notable Book and Hugo Award nominee, and Beauty was voted Best Fantasy Novel by the readers of Locus magazine.Dawn on Dinadh.
 
Deep in the canyonlands shadow lies thickly layered as fruit-tree leaves in autumn. High on the walls the sun paints stripes of copper and gold, ruby and amber, the stones glowing as though from a forge, hammered here and there into mighty arches above our caves. Inside the caves, the hives spread fragrant smoke, speak a tumult of little drums, breathe the sound of bone flutes. Above all, well schooled, the voice of the songfather soars like a crying bird:
 
“The Daylight Woman, see how she advances, she of the flowing garmentl3,