From the author of the New York Times Notable Book Looking for the Mahdi and Faraday s Orphans--a novel of secrets， slavery， and the sovereignty of the human soul.Born of the royal leaders of Adalon and the White Sea Islands， Antonya Terhune was orphaned as a babe when her wicked uncle usurped her father s rule and invaded her mother s realm. She was raised by the Brothers of Blessed Reason， her existence a secret kept from her family s enemies. She learned skills most women of the land were never taught--reading， writing， and mathematics--but she yearned to be a warrior.Then when she left the monastery， she ventured out into the world under her uncle s dictatorship--adopting and shedding disguises like snakeskin--and witnessed firsthand how the common people slaved for church and state. Now Antonya has come of age， and she s ready to reclaim her lands. And with the aid of the lone defender Kerric of Myro， she will lead a small fighting force in an attempt to topple a tyrant...and set the people of two lands free.* Wood s work has been praised as "impressive" (New York Times Book Review) and "endlessly imaginative" (Booklist)， and has been compared to William Gibson s in the New York Review of Science Fiction