Лучшие книги Стеф Свэйнстон

Дебют Стеф Свэйнстон в литературе оказался невероятно успешным. Увлекательный и совершенно нетрадиционный для жанра фэнтези роман получил не только признание у читателей, но и высочайшую оценку критиков и в 2005 году был удостоен премии Crawford, а также вошел в число номинантов премии John W.Campbell, присуждаемой лучшим авторам, пишущим в жанре фантастики и фэнтези. В мире, созданном автором, обитает раса крылатых людей, не умеющих летать, и раса людей, которые живут среди холодных горных пиков. А еще есть бессмертные, в чью задачу входит оберегать простых обитателей Четырехземелья от безжалостных Насекомых-убийц размером с пони, ибо…

Fifteen years after the last devastating Insect attack, the immortal Circle is finally ready to launch an offensive against their implacable enemies. This time they have a new weapon - gunpowder. Hopes are high.

But the Circle's plans are threatened when the vital barrels of gunpowder go missing. Jant, the Circle's winged messenger, is tasked to investigate. Soon it becomes clear that the theft is part of a deadly conspiracy . . . and Jant and his friends are among the targets.

As tensions rise, Jant races to foil the conspirators. Can he expose them in time - or will the crisis blow the Fourlands apart?

Here is the story of Jant Shira's life before the drugs took over, as a hunter in the mountains. Awian exiles are building a stronghold in the Darkling mountains, where the Rhydanne hunt. Their clash of interests soon leads to bloodshed and Shira Dellin, a Rhydanne huntress, appeals to the immortal Circle for justice. The Emperor sends Jant—half-Rhydanne, half-Awian, and all confidence—to mediate. As Jant is drawn into the spiraling violence he is shaken into coming to terms with his own heritage, and with his feelings for the alien, intoxicating Dellin. This story of Jant's early years in the Circle shows the Fourlands as readers have never seen them before.

Steph Swainston returns to the dazzling, dizzying world of the Fourlands with the audacious sequel to her acclaimed novels The Year of Our War and No Present Like Time. Jant Comet, the messenger, has survived deadly insects, internecine politics, and even his own debilitating, life-threatening addiction. But now he faces a challenge greater than any he has met in the last several centuries, one that could shake the foundations of the Fourlands forever. For the Emperor himself is riding to the front, and nothing is as it seems . . .

After #1 "The Year of Our War", God is still on vacation, the Emperor still leads the war against the insects, and his cadre of immortals is still quarreling among themselves. But a new land has been discovered, one that holds the secrets of centuries, and one of their own, now exiled, foments rebellion against the Circle. In the brutal battle that follows, Jant Comet will discover that even immortals can fall ...