Showing results by author "C. L. Herman" in All Categories

For the first time in this ancient bloodstained story, the tournament is breaking. The boundaries between the city of Ilvernath and the arena have fallen. Reporters swarm the historic battlegrounds. A dead boy now lives again. And a new champion has entered the fray, one who seeks to break the curse for good...no matter how many lives are sacrificed in the process. As the curse teeters closer and closer to collapse, the surviving champions each face a choice: dismantle the tournament piece by piece, or fight to the death as this story always intended.

After the publication of a salacious tell-all book, the remote city of Ilvernath is thrust into the spotlight. Tourists, protesters and reporters alike flock to its spell shops and historic ruins to witness an ancient curse unfold: every generation, seven families name a champion among them to compete in a tournament to the death. The winner awards their family exclusive control over the city's high magick supply, the most powerful resource in the world.

For most of the year, Summer reigns peacefully over Alderland. Then, for six brutal weeks, Winter rages, obliterating towns and wreaking casualties. Magicians bond with powerful wands of Summer to defend the nation, a duty that costs many their lives. Domenic Barrow never wanted such responsibility—but destiny hasn’t granted him a choice. The greatest Summer wand has awakened for the first time in a century, warning that an icy cataclysm looms on the horizon. And despite his reputation as the least suited of his classmates, the wand Chooses Domenic to wield it.

A ogni generazione, al sorgere della Luna di Sangue, le sette famiglie della remota città di Ilvernath scelgono ciascuna un proprio campione che combatterà in un torneo all'ultimo sangue. In palio c'è il controllo assoluto sull'alta magia, la più potente al mondo, a lungo ritenuta esaurita e ora gelosamente custodita in segreto da una delle sette famiglie maledette di Ilvernath.