Neverstone

Era Gualtieri lives his life on permanent hard mode. His right leg is gone, his hometown was bombed into toxic waste, and he's elvish in an age when pointy ears are the mother of all "kick me" signs. He's spent the past four years hopping trains and shoplifting just to survive, with only his flying sword to keep him safe. Now, he's suddenly the only guy on the planet who's legally allowed to stop the new Dark Lord.

Era Gualtieri—public enemy #1, swashbuckler, provocateur, hero, villain, philosopher, madman—is about to have the worst Holiday Season of his life. For starters: Prince Raphael Koschei, the so-called Hero of Luminar, is dead. Good riddance and all, but the assassin was none other than Era's bestie and perpetual "it's complicated," Liv. As the Empire mourns its problematic fave, Era sees his chance to put a stop to House Koschei's "Island" conspiracy. But when he finds what he seeks, let's just say too much truth can be a biohazard.

Noah Tamino's the sort of healer who bursts into tears whenever you remind him that field mice don't live in little mushroom houses. And now, Gods help us all, he's been chosen as the new Hero-King of Aries. As if Noah didn't have enough on his plate! I mean, come on, his fiancee is gone, and he spent the past month being tortured by House Koschei's mastermind, "Little Astrid" herself. Sadly, there's a chain reaction of disaster and civil war going on, so abandoning the Hero-King business is out of the question.