The dramatic conclusion to Ilario: The Lion's Eye!Fleeing a surprise treacherous murder attempt, the former King's Freak and would-be painter Ilario has run to Carthage, the city-state under perpetual darkness, in search of freedom. But strange plots are afoot, and a tenuous, complicated alliance with a bookseller-turned-spy will lead Ilario from the shrouded land into tense negotiations and intrigues in seductive, mercurial Venice, from a fraught return to Iberia to a final confrontation with family . . . and destiny.

It is a nameless city somewhere between past and future, a mythic realm at the "heart of the world," where wicked Rat Lords have reduced all humankind to slaves, and god-daemons make the decision to end all existence. This energizes a compelling quest for survival, and prompts the powerful White Crow to order an uprising against this chaotic strike that threatens them all. Among those who respond to her are the defiant Prince Lucas of Candover, a student at the University of Crime, and no mans's slave; and Zari, the young Katayan woman who is destined to become the living Memory of all that follows. And others rally to join them in one final desperate revolt, hoping to create a magic powerful enough to reshape the very nature of how they live. With this brilliant story, Mary Gentle has created a realm in which imagination knows no bounds. Rats and Gargoyles is her most masterful novel to date.

The usual last battle of Good against Evil is about to begin-and Orc Captain Ashnak and his war-band know exactly what to expect. The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics, but the Light's still going to win. Orcs will die by the thousands, and no one cares. No even the Nameless Necromancer who hired them.The eternal battle of good versus evil takes on a decidedly modern tone when the evil orcs steal modern-day weaponry from the dragon guardian. It's a wild free-for-all, with the forces of Light struggling to overcome the denizens of Darkness in a story full of humor and heroism. From the author of Ancient Light and Left to His Own Devices. Original.