The Drowning Sea - David Hair

The Falcons have become the empire's enemy in THE DROWNING SEA, the unmissable sequel to THE BURNING LANDS Romara Challys and her Falcons are Vestal Knights, who have shed blood to uphold the Triple Empire against the destructive Vyr Rebellion. But now, the Falcons have become the empire's enemy. Having learned that elobyne, the magical crystal that empowers the knights, is catastrophically destructive, the Falcons vow to save their world. But speaking truth to power is perilous, and Romara is the empire's prisoner, facing a torture and death at the hands of her former masters. Her comrades, big-hearted Gram, the prodigy Soren, and the erling mage Elindhu, are seeking her rescue, but the forces arrayed against them seem insurmountable. Meanwhile, her loyal second, Jadyn, and the mercurial thief Aura, are seeking the aegis, an alternative magic, following a path laid down centuries before. But hunting them are Vazi Virago, the Order's Exemplar, and the fearsome lictor, Yoryn Borghart; who want the aegis for their own devious ends. The seas are rising, harvests are failing, refugees flooding across borders are sparking wars, and the destructive rebellion threatens civilisation. The End of All Things is coming, the priests and seers say. Coros is doomed. If the Falcons can't save their world, who can?'Full of nuanced, loveable characters whose complex relationships with each other and with themselves make The Burning Land a compulsively readable adventure not to be missed!' Sebastien de Castell, author of The Malevolent Seven