Some twenty years have passed since the events narrated in The Prince of Nothing. Anasurimbor Kellhus now rules all the Three Seas, the first true Aspect-Emperor in a thousand years leading a holy war deep into the wastes of the Ancient North, intent on destroying Golgotterath and preventing the Second Apocalypse.

The thrilling story of the powerful logician-monk Anasurimbor Kellhus and the apocalyptic Holy War is continued. As the crusade plunges violently southward, struggling with both the enemy and internecine turmoil, the enigmatic Kellhus finds himself ever closer to the elusive goal of meeting his father, gaining further mastery of the ancient knowledge he will need for the encounter. And amid the brewing apocalypse, his swift-rising career has aroused...