September 7, 2015
Donaldson’s first book since The Last Dark (2013) features two standalone secondary-world fantasy novellas that crackle with intrigues and subterfuges. In the title tale, a mysterious man who calls himself Black investigates a brutal murder in the rural village of Settler’s Crossways. He uncovers a series of ritual killings that point to an obscure sorcerous scheme. In “The Augur’s Gambit,” Mayhew Gordian, the devoted soothsayer of the queen of Indemnie, finds his efforts to warn the queen of the kingdom’s impending doom are complicated by her efforts to foment civil war. The two stories are very different, but both feature struggles for power that Donaldson intensifies through the involvement of skillfully crafted characters who hide their true motives behind facades. Readers who enjoyed the complex characters and layered plots of his Thomas Covenant novels will find similar pleasures in these two tales. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.