Shaman's Crossing (The Soldier Son Trilogy, Book 1) Robin Hobb 9780008286491

The first book in The Soldier Son Trilogy, from the author of the bestselling Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies.

Nevare Burvelle anticipates a golden future. He will follow his father into the army, to the frontier and thence to an advantageous marriage.

Over twenty years the army has pushed the frontiers of Gernia as far as the Barrier Mountains, home to the enigmatic Speck people, who retain the last vestiges of magic in a progressive world. Exotic and misunderstood, they are believed to spread a sexual plague which has ravaged the frontier, decimating entire regiments.

Such beliefs will affect Nevare's military training at the Academy, where he will experience injustice and foul play. But his world view will also be challenged by his unconventional cousin Epiny. And on Dark Evening, when the carnival comes to Old Thares, it will bring with it the first Specks Nevare has ever seen...

Robin Hobb is one of the world's finest writers of epic fiction. She was born in California in 1952 but raised in Alaska, where she learned how to raise a wolf cub, to skin a moose and to survive in the wilderness. When she married a fisherman who fished herring and the Kodiak salmon-run for half the year, these skills would stand her in good stead. She raised her family, ran a smallholding, delivered post to her remote community, all at the same time as writing stories and novels. She succeeded on all fronts, raising four children and becoming an internationally best-selling writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington State.

Contact Robin:
www.robinhobb.com
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Twitter: @robinhobb

'Every new Robin Hobb novel is a cause for celebration'
George R.R. Martin

'Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers...what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics.'
THE TIMES

'Hobb is a remarkable storyteller'
GUARDIAN