With their most treacherous mission yet behind them, heroes Seregil and Alec resume their double life as dissolute nobles and master spies. But in a world of rivals and charmers, fate has a different plan.… After their victory in Aurënen, Alec and Seregil have returned home to Rhíminee. But with most of their allies dead or exiled, it is difficult for them to settle in. Hoping for diversion, they accept an assignment that will take them back to Seregil’s homeland. En route, however, they are ambushed and separated, and both are sold into slavery. Clinging to life, Seregil is sustained only by the hope that Alec is alive. But it is not Alec’s life his strange master wants—it is his blood. For his unique lineage is capable of producing a rare treasure, but only through a harrowing process that will test him body and soul and unwittingly entangle him and Seregil in the realm of alchemists and madmen—and an enigmatic creature that may hold their very destiny in its inhuman hands…. But will it prove to be savior or monster?

Presents rare photographs and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from the set of the classic television soap opera.

Alastrine and the chosen ones have all set off toward the temple. They need to get there and use the gems and crystal to restore the balance. The dwarf chosen have a troll sent by the Goddess Atla to aid them. The humans have a wood fairy named Felix to help them. The hawk chosen have Rex with them, and the elves have several elf soldiers at their side. They all run into hurdles that the Goddess Hel is sending their way as she uses her troll army, run by the shadows, to stop them and to destroy and enslave the four races.

The Arab Spring heralded a profound shift in the Middle East, bringing to power Islamist movements which had previously been operating in the shadows. The Muslim Brotherhood stormed to victory in Egypt and emerged as a key player in Libya's nascent political arena. Meanwhile, An-Nahda found itself catapulted into power as the head of Tunisia's coalition government. For a while, it looked as though the region was entering the dawn of a new Islamist age. But navigating their respective countries through difficult and painful transitions ultimately proved too challenging for these forces, and, just as suddenly, the Brotherhood was dramatically overthrown in Egypt and left severely weakened in Libya. In Tunisia, An-Nahda managed to pull itself through the crisis, but its failure to articulate and deliver the hopes and aspirations of a large section of Tunisian society damaged its credibility. In this authoritative account, Alison Pargeter expertly charts the Islamists' ascent and subsequent fall from power. Based on extensive research and interviews with high ranking members of the Brotherhood and An-Nahda, Pargeter offers a comparative analysis of the movement in North Africa since the Arab Spring, and outlines the consequences of the Brotherhood's decline on both the region and the wider Islamist political project.

Following Talon of the Silver Hawk and King of Foxes, here is the third exciting volume in the Conclave of Shadows trilogy from the acclaimed author “in the forefront of contemporary fantasy adventure” (Library Journal) Tal Hawkins has succeeded in wreaking revenge on Kaspar, the evil Duke of Olasko. Banished to a distant land, Kaspar begins a journey that will take him halfway around the world. Reduced to the role of farm-hand, then common laborer, the former ruler endures dangers and horrors beyond his imagination as he struggles to return home. But fate, or some dark agency, has more in store for the man who was once tyrant of Olasko. As he travels, he is chosen to play a part in a much larger drama, a struggle between good and evil ages in the making. Dark powers are again in motion, and Kaspar discovers the herald of a threat not seen across the land since the legendary Riftwar and Serpentwar: A dark empire in a distant realm seeks entrance to Midkemia and Kaspar has unwittingly discovered the key. Now it is up to this unlikely hero to save Midkemia from the threat of unconditional defeat—and utter destruction.

The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace for decades, bastions of civilization, prosperity and sophistication, protected by treaties, trade and a belief in the reasonable nature of their neighbors. But meanwhile, in far-off corners, the Wasp Empire has been devouring city after city with its highly trained armies, its machines, it killing Art . . . And now its hunger for conquest and war has become insatiable. Only the aging Stenwold Maker, spymaster, artificer and statesman, can see that the long days of peace are over. It falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of his people, before a black-and-gold tide sweeps down over the Lowlands and burns away everything in its path. But first he must stop himself from becoming the Empire's latest victim.