With more than one twist in the telling, centering on a magic-plagued journey across a blistering desert, "The Phoenix Transformed" is the stunning conclusion to The Enduring Flame series.

With more than one twist in the telling, centering on a magic-plagued journey across a blistering desert, "The Phoenix Transformed" is the stunning conclusion to Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory's Enduring Flame Trilogy.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory teamed up to write The Obsidian Trilogy, set in a wondrous world filled with magical beings, competing magic systems, and a titanic struggle between good and evil. That world proved so popular with the creators and readers alike that Lackey and Mallory have returned to it with The Phoenix Unchained, Book One of The Enduring Flame, the opening volume of a new epic fantasy trilogy. After a thousand years of peace, much Magick has faded from the world. The Elves live far from humankind. There are no High Mages, and Wild Mages are seen only rarely. Bisochim, a powerful Wild Mage, is determined to reintroduce Darkness to the world, believing that it is out of Balance. Tiercel, a young Armethalian nobleman, is convinced that High Magic is not just philosophy. He attempts a spell—and draws the unwelcome attention of Bisochim. Tiercel survives Bisochim's attack and begins trying to turn himself into a High Mage. Next in line to be Harbormaster of Armethalieh, Harrier instead finds himself regularly saving Tyr's life and meeting magickal people and creatures. To Harrier's dismay, it seems that he must become a hero. In The Phoenix Unchained, Harrier and Tiercel begin a marvelous journey to uncover their destinies. Along the way, they meet a charming female centaur, several snooty Elves, and the most powerful dragon their world has ever known. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In The Enduring Flame Trilogy, Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory have given readers a new view of the complex and fascinating world they originally created for The Obsidian Trilogy. Jumping one thousand years in time, Lackey and Mallory tell the compelling story of Harrier Gillain, the first Knight-Mage in a thousand years; Tiercel Rolfort, the first High Mage in hundreds of years; and Shaiara, the young leader of a desert tribe who takes both boys under her wing but finds that she has a special affection for Harrier. These three young people are their world's main defense against the evil called up by the rogue Wild Mage, Bisochim. Included in The Enduring Flame Trilogy are The Phoenix Unchained, The Phoenix Endangered, and The Phoenix Transformed. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In The Phoenix Endangered, second in The Enduring Flame by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, Tiercel, a budding High Mage, and Harrier, a reluctant Knight-Mage, develop greater power--and learn of the evils of war when they see the devastation caused by the fanatical armies of the Wild Mage Bisochim. The desert tribespeople led by young Shaiara flee Bisochim's evil, seeking a legendary oasis deep in the desert--a refuge that may hold the key to stopping Bisochim and preserving the Balance between Light and Darkness . . . or that may be the cause of Light's ultimate downfall. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

When Darkness Falls, the third book in The Obsidian Trilogy from Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory Despite a great working of Wild Magic and High Magic that struck at the heart of the Demon Queen's evil plots, Knight-Mage Kellen and his Elven allies are still seen as enemies by the human Mage Council. The Elves and their allies must find a way to shatter the Demons' hold on the human Mages, for without their High Magic, the forces of Light will be destroyed by the forces of Darkness. The Commander of the Armies of Light decides to turn an Elven mine into a refuge for those driven from their homes by the war. Kellen is put in command of the force of engineers and warriors who will fortify the mine and does not learn until it is nearly too late that the caverns are full of Shadowed Elves. Vestakia, the half-human, half-Demon healer, finds that she has begun to be able to read the mind of her Demon father, Crown Prince Zyperis. The Demon Queen, Savilla, is preparing a great sacrifice that will summon He Who Is back to the world and make her the ultimate ruler forever. When Wild Mage Idalia learns of Savilla's plans, she knows there is only one way to prevent the coming of He Who Is. A very different sort of sacrifice must be made. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

How high energy consumption transformed postwar Phoenix and deepened inequalities in the American Southwest In 1940, Phoenix was a small, agricultural city of sixty-five thousand, and the Navajo Reservation was an open landscape of scattered sheepherders. Forty years later, Phoenix had blossomed into a metropolis of 1.5 million people and the territory of the Navajo Nation was home to two of the largest strip mines in the world. Five coal-burning power plants surrounded the reservation, generating electricity for export to Phoenix, Los Angeles, and other cities. Exploring the postwar developments of these two very different landscapes, Power Lines tells the story of the far-reaching environmental and social inequalities of metropolitan growth, and the roots of the contemporary coal-fueled climate change crisis. Andrew Needham explains how inexpensive electricity became a requirement for modern life in Phoenix—driving assembly lines and cooling the oppressive heat. Navajo officials initially hoped energy development would improve their lands too, but as ash piles marked their landscape, air pollution filled the skies, and almost half of Navajo households remained without electricity, many Navajos came to view power lines as a sign of their subordination in the Southwest. Drawing together urban, environmental, and American Indian history, Needham demonstrates how power lines created unequal connections between distant landscapes and how environmental changes associated with suburbanization reached far beyond the metropolitan frontier. Needham also offers a new account of postwar inequality, arguing that residents of the metropolitan periphery suffered similar patterns of marginalization as those faced in America's inner cities. Telling how coal from Indian lands became the fuel of modernity in the Southwest, Power Lines explores the dramatic effects that this energy system has had on the people and environment of the region.