Speak again the ancient oaths:
Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination. And return to men the shards they once bore. The Knights Radiant must stand again.
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars are fought for them, and won by them.
One such war is about to swallow up a soldier, a brightlord, and a young woman scholar.
Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.
Now in the final stages of their quest for his son, Garion and his companions travel to Kell to consult the only undamaged copy of the Malloreon Gospels.
For centuries, the Seers have guarded this book from the Grolims, and even had their wizards put a curse of blindness on any Grolim who tried to enter Kell. So, as proclaimed in Guardians of the West, Belgarion the Godslayer sets out with those who must join him: the Eternal Man, the Guide, the Man with Two Lives, the Bearer of the Orb, and the Silent Man, and the rest of his companions to The Place Which Is No More to make the final choice - darkness or light.
But Zandramas the Sorceress will not be outdone. Though she may not enter Kell, she still has young Geran, and should she reach the final meeting place with him, then Garion must slay his son or the world will be no more.
The High Queen is an imaginative return to the Arthurian legend as told from its pagan priestesses. This journey continues with Book Two: The High Queen.
Morgaine, finally reconciled to the birth of her son, must relinquish him to her aunt Morgause in exchange for the kept secret regarding his parentage. Arthur marries the timid but dutiful Gwenhwyfar, while ongoing wars with the Saxon invaders continue to rage across the land.
Morgaine, tired of worldly concerns, attempts to return to Avalon, but disappears without a trace somewhere near the end of her journey. In a last bid for peace, Arthur compromises his loyalty to Avalon by carrying the Christian banner into battle.
Gwenhwyfar's inability to conceive has the kingdom despairing of an heir to the throne, while behind the scenes, her love for Lancelet grows more impassioned and desperate.