The grand finale of award-winning author Bradley P. Beaulieu's BOOK OF THE HOLT series, an epic fantasy trilogy charting the rebirth of a forgotten divine contest and the mortals caught in its wake. Only a band of heroes - a dragon singer, an inquisitor, and a warrior mage - hold any chance of stopping it. Set in a world of dragon legions, living forests, and capricious gods. In the great forest known as the Holt, a deadly game that nearly destroyed the world a thousand years ago threatens to rekindle. Inquisitor Lorelei journeys to the fabled city of Gonsalond in search of a way to stop the game, only to find the citadel trees - once her window into the past - have fallen silent. With time running out, she is forced into a dangerous deal with a necromancer who may kill her before surrendering the game's secrets. Dragon singer Rylan, desperate to avert all-out war, plots to steal a powerful paragon and prevent their awakening.

Standing in his way are the empire and its powerful church, who believe rousing the final two paragons will usher in the rebirth of their goddess, Alra. Meanwhile, warrior mage Rhiannon is convinced that the only way to prevent widespread destruction is to find Yeriel, the lone player in the game who seems to care what happens to the Holt when the contest is finally over. But Yeriel has fled and doesn't want to be found. Rhiannon recruits a magical bloodhound to help her locate the wayward paragon even knowing she may refuse to help. When the truth emerges that the Holt itself may be sacrificed in Enwe's game, the heroes are driven to seek aid from Rhiannon's mother, Morraine; the game's newest player and a woman who's sworn to win Enwe's prize, even if it means abandoning the Holt. As the game nears its end, the empire's dragon legions, a goddess reborn, and Enwe herself threaten to bring ruin upon the Holt and everything within it.