Faith can shield a harsh truth. But a shield can easily become a cage. Nearly a thousand years after the catastrophic Great Poison and the destruction of Nahar, the magisters speak of a new looming threat to the Known World. After the loss of his father, a boy of sixteen now sits upon the desert-throne of Last Kingdom. Queen Londenia tries to guide the juvenile King Romarus in a dark journey with what seems little light at its end. They must survive massacre, bondage and the land itself--while contending with their own improper desires. To the north, on the Mother's Island, the pious Owin, one of the young brothers, devoutly follows the old Mister's teachings. Disobedience means facing the unending suffering of the abyss, but a life of serving the Mother leads to eternal carnal-ecstasy with the lost goddesses.

Well, that's what the Mister says anyway.