The sequel to the New York Times bestselling Princeps follows magical hero Quaeryt as he leads history's first Imager fighting force into war. Given the rank of subcommander by his wife's brother, Lord Bhayar, the ruler of Telaryn, Quaeryt joins an invading army into the hostile land of Bovaria, in retaliation for Bovaria's attempted annexation of Telaryn. But Quaeryt has his own agenda in doing Bhayar's bidding: to legitimize Imagers in the hearts and minds of all men, by demonstrating their value as heroes as he leads his battalion into one costly battle after another. Making matters worse, court intrigues pursue Quaeryt even to the front lines of the conflict, as the Imager's enemies continue to plot against him.Review“Modesitt produces some of the best fantasy novels published. His numerous series have devout fans…. I look forward to Quaeryt's continuing adventures.”  —SFRevu“Solidly engrossing.”  —Kirkus Reviews on Princeps“Modesitt's work shines with engrossing characters, terrific plotting, and realistic world-building.” —RT Book Reviews on Imager“The Imager Portfolio features some of the best characters Modesitt has ever created, real enough to make you consider what you’d do in their places.”—Booklist on Imager's Challenge“Quaeryt is a fascinating character, and his trials and journey are action packed and yet intellectual.”—RT Book Reviews, 4 stars, on *Scholar“Modesitt has only one style: subtle intrigues anchored in vividly drawn, complex characters, stiffly formal conversations and descriptional arabesques in tones of gray. Perhaps the best so far in this consistently fascinating series.”—Kirkus, Starred Review, on Scholar“Modesitt has drawn a superb portrait of an honest and powerful man handed a crisis that even he may not be able to handle. . . .  Extremely satisfying.” —Booklist on Imager's Intrigue*About the AuthorL. E. MODESITT, JR. is the bestselling author of over forty novels encompassing two science fiction series and three fantasy series, including the saga of Recluce. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.www.lemodesittjr.com

Hundreds of years before the time of Imager, the continent of Lydar is fragmented. Years of war have consolidated five nations into three--Bovaria, Telaryn, and Antiago. Quaeryt is a scholar and a friend of Bhayar, the young ruler of Telaryn. Worried about his future and the escalating intrigues in Solis, the capital city, Quaeryt persuades Bhayar to send him to Tilbor, conquered ten years earlier by Bhayar's father, in order to see if the number and extent of occupying troops can be reduced so that they can be re-deployed to the border with warlike Bovaria.Quaeryt has managed to conceal the fact that he is an imager, since the life expectancies of imagers in Lydar is short. Just before Quaeryt departs, Bhayar's youngest sister passes a letter to the scholar-imager, a letter that could well embroil Quaeryt in the welter of court politics he had hoped to leave behind. On top of that, on his voyage and journey to Tilbor he must face...

In the far future, an indestructible and massive canal more than 2,000 miles long spans the mid-continent of Earth. Nothing can mar it, move it, or affect it in any fashion. At its western end, where it meets the sea, is an equally indestructible structure comprising three levels of seemingly empty chambers. Scientists from three different civilizations, separated in time by hundreds of thousands of years, are investigating the canal. In the most distant of these civilizations, religious rebellion is brewing. A plot is hatched to overthrow the world government of the Vanir, using a weapon that can destroy anything-except the canal. If used at full power it might literally unravel the universe and destroy all life forever. The lives and fates of all three civilizations become intertwined as the forces behind the canal react to the threat, and all three teams of scientists find their lives changed beyond belief.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.From Publishers WeeklyProlific author Modesitt (Imager's Intrigue) stumbles with this tedious tale of a far future in which a new ice age threatens Earth, and a vast canal, built by an ancient civilization, splits the world's central continent for no readily discernible reason. Even more glacial than the ice is the narrative, replete with whole chapters that could have profitably been rewritten into single paragraphs or even single sentences. Occasional hints of international tension show promise, but the characters are no more than blandly chattering ciphers, and the distant epoch lacks so much detail that it might as well be the present day. While there might be some appeal for the hardest of hardcore Modesitt fans, new readers would be well advised to start reading elsewhere. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. From BooklistFar in the future, a massive, indestructible canal spans the midcontinent of Earth, splitting it in two. In 1331 RE, married scientists Maertyn and Maarlyna see threats to the climate in the increased glacial activity they observe. They are looking for clues that could explain the canal, but also face a budget crisis that could end their research. In 2471 RE, scientists Eltyn and Faelyna are studying the canal, trying to learn what they can before a massive drought destroys the land. In the meantime, their hive society falls to civil war. In 3123, researchers Duhyle and Helkira are studying the canal when insurrectionists rise against the global government, using a weapon that could destroy the planet and possibly the entire universe. The scientists of all three cultures find themselves pulled into a joint effort to stop this destruction, by the forces that built and maintain the canal. The plot is classic, but in his pictures of three different societies fighting the same battle, Modesitt shows that cultures may change but people don’t. A provocative, enthralling story. --Frieda Murray