Feast of the King's Shadow

In Feast of the King's Daughter, the second book of Chaz Brenchley's Outremer fantasy series, a mixed group of travellers make their way, each for their own reason and not always by the most obvious or most direct route, across the desert to Rhabat, where the Sharai tribes are gathering under their leader Hasan. Hasan, Rhabat - the city carved in the rock - the land of Outremer itself, all these are inventions. And yet...

...And yet there really is a hidden city, deep in the desert of what is now Jordan, and here is a description by G. Lankester Harding, from whose book the map above is taken, of his first sight of that city:

For Petra is everything that the travel agencies write about - except rose red; mostly the sandstone is of a dark red ochre shade, with fantastic bandings of yellow, grey and white in some places. The only part which could be called rose red is the Khaznah area, and I know nothing to equal the first sight of this huge rock-cut façade glowing in brilliant sunlight after one emerges from the darkness of the great cleft which leads into the city. I have visited Petra very many times now, but always that first, breathtaking vision remains in my mind; nor does familiarity breed contempt here, for at every visit one has to rein up the horse or stop in one's tracks and gaze astonished, as if seeing it again for the first time, at the sharpness and purity of line of the carving and the glowing brilliance of the rock.

Use the map above, or click on the links below, to explore the Second Book of Outremer, and its background.

Feast of the King's Shadow menu

• Read an extract from Feast of the King's Shadow
• Travellers in the desert
• The Assassins
• The City in the Rock
• The Man with Two Wives
• Feasting with Shadows
• The Man who United the Tribes
• Celebrate the publication of Feast of the King's Shadow
• View the guestbook - and if you'd like to write a message too, so much the better!
• Links page - other websites you might want to visit.
• Tower of the King's Daughter menu.
• Hand of the King's Evil menu.
• Site map

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Read the Book

The Second Book of Outremer is published in the UK as Feast of the King's Shadow. In the US, the same book is published as two volumes, A Dark Way to Glory and Feast of the King's Shadow. Use the Amazon links below to buy these books; or, if your local book shop does not stock copies, use the information provided to order them.

In the UK	Feast of the King's Shadow ISBN: 1 - 85723 - 745 -5 Published by Orbit
In the US	A Dark Way to Glory ISBN: 0 - 441 - 01086 - 5 published by ACE (Penguin Putnam) Reviewed in Rambles by Daniel Jolley: "Few fantasy writers can equal the power and richness of Chaz Brenchley's prose, and I am more excited than ever to see what this visionary author has in store for me in the remaining Outremer books." Reviewed in Emerald City: "Brenchley also gets a chance to bring a little more magic into his world, and here he provides an object lesson for any aspiring fantasy writer: if you are going to do something magical, make it utterly awesome and a complete surprise."
	Feast of the King's Shadow ISBN: 0 - 441 - 01098 - 9 published by ACE (Penguin Putnam) Reviewed in Rambles by Daniel Jolley: "War looms on the horizon, key characters have already come close to hitting bottom both physically and emotionally, and the shocking ending of Feast of the King's Shadow introduces a completely new source of concern for one of the main characters. I only know that, whatever happens, I will be there to witness it." Reviewed in Emerald City: "Suffice it to say that Brenchley ends on a humdinger of a cliffhanger that makes you want to rush straight out and buy the next book. Which is just how it should be."

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