The house of sacrifice

The final volume in Spark's relentlessly bleak Empires of Dust trilogy (after The Court of Broken Knives and The Tower of Living and Dying) is a storm of intrigue, violence, lost faith, and insanity. The mighty Army of Amrath, led by ruthless Marith, King of Death, has brought most of the continent of Irlast under his control after a bloody four-year campaign. But peace isn't easy, especially for a man whose grip on reality is questionable at best. After three miscarriages, Marith's wife, Thalia, is uneasily pregnant again. The army, ordered to disband without back pay, is at loose ends and turning to violence. Worst of all, Marith is once again hearing the voices that drive him to chaos and murder. The only solution: another war. Spark shifts the narration among four characters, each haunted by the past and the shadows it casts on the present. The world is vividly tactile, constructed from mountain crags, sandy deserts, and tumbled cities populated by ambitious lordlings and desperate citizenry. Spark wraps up this turbulent saga with skill, leaving readers hungry for her next work. Agent: Ian Drury, Sheil Land Assoc. (Aug.)