Those Above

For three thousand years, the Those Above have ruled humanity from their eternal city. They are tall, strong and flawless, and they keep their subjects in line with fire and sword. Their palaces glitter while the people beneath them endure.

Twenty-five years ago, humans raised an army and rose against their masters. The battle ended in slaughter. Hope did not survive it, though hatred did, and now talk of a second revolt is moving quietly among the oppressed.

Three people stand at the center of it. A woman widowed in the war has given her life over to vengeance. A general, the only man ever to beat one of the rulers in single combat, is called on to build a new legion. A boy who kills for a living climbs out of the gutter to lead an uprising in the capital.

This is epic fantasy about an occupied people and a failed rebellion, told through several lives at once. The tone is bitter and martial, shaped by old grief and the memory of a defeat.