West of January

By: Dave Duncan

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Synopsis: The Aurora Award–winning novel of a remote far-future world caught in a cycle of destruction, from the author of the Seventh Sword saga. On the distant planet of Vernier, a single day lasts an eternity. Lifetimes pass before a region fully experiences dawn, midday, and dusk. With each new daybreak comes a new generation, with no memory of the catastrophes that occurred when the sun crawled across the sky—entire civilizations scorched into oblivion. Only Vernier&’s &“angels&” possess the ancient knowledge to preserve past technologies that will save the world&’s population from the ruthless cycle of destruction. Knobil was born during the west of January among the herdsmen, a primitive culture in which the men fight to the death to preserve their own lineage. He is also the son of an &“angel,&” who left him the means to enter Heaven. It is an odyssey that will take Knobil among all the other peoples of his world—the beautiful but unthinking seafolk, the cruel slavers, the manipulative traders, the secretive spinsters—to a destiny he may die before embracing at the far end of December. Of epic scope, this is a novel of the struggle for survival in a hostile environment from the author of The Reluctant Swordsman and Portal of a Thousand Worlds, &“an expert at producing page-turning adventure&” (Locus).