The Chart of Tomorrows
A Gaunt and Bone Novel
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
The poet Persimmon Gaunt and the thief Imago Bone had sought only to retire from adventuring and start a family, but they never reckoned on their baby becoming the chosen vessel of the mystical energies of a distant Eastern land. With their son Innocence hunted by various factions hoping to use him as a tool, they kept him safe at the cost of trapping him in a pocket dimension of accelerated time. Now free, the thirteen-year-old Innocence has rejected his parents and his "destiny" and has made dangerous friends in a barbaric Western land of dragon-prowed ships and rugged fjords. Desperately, Gaunt and Bone seek to track him down, along with their companion Snow Pine and her daughter A-Girl-Is-A-Joy, who was once trapped with Innocence too. But as the nomadic Karvaks and their war-balloons strike west, and a troll-king spins his webs, and Joy is herself chosen by the spirit of the very land Innocence has fled to, Gaunt and Bone find themselves at the heart of a vast struggle -- and their own son is emerging from that conflict as a force of evil. To save him and everything they know, they turn to a dangerous magical book, The Chart of Tomorrows, that reveals pathways through time. Upon the treacherous seas of history, Gaunt and Bone must face the darkness in each other’s pasts, in order to rescue their future. From the Trade Paperback edition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The third installment in Willrich's lively Gaunt and Bone heroic fantasy series (after The Silk Map) takes his established pairing of wit and magic and brings it from a fantastical version of Asia to a Norse-themed setting. Poet Persimmon Gaunt and thief Image Bone hid their baby son, Innocence, inside the spell of the Scroll of Years. Now Innocence has returned as a young man in the distant Bladed Isles, and he has magical powers that make him a target for every ambitious wizard and warlord. Bone and Gaunt are joined in the search for their son by adventurer Snow Pine, who seeks her missing daughter, Innocence's childhood friend Joy. Unfortunately their children are doomed to face off as part of an ancient prophecy. Bone and Gaunt must harness the powers of the magical Chart of Tomorrows and travel in time to save Innocence and Joy. Willrich delivers plenty of narrow escapes, deadly combat, and daring rescues, along with the usual bravado and witty banter. The baroque style, wry dialogue, and deft use of classic fantasy tropes evoke pulp-era heroic fantasy with an entertaining edge.
