Daughter of Crows

Set a thief to catch a thief. Set a monster to punish monsters.

'I never met a Mark Lawrence book that I didn't love' ROBIN HOBB

'An excellent writer' GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies – The Kindly Ones – against whom even the gods hesitate to stand.

Each year one hundred girls are sold to the Academy. Ten years later only three emerge.

The Academy’s halls run with blood. The few who survive its decade-long nightmare have been forged on the sands of the Wound Garden. They have learned ancient secrets amid the necrotic fumes of the Bone Garden. They leave its gates as avatars of vengeance, bound to uphold the oldest of laws.

Only the most desperate would sell their child to the Kindnesses. But Rue … she sold herself. And now, a lifetime later, a long and bloody lifetime later, just as she has discovered peace, war has been brought to an old woman’s doorstep.

That was a mistake.

Reviews

Praise for Daughter of Crows

'Sinks its hooks into you and does not let go'

John Gwynn, bestselling author of The Bloodsworn Saga

'Unflinching, full-on and mesmerically gripping'

The Daily Mail

'Smoothly seductive and thought-provoking'

The Fantasy Hive

'Saturated with venom, vengeance and violence, while also serving as a deeply emotional commentary on age, guilt, memory, and survival. Altogether, Daughter of Crows stands as a powerful reaffirmation of Mark Lawrence's position at the forefront of grimdark fantasy'

Grimdark Magazine

Praise for Mark Lawrence

‘Excellent – on par with George R.R. Martin’

Conn Iggulden, author of GENGHIS

'The Library Trilogy is one of the most profound and wholly original works of fiction that I’ve read in the past two decades. The Library Trilogy should place Mark Lawrence’s name in the same breath as other twenty-first century masters of speculative fiction'

John Mauro

‘Mark Lawrence gets better with every book. It has a drive to it, a pulse, a gearshift that kicks higher and higher.’

Fantasy Book Review

‘This tale of knowledge and its cost flies by thanks to the gripping mystery and beautiful worldbuilding…readers will be desperate for more.’

Publishers Weekly

‘Lawrence works with many threads here, but none feels misused or insufficiently explored. Rather, the author unspools them masterfully, leaving behind a tightly woven tapestry that readers will ache to see finished even if they can predict one or two of the tale’s myriad twists and turns. Gripping, earnest, and impeccably plotted.’

Kirkus

'Lawrence doesn't pull his punches, and he doesn't go easy on his characters. It makes for a gutting read, yet Daughter of Crows is a book you won't be able to tear your eyes from'

Winteriscoming.net

About the author

Mark Lawrence is married with four children, one of whom is severely disabled. His day job is as a research scientist focused on various rather intractable problems in the field of artificial intelligence. Between work and caring for his disabled child, Mark spends his time writing, playing computer games, tending an allotment, brewing beer, and avoiding DIY.