Prisoner Of Ironsea Tower

Nov 30, 2025 8:18 PM

Author:Sarah Ash

'The emperor's tears will unlock the gate...'

Eugene of Tielen has won the five Tears of Artamon, the legendary rubies which entitle him to be crowned ruler of the ancient empire of Rossiya. But on the eve of his coronation, as the rubies are brought together for the first time in the imperial crown, a strange phenomenon occurs: a beacon of crimson light shoots up from the crown into the night sky. Is it a good portent - or an evil omen?

While sinister forces infiltrate Eugene's new empire, stirring the defeated peoples to revolt, Eugene is obsessed with enslaving a Drakhaoul, the daemon spirit that made his arch enemy, Gavril Nagarian, such a formidable opponent. Craving the arcane knowledge that will lead him to his goal, Eugene seeks out Kiukirilya, the Spirit Singer, forcing her to undertake a perilous journey into the world of the dead.

And what of Gavril, imprisoned and tortured in the dread Ironsea Tower? His dreams are of escape. But the opportunity, when it comes, faces him with an impossible choice. He longs to return to his earlier, simpler life but he knows that only one man can stop Eugene in his quest for daemonic powers. And that man is Gavril Nagarian...

Reviews

'This is no run-of-the-mill good-versus-evil fantasy...part political thriller, part fantasy, this is complex, ambitious writing with an engrossing plot...rich, multi-layered'

—— SFX

Anita Brookner has sublimely mastered the art of making her reader interested in her characters . . . a thoroughly enjoyable and most unusual novel.

—— Spectator

An enchanting, honest novel.

—— Time Out

A writer at the peak of his powers; it reminds you what good reading is all about

—— Chicago Sun Times

Reading Turgenev is one of the most beautiful and memorable things he has written. It stays in your memory -like Turgenev

—— Independent on Sunday

He writes like an angel, but is determined to wring your heart. Trevor at his most evocative and haunting

—— Daily Mail

The essential novel for any Star Wars fan

—— Inverse

The greatest of all novels. Read it again, to test and savour the infallible truth of Tolstoy’s understanding of every stage and aspect of human life

—— Alan Hollinghurst , New York Times

To read him . . . is to find one's way home . . . to everything within us that is fundamental and sane

—— Thomas Mann

In War And Peace, richly observed human life - its catastrophes and passions, its thrills and tedium - mark out Tolstoy as a fox, who knows all about the dizzying diversity of existence

—— Observer

Highly and deservedly praised...is a remarkable achievement.

—— Contemporary Review

Wonderfully readable

—— Wendy Cope , The Week

Translators give their wits and craft selflessly in service of others' work; this is a triumph of fidelity and unpretentiousness.

—— The Independent

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