From the international bestselling author Anthony Ryan comes the spectacular second novel in a new epic new fantasy trilogy inspired by Norse mythology.

It is 200 years since the deity known as the Absolved went mad and destroyed the Kingdom of Alnachim, transforming it into the Execration, a blasted wasteland filled with nameless terrors. For decades, desperate souls have made pilgrimage to the centre of this cursed land to seek the Mad God’s favour, their fate always unknown. Now a veteran warrior known only as Pilgrim, armed with a fabled blade inhabited by the soul of a taunting demon, must join with six others to make the last journey to the heart of the Execration.

The gods are waking. The world is burning. The Bound and The Broken continues this coming fall. Are you ready?

Young Cally is an apprentice within the most unusual order of sorcerers in the known world: the only one that forbids its members from using their powers to kill. Despite his lowly status, Cally's chosen by the Master of the Order to join a delegation to see their allies the Lannovians. The meeting will be historic: 60 years ago, the Order's enemies attacked them with a host of demons, forcing the Order to trap the monsters inside their own citadel and seal it shut with impenetrable wards. The trick worked so well the Order hasn't been able to get it back open since.

Vaelin Al Sorna is a living legend, his name known across the Realm. It was his leadership that overthrew empires, his blade that won hard-fought battles - and his sacrifice that defeated an evil more terrifying than anything the world had ever seen. He won titles aplenty, only to cast aside his earned glory for a quiet life in the Realm's northern reaches. Yet whispers have come from across the sea - rumours of an army called the Steel Horde, led by a man who believes himself a god.