As the dark figure of Swaine, a shade in the starlit night, passed off into the old road and into the forest’s edge, a quiet voice in the cabin—the voice of a child—sang a lullaby. Softly at first, then growing in volume, broken here and there with giggles, the song drifted out into the night. Soon, blossoms of flame sprouted in the corners of the fallen cabin. The dried wood caught quickly. Soon the flames climbed the walls and engulfed the roof as though hungry for the stars themselves.


The lullaby continued, sweet and dark.

— Sorcery of the Stony Heart

THE STORY:

August Swaine's dedication to studying the unseen arts has left him with exactly three assets: a brilliant mind, a cursed book he can't quite decode, and enough pocket change for maybe one more meal. What he lacks in funds, though, he makes up for in complications: Royal agents watching his every move, a demon stalking London's shadows with a very personal interest in his destruction, and the growing suspicion that these problems might be connected.

When his investigation into the book's mysteries collides with an enchanting actress and the dissolute heir of a legendary magician, Swaine realizes he's stumbled onto something far bigger than his own survival. The pieces are all there - the curse, the heir, the gathering shadows - but assembling them means outthinking both Crown and demon long enough to master powers he barely understands.

Most scholars would call it quits. Most sorcerers would cut their losses. But August Swaine didn't come this far in his forbidden studies by playing it safe, and he's certainly not going to start now. Even if it means risking everything - including his soul - to uncover truths that some would kill to keep hidden.

(Warning: This historical fantasy contains dangerous scholarship, theatrical demons, one very stubborn sorcerer, and proof that sometimes the most powerful magic requires sacrificing everything you thought you knew. Also cursed books, but that's just part of the research.)