All sorcerers are evil. Elisabeth has known that as long as she has known anything. Raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer's Great Libraries; Elisabeth has grown up among the tools of sorcery-magical grimoires that whisper on shelves and rattle beneath iron chains. If provoked; they transform into grotesque monsters of ink and leather. Then an act of sabotage releases the library's most dangerous grimoire; and Elisabeth is implicated in the crime. With no one to turn to but her sworn enemy; the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn; and his mysterious demonic servant; she finds herself entangled in a centuries-old conspiracy. Not only could the Great Libraries go up in flames; but the world along with them. As her alliance with Nathaniel grows stronger; Elisabeth starts to question everything she's been taught-about sorcerers; about the libraries she loves; even about herself. For Elisabeth has a power she has never guessed; and a future she could never have imagined. The heir apparent to Diana Wynne Jones; no one can match Rogerson's dark whimsy or joyous magic. This book is sheer delight. Jessica Cluess; author of the Kingdom on Fire trilogy