Forty-one mercenaries. Ninety days. One sergeant who refuses to learn your name until you have earned a place in the Book.

The war between the Hollow Crown and the Lantern League has no good side, and the Ashfall Company gave up looking for one long ago. They serve whoever pays. They keep faith with each other. They bury their own.

You are the newest recruit. Your mentor is Sergeant Ilsa "Rook" Rooke: thirty-four years old, two fingers short on her left hand, wearing twelve years of campaigns like armor. She will teach you how to survive. She will not call you by your name. Not until it is written in the Book.

What this is

• Dark, low-magic, morally grey mercenary fantasy in the spirit of a soldier's chronicle.

• A slow-burn romance that has to be earned, one hard season at a time.

• A simple survival clock: a day counter (1 to 90) and the morale of the Company. Treat your comrades well, or watch the Company fall apart.

• No chosen ones, no gods, no rescue. Your choices cost something.

Content warnings: war violence, death, grief, mature themes.