Innah, Master Gardener for the Duke, has been working on a project in secret. Her clockwork conservatory, passed down through generations of gardeners, has been prepared for this moment. She has finally harnessed the power of aether—not through a wand or a spell like the stuffy academics insist—but through the power of nature’s growth. It’s time to test the results.

Melinda Snodgrass has written multiple novels and screenplays, and is best known for her work on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She has also worked on numerous other shows, including The Profilers, Sliders and Seaquest DSV. She coedits the Wild Cards series with George R.R. Martin. Melinda is the author of The Edge series, which is published by Tor Books in the US and Titan Books in the UK. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Noctumba has to be stopped. His unbridled powers and quest to control the earth are altering the world's energies and upsetting nature's balance. Only one can challenge Noctumba and prevent the ruin. Kintu is the chosen one but he is just beginning to learn about the Regions of Influencethe forces of nature. The Inner Kingdom is desperate and the Lore elders must guide Kintu through his time of Moltahis time of maturing, and help him realize his special powers and abilities. Kintu must draw his strength from the Influence, confront Noctumba and take away his power. But Noctumba is not alone; he has recruited others and Kintu is lost as to whom he can trust. The young Lore, alone, faces a challenge beyond his imagination.Noctumba has to be stopped. His unbridled powers and quest to control the earth are altering the world's energies and upsetting nature's balance. Only one can challenge Noctumba and prevent the ruin. Kintu is the chosen one but he is just beginning to learn about the Regions of Influencethe forces of nature. The Inner Kingdom is desperate and the Lore elders must guide Kintu through his time of Moltahis time of maturing, and help him realize his special powers and abilities. Kintu must draw his strength from the Influence, confront Noctumba and take away his power. But Noctumba is not alone; he has recruited others and Kintu is lost as to whom he can trust. The young Lore, alone, faces a challenge beyond his imagination.

Noctumba has to be stopped. His unbridled powers and quest to control the earth are altering the world's energies and upsetting nature's balance. Only one can challenge Noctumba and prevent the ruin. Kintu is the chosen one but he is just beginning to learn about the Regions of Influence—the forces of nature. The Inner Kingdom is desperate and the Lore elders must guide Kintu through his time of Molta—his time of maturing, and help him realize his special powers and abilities. Kintu must draw his strength from the Influence, confront Noctumba and take away his power. But Noctumba is not alo≠ he has recruited others and Kintu is lost as to whom he can trust. The young Lore, alone, faces a challenge beyond his imagination.Noctumba has to be stopped. His unbridled powers and quest to control the earth are altering the world's energies and upsetting nature's balance. Only one can challenge Noctumba and prevent the ruin. Kintu is the chosen one but he is just beginning to learn about the Regions of Influence—the forces of nature. The Inner Kingdom is desperate and the Lore elders must guide Kintu through his time of Molta—his time of maturing, and help him realize his special powers and abilities. Kintu must draw his strength from the Influence, confront Noctumba and take away his power. But Noctumba is not alo≠ he has recruited others and Kintu is lost as to whom he can trust. The young Lore, alone, faces a challenge beyond his imagination.

A pilgrimage leads to a shocking revelation in this “deeply affecting and evocative extraterrestrial novel” from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author (Locus). The village of Jespodar nestles in the foothills of a world-dominating mountain known to all as "The Wall." Poilar Crookleg has grown up in Jespodar training hard and hoping that he will be chosen for the annual Pilgrimage, a group journey to the top of the mountain from which no pilgrim has ever returned both alive and sane. The pilgrims seek to replicate the legendary journey of a distant ancestor who scaled the mountain and, so the story goes, met with the gods. The Pilgrimage is a a life journey, an overwhelming challenge and a sacred honor and Poilar feels blessed when he is finally chosen to lead it. But not all is as it first seems. Along the journey lie hazards of all kinds, both vilently dangerous and seductively beguiling and to triumph in the climb is to confront a revelation so surprising and so disturbing that none, not even the smartest and best prepared, are likely to survive. What belief and what devotion leads so many to hope for such a challenging task and what will be the ultimate result of such dedication? Only The Wall itself can reveal the destiny for those who undertake the Pilgrimage.