Ever since Ragnarok, the human realm of the Midlands has been bereft of magic, and most lead lives of desperation. Eiric Halvorsen's family has remained prosperous-- until he is convicted by a rigged jury of murdering his modir and stepfadir. His half-systir, Liv, has an interest in seidr, or magic-- and become a figure of suspicion. A powerful jarl offers to pay the blood price if Eiric will lead a mission to the fabled Temple at the Grove-- stronghold of the wyrdspinners, the last practitioners of sorcery. Spellsinger, musician, and runecaster Reggin Eiklund has spent her life traveling, performing at alehouses for the benefit of her master, Asger, the fire demon she is desperate to escape. Then two wyrdspinners in the audience ask her to return with them to the temple to be trained in seidr, forever free of Asger. In New Jotunheim Eiric and Asger will discover that a great evil lurks beneath the dazzling surface-- and another cataclysmic war looms. -- adapted from jacket