Alex must face his dark side in his eleventh outing. It seems as though Alex, a light wizard by inclination, but long ago apprenticed to dark mage Richard Drach, has absorbed a lot of that darkness – even presuming it wasn't there all along. Throughout the series, the Light Council have been highly suspicious of him, while the Dark mages have either been trying to recruit him or trick him to their side. This time Alex takes drastic action to protect his friends. Anne has gone rogue and Alex wants to keep her safe but knows she's powerful enough to kill him on the spot if she wants to. Alex himself is more powerful now he has the Fateweaver, but he has to figure out a way to stop the Council's death squads from hunting them down. He needs a way to neutralise his old enemy Levistus without involving his previous master, Richard. It involves a lot of playing one person against the other and throwing his lot in with previous enemies. The Alex Verus books are buy on sight for me. This one did not disappoint.