Nine of the Greek gods turned their power against humanity when we started to worship other gods so Zeus punished them by restricting their power and binding them to the Agon. Every seven years the Agon begins and those gods become mortal and walk the Earth for seven days so that the descendants of the greatest Greek heroes can hunt them. Any human who delivers a killing blow inherits the slain god's power and thus becomes bound to the Agon themselves. Lore is the last mortal descendant of Perseus and as a child she was determined to win glory in the Agon until her family was brutally murdered by the new Ares. She might dream of revenge but killing him means becoming hunted herself so instead she hopes to escape the Agon. Alas, the Agon isn't done with her yet. The new Ares is still hunting for her, an old friend is in desperate danger, and the most cunning of the old gods, Athena, offers Lore a deal she can't resist. 

North of the river the Moon watches over the Winterlands and her people, the Ugaro. Its a harsh land but the nomadic tribes of the Ugaro are a tough people of strength and endurance. To the south live the tall slender Lau in the Summerlands where the Sun is stronger, the Moon weak, and the Stars are only a faint glimmer in the night. After four years of war things are not going well for the Ugaro. Each of their warriors is a match for three Lau but the Lau fight in shielded formations and have far greater numbers. After a devastating battle his tribe leaves Ryo inGara behind as a tuyo, a kind of sacrifice offered to the enemy in the hopes of appeasing their desire for further bloodshed. If a tuyo is accepted the enemy may kill them in any manner they wish and won't pursue the defeated warriors. In return the defeated tribe and their allies will no longer make war with them. Ryo expects to die horribly with no guarantee that the Lau will actually honor the custom of his people. Lord Aras, the Lau commander, sees in Ryo an opportunity to learn more about his people and why they started the war so he spares his life. Unfortunately, what he learns confirms his fears that a powerful sorcerer has been manipulating both sides and probably plans to seize power over both lands.

The Families in their underground fortresses have little interest in the world above, although they did offer aid to the first Larossan refugees who came to their lands due to their ancient mandate to preserve humanity. When the Anvarrid invaders eventually conquered Larossa they chose to negotiate with them rather than fight and risk the last six fortresses built by the Founders. In exchange for being mostly independent they vowed to give up their secret languages and technologies and spend their first three years as adults guarding the Anvarrid nobility. They make exceptional guards due to the high number of psychics, called sensitives, among them and the mental discipline required by anyone living with empaths. An uneasy peace has now existed between these three cultures for almost two centuries.

Everyone agrees that Lucinda should have been born a witch, with her personality and obsession with the Fire Guild. Or was she born a witch? Unaware that she's putting herself on the frontline of the coming war with the neighboring Empire she petitions the Fire Warlock for assistance in finding a husband. Living in his fortress with access to his library and studying with the handsome flame mage Sven is a dream come true except Lucinda keeps having nightmares. The King is convinced that the Fire Warlock, Quicksilver, is a power hungry wizard holding back the nobility out of spite and Lucinda has learned that the situation is hopelessly complicated. The Office of the Western Gate, that grants the Fire Warlock the ability to draw on the power of the volcano Storm King, is a magical construct known as a Lock. The Fire Warlock is charged with protecting the border and if the Warlock fails to act the Lock will simply incinerate him and pass the mandate to his successor. Above all, the Lock will maintain the sovereignty of Frankland, even if the inability to surrender in a war means their utter destruction. If only there was another warlock with the gift to craft Locks who could fix things because the seers agree that Quicksilver won't be the Warlock much longer.

Isao Ryotora is dispatched to the remote mining village of Seibo Mura following a bizarre attack by various creatures from the spirit realm known as yokai. As a shugenji, one who can communicate with the kami, Ryotora is not a warrior and he has little experience dealing with yokai. Not that anyone has really dealt with a situation like this before where so many unrelated yokai went from simple harassment to murderous destruction over the three nights of the full moon. The entire situation is made even more uncomfortable due to the presence of a scholarly samurai of an influential family, Asako Sekkin. His elegant manners only remind Ryotora that he was born a peasant in this very village before being adopted into a samurai family, but Sekkin is determined to help Ryotora with his investigation. This is because he has been plagued by a dog spirit that has allowed him no rest until he arrived in Seibo Mura. A great evil is rising but with Sekkin's knowledge of yokai folklore and Ryotora's skills as a shugenji they might be able to unravel the secret history of this place and save the empire.

The Stone Eaters aren't exactly human but the fate of humanity is in their hands. Now that Alabaster has set into motion a plan to return the Earth to its former state, where Fifth Seasons don't happen at all, it has forced the Stone Eaters to take sides. One side is supporting Essun and her quest to finish what Alabaster started, which means returning the Moon to its former orbit around the planet. The other faction is seeking to prevent Essun from doing so and hoping to instead crash the Moon into the Earth so they can finally achieve peace by ending their dreary immortal lives.  Of course they will need the help of an Oregene even more powerful than Essun to pull this off and they just happen to have one. Things are going to get awfully messy when Essun finds out that the Orogene supporting those Stone Eaters, and standing in the way of her attempt to save the planet, is her own daughter.

Book one of the Broken Earth trilogy, The Fifth Season, established a rich world with the unique characteristic of having a fifth season that occurs every so often in addition to the normal four. These seasons bring with them earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and acid rain from ash-choked air and they last for many years. Humanity survives by adopting Seasonal Law, a harsh culling of society down to only those who provide a valuable services and skills, along with the magic of Orogenes that do their best to control the shakes and divert the forces of the land away from communities. Alabaster, a ten-ring Orogene, finally reveals at the end of the first book that Fulcrum teaching is all wrong and that trained Orogenes, like himself and Essun, are just treating the symptoms and not the cause. He now knows the cause of these fifth seasons and he has taken the first step to address it. Unfortunately his effort has altered him in such a way that he is now dying and no longer capable of going any further, so he asks Essun to take the next step in saving the planet.  Is she willing to believe his mad theory and put aside her search for her daughter? And sign up for the same fate as him in the process?

Nahadoth, a being of darkness and chaos, was alone until Itempas, a being of light and order, joined him. They were both overjoyed to have a companion, and eventually they were joined by a third god, Enefa. With her to provide balance they were able to create the world and humans to worship them. They also discovered that by mingling their energy they could create lesser gods that contained various attributes of their parents. Nahadoth was change itself, but for Itempas, the god of law and order, change was something to be feared and there came a time when Enefa could no longer maintain peace between them. In an effort to return to their earlier happiness Itempas kills Enefa but this only results in Nahadoth vowing revenge. The human world is broken in this war between the gods until eventually Itempas emerges as the victor. Nahadoth and his children and bound by Itempas to serve the family of his favored priestess, the Arameri.

The world known as The Stillness has the same four seasons as we do but it also has a fifth season that is very different from the usual four. The fifth season does not happen every year, in fact it can be over a hundred years between occurrences, but when it does come it lasts for many years. Unfortunately, so do the earthquakes, volcanoes, and acid rain that come along with it. Humans survive these harsh periods by following Stonelore that keeps each Comm prepared with food and supplies. The Orogenes also make a difference. Oregenes are magic users that are highly attuned to the earth and have the ability to influence the tectonic forces that plague the planet. The Fulcrum teaches this magical art and assigns rings to its students as they progress in Orogenic power. However, the combined might of the Fulcrum can't stop the fifth seasons from happening and one such season is about to start. All signs indicate it is going to be a long one. 

Sarantium is the most greatest city in the known world. But few can imagine traveling a great distance so to say someone is sailing to Sarantium means they are making a great change and perhaps completely abandoning the life they knew. The mosaicist Crispin is starting that journey both literally and figuratively. He's drifting through life since losing his family in a plague when he receives a commission from the Sarantine Emperor to decorate the ceiling of the great chapel he's having built. This ordinary artist sets out on a journey that will travel through lands steeped in ancient myths and the dangerous heights of imperial politics before finding himself in an artistic work that should be known throughout the known world.