This is a classic old school fantasy series that starts with old prophecies coming to life, and the required young boy being bullied coming of age. The Banished Lands are ruled by competing kingdoms, loosely aligned under a High King. An alliance not strong enough to withstand the prophesied God War and it doesn't take long for the bickering to begin. The human kingdoms are not alone in this as the Giants that used to inhabit the Banished Lands are also aware of the prophecies. Giants are much longer lived and they remember how to use the old magic, so their return just complicates things even more. This gives the Banished Lands a lived-in sense of history as ancient grudges, changing loyalties, and conflicting interpretation of prophecies create a complex tapestry ripe for story telling.

Demir Grappo is a powerful glassdancer and a successful military leader, even at his young age. Despite these innate talents and abilities, he has a solid moral compass and he shows unusual compassion to the rebellious factions that he is sent to put down. Such talent and promise breeds jealousy, and when a political rival maneuvers to turn his greatest military victory into a bloody massacre caused by his own troops, he mentally breaks. The emotional toll of what happened under his command is just too much to bear and Demir walks away from everything, including his eventual inheritance, to live out his life as a grifter. That is until his mother, a powerful political figure and head of his family, is murdered on the city streets. Demir returns from exile to use the resources of his family to uncover the truth about his mother's murder, and of course things get complicated very quickly.