The tale of Kvothe, from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages, you will come to know Kvothe as a notorious magician, an accomplished thief, a masterful musician, and an infamous assassin. But this book is so much more, for the story it tells reveals the truth behind Kvothe's...

Kiron and his friends, established in a desert cliff dwelling seemingly made for dragons, must not only bring order to the new society, but be on guard against Magi who might try to achieve conquest surreptitiously after failing to win with violence.