Thanks to Simon Spanton, Gillian Redfearn, Sophie Calder, Charlie Panayiotou and all at Gollancz for their hard work and friendliness.
Leopard-print kudos to my agent Juliet Mushens and thanks to Sarah Manning and the Agency Group.
I’ve crossed paths with many authors in the last year, inspirations, imbibers of intoxicants, and fine folk: John Hornor Jacobs, Edward Cox, James Oswald, Joe Abercrombie, Rebecca Levene, Daniel Polansky, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear, Jon Wallace, and, as ever, Tom Pollock and Jen Williams.
Many thanks to Goldsboro Books for making me feel so welcome, Forbidden Planet Southampton, and the many Waterstone’s book sellers who chose The Boy with the Porcelain Blade as a recommended read.
Also by Den Patrick from Gollancz:
The Naer Evain Chronicles
Orcs War-Fighting Manual
Elves War-Fighting Manual
Dwarves War-Fighting Manual
The Erebus Sequence
The Boy with the Porcelain Blade
A Gollancz eBook
Copyright © Den Patrick 2015
All rights reserved.
The right of Den Patrick to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
Gollancz
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
This eBook first published in 2015 by Gollancz.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 473 20003 6
All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
www.orionbooks.co.uk
www.gollancz.co.uk
Table of Contents
Dedication
Title Page
Epigraph
Great and Minor Houses of Landfall
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Coda
Acknowledgements
Also by Den Patrick from Gollancz
Copyright