From the international bestselling author of the Broken Empire trilogy comes the second book of the Red Queen’s War...   After harrowing adventure and near death, Prince Jalan Kendeth and the Viking Snorri ver Snagason find themselves in possession of Loki’s key, an artefact capable of opening any door and sought by the most dangerous beings in the Broken Empire—including the Dead King. Jal wants only to return home to his wine, women, and song, but Snorri has his own purpose for the key: to find the very door into death, throw it wide, and bring his family back into the land of the living. And as Snorri prepares for his quest to find death’s door, Jal’s grandmother, the Red Queen, continues to manipulate kings and pawns toward an endgame of her own design... Praise for Mark Lawrence and The Red Queen’s War “Mark Lawrence is the best thing to happen to fantasy in recent years.”— New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett “Lawrence’s epic fantasy is a great summer read, full of humor, revenge, and perils that this warrior-and-coward duo must evade in order [to] save their kingdoms and themselves.”— The Washington Post “Exciting action and quick-witted dialog make it a fantastic summer page-turner.”— Library Journal (starred review) “Jalan Kendeth is a fine addition to this Loki-like roster of tricksters, knaves, and cowards: heroes and antiheroes we love to hate and hate to love...Mark Lawrence’s growing army of fans will relish this rollicking new adventure and look forward to the next one.”—The Daily Mail “As richly told as the earlier trilogy: The author makes this place, a post-cataclysm earth of the far future, feel as real as any place you’ve ever visited. For fans of the Broken Empire series and readers who enjoy a good, epic-sized fantasy story (readers of, say, George R. R. Martin), this is a must-read.”— Booklist “Shrewd Jalan and honorable Snorri make a marvelous team, lightening a very dark story with wry humor. The brisk adventure and black magic will leave readers eager for the next chapter in the series.”— Publishers Weekly Mark Lawrence is a research scientist working on artificial intelligence. He is a dual national with both British and American citizenship, and has held secret-level clearance with both governments. At one point, he was qualified to say, “This isn’t rocket science—oh wait, it actually is.” He is the author of the Broken Empire trilogy ( Prince of Thorns , King of Thorns , and Emperor of Thorns ), the Red Queen’s War trilogy ( Prince of Fools , The Liar’s Key , and The Wheel of Osheim ) and the Book of the Ancestor series ( Red Sister ). PROLOGUE Two men in a room of many doors. One tall in his robes, stern, marked with cruelty and intelligence, the other shorter, very lean, his hair a shock of surprise, his garb a changing motley confusing the eye. The short man laughs, a many-angled sound as likely to kill birds in flight as to bring blossom to the bough. “I have summoned you!” The tall man, teeth gritted as if still straining to hold the other in place, though his hands are at his side. “A fine trick, Kelem.” “You know me?” “I know everyone.” A sharp grin. “You’re the door-mage.” “And you are?” “Ikol.” His clothes change, tattered yellow checks on blue where before it was scarlet fleur de lis on grey. “Olik.” He smiles a smile that dazzles and cuts. “Loki, if you likey.” “Are you a god, Loki?” No humour in Kelem, only command. Command and a great and terrible concentration in stone-grey eyes. “No.” Loki spins, regarding the doors. “But I’ve been known to lie.” “I called on the most powerful—” “You don’t always get what you want.” Almost sing-song. “But sometimes you get what you need. You got me.” “You are a god?” “Gods are dull. I’ve stood before the throne. Wodin sits there, old one-eye, with his ravens whispering into each ear.” Loki smiles. “Always the ravens. Funny how that goes.” “I need—” “Men don’t know what they need. They barely know what they want. Wodin, father of storms, god of gods, stern and wise. But mostly stern. You’d like him. And watching—always watching—oh the things that he has seen!” Loki spins to take in the room. “Me, I’m just a jester in the hall where the world was made. I caper, I joke, I cut a jig. I’m of little importance. Imagine though . . . if it were I that pulled the strings and made the gods dance. What if at the core, if you dug deep enough, uncovered every truth . . . what if at the heart of it all . . . there was a lie, like a worm at the centre of the apple, coiled like Oroborus, just as the secret of men hides coiled at the centre of each piece of you, no matter how fine you slice? Wouldn’t that be a fine joke now?” Kelem frowns at this nonsense, then with a quick shake of his head returns to his purpose. “I made this place. From my failures.” He gestures at the doors. Thirteen, lined side by side on each wall of an otherwise bare room. “These are doors I can’t open. You can leave here, but no door