Young King Jaron has taken the throne of Carthya, but after enemies attempt to assassinate him, and a neighboring kingdom threatens invasion, he finds that he has no friends in the palace, not even his bride-to-be, Princess Amarinda--and his regents think it would be better for Carthya if he just disappeared again.

Ascendant King Jaron believes that his kingdom, Carthya, is at peace, so he and his bethrothed, Imogen, are sailing home from a trade mission when their ship is attacked by Prozarians, and Jaron and several of his friends are taken prisoner; the Prozarian captain seems to believe he had something to do with his parents' deaths and they also know a great deal about Jaron's long-missing older brother, Darius, the rightful heir to Carthya--who may be...

Discover Thrawn's origins within the Chiss Ascendancy in the first book in an epic new Star Wars trilogy from bestselling author Timothy Zahn.

"Life can exist anywhere. And anywhere there is life, there is home. In the swirling clouds of Venus, the families of La Colonie live on floating plant-like trawlers, salvaging what they can in the fierce acid rain and crackling storms. Outside is dangerous, but humankind's hold on the planet is fragile and they spend most of their days simply surviving. But Venus carries its own secrets, too. In the depths, there is a wind that shouldn't exist. And...

"When King Jaron returned to Carthya, he brought with him a device that supposedly shows the way to a great treasure, but now everything is going wrong: Castor, the son of an old enemy, is conspiring against him and wants the throne for himself: his fiancée, Imogen, seems to have turned against him: and the Prozarian Monarch has invaded his kingdom and taken Jaron's castle--but Jaron has a lot of experience at hiding and escaping, and he is not willing...