In book three of the King of Ys series, Gratillonius’s reign faces a deadly new threat from across the sea
For sixteen years Gratillonius has been the king of Ys, a position he has used to bring the once-teetering city-state back to stability as the Roman Empire continues to collapse around it. Rome would prefer a more malleable leader in Gratillonius’s place and makes no secret of it. As pressure from Roman leadership increases, Gratillonius must also contend with Niall maqq Echach, the leader of Northern Ireland who holds the Ysan king responsible for the death of his son. Compounding these complications is the ever-present threat of retribution by the Ysan gods, should the kingdom’s leadership make a misstep. But perhaps the greatest danger of all is unfolding from within Gratillonius’s own household, where, following the death of one of his nine wives, the gods have named an unsettling replacement: Dahut, Gratillonius’s own daughter.
As treachery mounts from within and without, Gratillonius must hold to his principles in defiance of the gods while still protecting Ys from the destruction closing in on all sides.
Dahut is the third book in Poul and Karen Anderson’s King of Ys series, which concludes with The Dog and the Wolf.
Poul Anderson (1926–2001) grew up bilingual in a Danish American family. After discovering science fiction fandom and earning a physics degree at the University of Minnesota, he found writing science fiction more satisfactory. Admired for his “hard” science fiction, mysteries, historical novels, and “fantasy with rivets,” he also excelled in humor. He was the guest of honor at the 1959 World Science Fiction Convention and at many similar events, including the 1998 Contact Japan 3 and the 1999 Strannik Conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Besides winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards, he has received the Gandalf, Seiun, and Strannik, or “Wanderer,” Awards. A founder of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, he became a Grand Master, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
In 1952 he met Karen Kruse; they married in Berkeley, California, where their daughter, Astrid, was born, and they later lived in Orinda, California. Astrid and her husband, science fiction author Greg Bear, now live with their family outside Seattle.