book in a series, named The Saga of the Seven Stars (try saying that 5
times fast). This first book sets the stage for the series and
introduces some of the major players that will be present throughout
many of the later books. So if you're interested long series ala
Robert Jordan or Terry Goodkind, etc., this may just be the series for
you.
Blood and Shadows is basically about this super band of assassins that
are being united under a single leader, Lord Garik. He's got a virtual
army of assassins and a super powerful assassin named only "the veiled
assassin." He also has a bad-ass mage named Nikki, who let's just say
likes to burn things to ash.
In order to stop Lord Garik and his henchmen, the king of Tar Ebon
(that's the world this is set in - a whole different planet from
Earth) sends out his greatest champion, Dawyn Darklance. Dawyn chooses
several companions and they head out on a quest to find Lord Garik and
stop him. The stakes are pretty high, because if they fail anarchy
will ensue across the kingdom and thousands will die. Even more than
that, if they fail, the whole will be doomed to annihilation (more on
that later in the series).
Anyway, I think I may have given too much away, but there are still
plenty of plot twists awaiting any readers who want to venture into
this fresh fantasy novel. Thanks for reading.