Publisher's Synopsis
The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than 2% of the total population of Safehold. But Charis had something far more powerful than simple numbers. It had a king, a crown prince, and a navy prepared to die where they stood in its defense. It had the Brethren of Saint Zherneau, who knew the truth about Safehold's founding. And it had Merlin Athrawes, last survivor of long-vanished Earth. Merlin, the cybernetic avatar of a woman dead over a thousand years, who was determined to break the Church's grip upon the human mind and soul. So after eight years of war, it is the Church that stands upon the brink of defeat. But the Church still commands immense resources, and - faced with the unthinkable - it's decided that it must embrace the forbidden technology which has carried Charis so far.
