Last week, he didn't know he had a family. Now he's trying to save the world from them.

Wrapped around an inland sea, Dhashere is a broad land of fecund coastal woodlands, rocky heights, and arid grasslands called home by more than humans; there are sapient species styled elemental peoples inhabiting its seas, its skies, even underneath its streets. Peacefully, it used to be. Now, the Premier is failing, and that shouldn't be a problem. Rulership is shared with four senates, and he has children to succeed him. But there may be too many.

Maru was raised in isolation in a monastery, convinced he was a foundling. Then a glamorous foreign magician appears. He claims to be an emissary of Maru's father, none other than the Premier, who has sent this trusted intimate to fetch his secret son home to the capital. A more cynical person might wonder if there's a catch, and a more cynical person would be correct: Jaalen was hired by a shadowy contingent keen to pit their own candidate against his father's legitimate children.

It's not as simple as deciding whether he's willing to vie for the throne. An army of bovine zealots gathers at the border, ready to invade, and someone is murdering elemental shamans by means as malignant as they are mysterious. There's no question it's one of Maru's siblings, but he doesn't know which and now he's in their custody. Did anyone mention there are ten of them? The only person he trusts is the lying magician who tricked him into getting involved.

And if he wants the help of Dhashere's most infamous witch-for-hire, he'll need to start by saving him.

The Spider's Friend is a thrilling, twist-filled adventure, a palace intrigue with less palace and more battling-giant-jellyfish. A must-read for anyone interested in novel second worlds, it has mole-people and a city made of waterfalls; one of the narrative characters is an ambulatory plant.

Ready to separate the liars from true friends? Plunge into the decaying chaos of the Dhashereen Dominion!