The Ragpicker King – Clareová Cassandra (2025)

In this epic follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Sword Catcher, praised by George R. R. Martin as “everything I look for in fantasy,” Lin and Kel must chart a perilous course between love and lies. Kel Saren, body double to Conor, crown prince of the dazzling city of Castellane, is caught between two worlds. To protect his beloved prince, Kel must find those responsible for a massacre at the royal palace, and the only clues are held by the Ragpicker King, the notorious criminal who rules Castellane’s underworld. Kel’s trail leads back to the Hill, where decadent nobles and glittering parties conceal a dark conspiracy to destroy the royal family, headed by the monstrous Artal Gremont, the man engaged to marry the woman Kel adores. Meanwhile, Lin Caster faces the consequences of the greatest risk she has ever taken. To save a dying friend, she falsely claimed to be the Goddess Reborn, the legendary heroine destined to save her people. Now her terrifying yet strangely magnetic leader has arrived to test her powers. Failure means exile, and only an alliance with the Ragpicker King allows Lin to continue accessing the magic that may save her. When Prince Conor reappears and demands that she use her healing powers to cure his father’s madness, Lin realizes the King is gripped by an ancient and terrible magic whose lure she cannot resist, any more than she can deny her growing passion for Conor. As tensions in Castellane reach fever pitch, Lin and Kel must decide whom to trust when any false move means death—or worse—in this spellbinding epic of power, intrigue and magic.