This is the first book of the Mid-Sea Chronicles, the adventures of Tiranu Shupari, a Sun Priest/Magician in the Mid-Sea Empire, son of the King-of-Kings, Zelim the Mighty, whom he put on the throne after a lengthy civil war three years previous to this tale. In this volume, he is sent from the City-of-Gold, the Imperial capital, on a secret journey 900 miles south, to the City-of-Winds, at the tip of the Mid-Sea, to aid rebels in overthrowing the Governor-for-Life there because he has just declared for the Emperor's most potent foe, the grandson of Tatenos Totori, who held the throne just before Zelim. However, the ship he's on is scuttled at sea and Tiranu is forced into the water along with his faithful bodyguard, Barth Jarrow. They make it to shore, but find they are in an area infested with dragons and man-eating birds with wing-spans of 30-feet. To make matters worse, it is discovered that Tiranu escaped and he is chased by his enemies through the Wilderness. However, he does have friends, namely an Immortal, Tara, who has taken an interest in him since he was born. This tale and all the others are told by his younger brother, Tjamoo Shupari, also a Sun Priest, nearly a century after these events take place. He has made it his life-work to collect the tales of his brother, edit them, and publish them. As he says in his introduction, "Tiranu was a very human hero with superhuman talents." This first book is part of a trilogy. The second two books, THE WARLORD OF NEDUNG BETAR and THE PIRATE KING OF TRELAG SZUU have been written. They merely need editing, so they should be published within the year of this one. This series has lots of magic, lots of monsters, and lots of metaphysical truths that the reader will enjoy discovering.