Kushiel's Avatar is the concluding volume in Jacqueline Carey's evocative novels about the enigmatic Ph dre n Delaunay; the third in a triptych of beautifully constructed historical fantasies that combine passion and danger, great battles of the sword and soul, deep eroticism, and mystical enigmas.

Ph dre n Delaunay was chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Her path has been strange and dangerous, but through it all the devoted swordsman Joscelin has been at her side.

But Ph dre has never forgotten her childhood friend Hyacinthe, who struck a bargain with the gods to save Ph dre...and their nation. She is determined to seize one last hope to bring him back. Her quest will bring Ph dre and Joscelin across the world, to distant courts where madness reigns and souls are currency, down a fabled river to a land forgotten by most of the world.

And to a power so mighty that none dare speak its name.