This was a very interesting story involving a young girl, Hekat, who is born into slavery and sold to traveling traders who take her across the land (Mijak) to a place called Et-Raklion where she begins to free herself and become a warrior of sorts.

Hekat seems very cold and calculating. She loves the god and does everything for the god.

There are characters called godspeakers who are like priests who perform tons of sacrifices in the name of the god, who seems to be some sort of scorpion who desires a lot of blood. The god speaks to Hekat as well and seems to help her along to the bed of Raklion Warlord. Hekat gives birth to a son, Raklion's first after many failed attempts. Hekat helps Raklion become the one Warlord of Mijak, which was previously supposed to have seven warlords.

There are many who are either afraid of or wary of Hekat and as a reader I couldnt' tell if I was supposed to like her or not but I didn't care much for her by the end of the book. You begin to root for her son, Zandakar, as he ages and takes over as the warlord for all of Mijak after his father's death.

Zandakar has a brother Dmitrak who is not well-loved by Hekat. Zandakar is told he must go off into the rest of the 'godless' world and conquer everything. Toward the end of the book Zandakar and his weapon 'hammer of god' start to hate the constant bloodshed. Zandakar falls in love with a woman who is part of a race that is viewed as a slave race. The woman becomes pregnant and when Zandakar returns home to Mijak his mother, Hekat, is very unhappy with him.