The Queen of Wolves

A titanic battle that pits vampyre against vampyre in a war that will determine for eternity whether the undead will coexist with the living caps the conclusion to Clegg's majestic Vampyricon trilogy (after The Priest of Blood and The Queen of Serpents ). Aleric, the foreordained Priest of Blood, recounts his escape from the gladiatorial penal colony Aztlanteum with his lover, Pythia, and their efforts to find a haven where they can safely indulge their vampyre needs. Fate draws Aleric inexorably to Myrryd, the former home of Medhya, Queen of Serpents, who was banished beyond the Veil for her overreaching ambitions but who schemes to sneak back and enslave the world under vampyre dominion. Empowered by Merod, the Great Serpent who spawned the vampyre civilization, Aleric raises an army of vamps and mortals for a cataclysmic clash described with the vivid color and intense imagination that have been the saga's hallmarks. Clegg crafts a fitting finale ornamented with prose that modulates between the sensual and regal and that distinguishes his series as one of the more memorable modern vampire epics. (Sept.)