Penguin presents the audiobook model of Darien by C.F. Iggulden, examine by Daniel Weyman.

TWELVE FAMILIES. ONE THRONE. WELCOME TO THE EMPIRE OF SALT.

The town of Darien stands at the weary end of a golden age. Twelve households keep purchase with troops and artefacts, spies and recollections, clinging to a peace that shifts and crumbles. The people of the city endure what they cannot change.

Here, amongst older feuds, a storyline can be hatched to destroy a king. It’ll summon strangers to the city – Elias Post, a hunter, Tellius, a vintage swordsman banished from his house, Arthur, a young man who cannot speak, Daw Threefold, a chancer and gambler, Vic Deeds, who feels no guilt – and Nancy, a woman whose talent may be the undoing of them all.

As sunlight pieces, their arrival inside the walls will spark some explosive events. Before the sunlight returns, six destinies will have been produced – and shed – in Darien.