A thousand years before Lord Valentine, the destiny of kinds is hostage to sorcery and deceit.
On the planet Majipoor, it is a time of great change. The aged Ponitfex Prankipin, who brought sorcery (and prosperity) to the Fifty Cities of Castle Mount, is dying. The Coronal Lord Confalume, who will become Pontifex, begins the Funeral Games before his own replacement is chosen. It is no secret that the next Coronal will be Prince Prestimion. By law and custom, the blood son of the present Coronal—Korsibar, an avid hunter—cannot rule. But Korsibar has a secret quarry—the Starburst Crown. Visited by an oracle, Korsibar has heard a prophecy that will plunge the planet into a fearsome conflagration and alter destiny itself: "You will shake the world!"
