In the first book of the Darkening Path trilogy, Simon and Flora angrily wished their siblings away to the Broken King of the title. Now, following the commands of lustrous, mysterious messengers, they have crossed into his domain, determined to free their sister and brother. But the Silver Kingdom is a threatening, half-lit environment, full of obscurity, strangeness and fear. Its citizens scrutinise and betray each other for gain and flock in zealous terror to hear new royal decrees, signalled by a cacophony of bells. The king’s portrait, horned and red-lipped, is everywhere.

The Broken King, Selenus, feeds upon the adulation of the faithful – and on the life force of Anna and Johnny, the wished-away siblings. Those who dare to flout him or fall foul of his mercurial moods are Taken Apart – ritually