"You may think that this place is a fairy tale, but you're wrong." Nathaniel Valentine lives his life like a ghost, unnoticed, overlooked, without friends, without family. But on his birthday, Nathaniel will get the gift he always wanted: to be important. It will be the worst day of his life. When he is attacked in his apartment, Nathaniel is saved by the volatile karma policeman Sol, a conflicted guardian of the very humans he despises. He has been searching for a quarter century for Nathaniel, who he believes is destined to stop a monster. But Sol is just as dangerous as the creature he is ushering Nathaniel toward, and he has no love for his charge. As they travel the world beside this one hunting the monster, Nathaniel unravels the mystery of Sol's past, what the karma policeman is hiding, and what fuels his anger at humanity. With each step, Nathaniel's peril increases, leading him to an ultimate confrontation which may give him everything he's ever wanted...but destroy him in the process. Includes a special preview of "The Book Of Doors," the second volume of "The Books of Balance."