The Weight of Ambergris

About this book

In the Sovereignty of Aethelgard, a fog-wreathed archipelago powered by the volatile essence of sea behemoths, society runs on Liquid Ambergris. This precious substance fuels the lamps, drives the engines of industry, and grants strange, momentary visions to those who refine it. Eilidh O'Malley, a disgraced alchemist's apprentice working the grim rendering yards, discovers that the Ambergris supplies are being tainted with a synthetic additive that causes madness rather than energy. Her path collides with Kaelo Kaimana, a navigator from the warmer southern isles who claims the leviathans are dying out due to over-harvesting. Together, they uncover a conspiracy reaching the High Admiralty, where the obsession with perpetual light threatens to plunge the world into an eternal, chaotic darkness. As civil unrest bubbles in the damp cobblestone streets and the sea itself begins to rebel against the ships that hunt its children, Eilidh and Kaelo must race to expose the truth before Aethelgard is consumed by the very power it covets.