Cirrus@Austlit

'"If you go to sea, you will come to the attention of the Ship Kings. And if they discover who you are, they will kill you." Young Dow Amber is no sailor. But driven by a strange sea-longing he ventures down to the great grim bay known as the Claw. He hopes to learn there of seafaring, but he finds only a fearful people who scarcely dare sail at all, for they have been cursed by a monstrous whirlpool that haunts the bay, stealing away their sons.

'Then the rulers of all the world - the proud and cruel Ship Kings - arrive in the Claw. Dow is fascinated by their fine tall vessels, and even more so by a mysterious girl who lives aboard their flagship.

'It is a perilous attraction to be sure, but could it be that his future somehow lies with the Ship Kings? Or will he be called upon to descend to his death, when the terrible whirlpool rises once more? The Coming of the Whirlpool is the first volume in a stunning series from Miles Franklin Award winner Andrew McGahan.' (From the publisher's website.)

''The ancient mapmaker had inscribed a warning within the great empty shadow on his chart, words that echoed down to Dow from half a thousand years before.

'Here be whales in great number.

'And here be monsters of the deep that riseth to feast upon them.'

'Nearly three years have passed since Dow Amber escaped the ruin of the Twelfth Kingdom. In that time, war has raged across the Four Isles, but Dow himself has been hidden away by his Twin Islands hosts, relegated to a backwater of the war in the company of the beguiling Cassandra.

'But when word reaches Dow that Ignella of the Cave has been imprisoned on the infamous Ship Kings dungeon-isle of Banishment, he can be patient no longer. He sets forth on an epic voyage that will take him halfway around the world – defying storm and monster, betrayal and despair – to the heart of the greatest battle of the age, and to the discovery at last of his true purpose upon the high seas.

'The War of the Four Isles is the third volume in Andrew McGahan's momentous Ship Kings series.' (Publication summary)

'The cataclysmic final book in the Ship Kings series. In search of a new world, Dow and Nell must face the final frontier - the treacherous Doldrums. Their journey will be filled with wonders; the rewards could be great - but the cost might be everything, for there are good reasons why none who have sailed the Ocean of the Dead have returned to tell the tale.

'It is no easy thing, to take leave of the world.

'At very long last a captain of his own ship, Dow Amber is determined to venture beyond the final frontier - the still, stagnant waters of the Doldrums - in search of a New World. With Nell finally by his side, he is hopeful that they can start again, far from politics, betrayal and war.

'But none who have sailed the Ocean of the Dead have returned to tell the tale. Before long, an old enemy appears. And with the enemy new dangers. Does the fleet sail to certain death, or to glorious new life beyond the treacherous Doldrums?

'The Ocean of the Dead is the cataclysmic conclusion to Andrew McGahan's stunning Ship Kings series.'