A second novel by the author of "A Dangerous Energy", which won the Gollancz/BBC "Bookshelf" First Fantasy Novel Competition. Set in Renaissance Italy, it features a Machiavellian anti-hero who, in his Capri villa, looks back on a life of stoicism, a life spent serving a cause - a life of infamy.
A 17th Century curate, James Blades, finds himself transported to a virginal England, unsullied by humanity's building and detritus. But here, the top of the food chain is the Null, mighty beasts who consider the hole-dwelling humans as food animals. Marshalling his knowledge, and returning to our Earth for weapons and useful humans, Blades takes on the Null in pitched battles and teaches the humans to have self-respect. He becomes Emperor. But with knowledge comes treachery and violence...