The Empire of Ashes - The Ascendance Trilogy, #1

The world changes far too quickly. A man from the far south rises, proclaimed as the promised Dragonwind that will defeat the emperor-but he himself doubts this. Another man leads his orphaned people northward, toward the Storm Mountains and the fabled fortress of Phoenix Haven, where lies an emerging rebellion against Emperor Archax's rule. Out of a clan of dark assassins-exiled from their ancestral home, imprisoned in a foreign city-a single woman dares to defy the guild's ancient code when she refuses to kill her quarry. Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by war and magic, this epic novel of blood, intrigue, and betrayal marks the beginning of the Ascendance Trilogy, a magnificent new fantasy series.