Shattered Pillars

core novel 2013 Eternal Sky

Record

First published	2013
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	3.85 (1,738 ratings, collected 2026-08-26)
Page count	334
First-edition ISBN	9780765327550
Internal chronology	2

Synopsis

Shattered Pillars continues directly from Range of Ghosts, following Temur and Samarkar as they press their pursuit of answers and allies southward into the city of Asitaneh, in territory ruled by the powerful Uthman Caliphate, seeking support against the sorcerer al-Sepehr and the fanatical order he commands. As Temur works to rally the fractured remnants of his own people against his usurping cousin's claim to the khaganate, Samarkar continues to develop her wizardly abilities while navigating the political complexities of foreign courts wary of involving themselves in a civil war not their own. Their journey is further complicated by the spread of an unnatural plague tied to al-Sepehr's schemes, a threat that begins to destabilize the region's rulers and armies alike, drawing the trilogy's central conflict onto a wider stage than the steppe warfare that opened it.

Where it sits

• Universe: Eternal Sky
• Series: Eternal Sky core; position 2 of 3 in the series' recorded order
• Author: Elizabeth Bear

Notes

• From the series record (Eternal Sky): An epic fantasy trilogy drawing on the history and cultures of the medieval Silk Road and the Mongol steppe, following a deposed steppe princess and a wizard on the run from a usurped empire.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.

• Reading order, within the series Eternal Sky: position 2 of 3: previous Range of Ghosts (2012) · next Steles of the Sky (2014)

Sources

• Wikipedia

← Eternal Sky dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.