Defender: There are knots at the beginning and ending of all things (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781793027184)

When fledgling efforts to mine the Bones of Afi for precious ores yield a mysterious metal ring, Uira, the Republic of Dreams' aged Keeper of Legends, insists that they summon Exander Metro. She believes it is an ancient Object of Power, intended for him alone.

His return to the Republic puts him on a collision course with Lanh Vuong and a group of pirates seeking to take over the Republic, and with Alai, a banished tribesman who once tried to kill him. Ariadne, the Global Artificial Intelligence, may be unable to help him, but perhaps Exander's own young son can - Ion, who sees the world as an interplay of the battling shadows of Life and Death.

Set in the latter part of the 22nd Century, when rising seas have changed the face of the planet forever, Defender, Book IV in the series, brings us back to the Republic four years after the conclusion of Mettle, and re-introduces us to its rich ensemble of characters and strikingly beautiful landscape, the result of Afi's massive impact in the western Pacific.

Defender is Book IV in The Republic of Dreams series, where unseen combatants wage a proxy war in a world that is equal parts science, history, metaphor and mystery.