'It's not dark magic, then. Whatever you're playing with, it's something different. Something far more dangerous.'

Scotland, 1748. Professor William Cullen is a simple man with a simple goal: overhaul the eighteenth century medical education system and make it accessible to commoners. Attempting this puts him at odds with the medical elite in Edinburgh, who like the current system just fine. Staying away from them in Glasgow is the only reason Cullen manages to teach medicine at all.

However, Cullen has a secret: he’s also developing a new, egalitarian system of magic. If the aristocrats in Edinburgh learn he threatens their stronghold of power – upheld through dark magical means and buy-in from the city's illustrious medical school – he’s dead. When a noble is murdered for daring to champion Cullen, he realises confrontation is inevitable and he must take his fight to Edinburgh.

Aided by his prodigious former student Joseph Black, Cullen must navigate his way through a hostile academic system, locating the source of the aristocrats’ power before his secret abilities are uncovered and the assassins return for him.

Fans of The Embroidered Book and The Baroque Cycle will be thrilled by this fantastical reimagining of 18th century Edinburgh on the cusp of scientific and philosophical revolution.

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