"You could be the end of me a thousand times over, and I'll still crawl back to you." For a millennium, Alderland had enjoyed a long, languid Summer, interrupted by six weeks of brutal Winter, only survivable thanks to the protection of the Living Wands, magical instruments of Summer, and their chosen wielders. Winter was the enemy, the villain of every story, its magic and storm and monsters universally reviled. Until now. For the first time in known history, many long months of glittering snow and the gentle kiss of prevailing Winter have reigned over Alderland. And just as the people are beginning to feel at home in the cold, a new and terrible Summer season arrives in a shock of blazing heat, the sun a hot coal in the sky. A new generation of Living Wands take up the daunting task of rebuilding Aldrish society in the wake of the cataclysm that changed their world irrevocably, a world that is still reeling from the loss of their beloved Chosen Two: Domenic Barrow and Ellery Caldwell. But Destiny is the bedrock of Aldrish society and it isn't done with its Chosen yet. Though this time, they are done with Destiny. No more monsters. No more cataclysms. No more Chosen Ones. Forever. A Destiny So Cruel is the heartwrenching epic finale to the blockbuster fantasy duology that started in A Fate So Cold, from the New York Times bestselling authors of All of Us Villains.
