At the heart of the galaxy-spanning tyrannical Empire lies Golgotha, the planet of the Iron Throne. Once it was impregnable. Now . . . the Iron Bitch may have made a fatal mistake. In outlawing Owen Deathstalker, she has awakened a lust for revenge in a quite man - and unwittingly created a focus for a galaxy full of hatred for her loathsome rule. At last the espers and clones, the AIs and the freak, the innocent and the damned have someone to lead them in rebellion . . .