The First Casualty: Book One of The Sharp Places - Qwame C. S. Skinner

nNiaz Ahktar, known across the Sharp Places as The Devil of the Clay, has lived in infamy. Trying to stand on the right side of things just seems to result in new enemies. All he wants now is to earn enough coin to start over and live an honest, quiet life.n nn nBut when he's given the opportunity to finally make up for his past and be a hero, he can't pass it up. If he can rescue Raiza, a Zurun girl kidnapped because of her rare magic, he can help spark a rebellion and leave a better world than the one he was born into.n nn nFaolan Vonungr wants what's rightfully his: the Sharp Places. He's the spitting image of his father, as determined as his mother, and has a much different idea than Niaz of what the Sharp Places need. After the two cross paths, it becomes clear that only one of them is making it out alive.n nn nThey'll have to overcome betrayal, their pasts, and their inner devils if they want to be on the right side of history, but in The Sharp Places, it's usually just steel that decides the heroes and the villains.n