The Earth no longer rotates. Science rules the dayside of the globe. Magic rules the world of Night. And Jack of Shadows, Shadowjack the Thief, who broke the Compact and duped the Lord of High Dudgeon; who was beheaded in Igles and rose again from the Dung Pits of Glyve; who drank the blood of a vampire and swallowed a stone--Shadowjack walks in silence and in shadows to seek vengeance upon his enemies.

Who are his foes? All who would despise him or love the Lord of Bats: Smage of the Jackass Ears, the Colonel Who Never Died, the Borshin, and Quazer, winner of the Hellgames and abductor of the voluptuous Evene. One by one, Shadowjack would seek them out and have his revenge, building his power as he goes.

And once his vengeance is obtained, he would come to terms with all the others who are against him, he would unite the World of High Dudgeon, destroy the Land of Filth, and bring peace to the Shadowguard. But to accomplish all, Jack of Shadows must find Kolwynia, the Key That Was Lost.