When Melik the blacksmith notices that his horses are being frightened and are running wild in the fields, he determines to discover the cause and bring closure to the startling mystery. He finds his wizard-friend, Artimiz, for counsel, who gives him a choker with a magic lock to secure the culprit when he or she is captured. But little does he know how this simple device will affect not only the future of his family, but mankind as well. In a highly entertaining and well-crafted novel Sonia Nazarian crafts a complex and inventive fantasy with a glittering array of wizards, spirits, kings and queens; and a hero, Doran, who sets out to fix a centuries-old wrong. For it is a beautiful spirit, Guizi, who has been held in the choker, but once she has paid the price set by Melik to atone for her pranks, fate plays an awful card.