James Islington

"It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them - the Gifted - are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion's Four Tenets, vastly limiting their own powers. As a young Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and his friends are despised beyond their school walls for the magical power they wield: a power that Davian, despite his best...

"After a savage battle, the Boundary is whole again, but it may be too late. Banes now stalk the lands of Andarra, and the Venerate have gathered their armies for a final, crashing blow."--book jacket

"My job, when you think about it, isn't so different from a lot of people's. The more old-fashioned crowd do still get hung up on the "killing people" part of it, I guess, but that's a them problem: it's been perfectly legal to take out lifers for ages. Besides, once ultrawealthy morons realised they had a way to live forever--limited resources be damned--there was only ever going to be one genuinely practical deterrent. So, sure, I have to deal with...