Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. A full-time writer since 2001, he has worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. Garth's books include the award-winning Old Kingdom fantasy novels; the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence; The Keys to the Kingdom series; and with Sean Williams, the Troubletwisters books and Spirit Animals: Blood Ties. He is also the author of Frogkisser! and other novels for younger children.More than six million copies of Garth's books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into 40 languages. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Follow Garth on twitter at @garthnix or at www.garthnix.com

This beautifully told romp of fairy tale is at its core a meditation on the perils of power. Wise and wondrous.