Rowan Donchaad, captain of the Slayer of the Sea, has built himself an empire. He scours the high seas in search of leviathans, fierce underwater monsters whose scales are laced with precious gold. But all his money and acclaim becomes worthless when the love of his life is drowned in a storm along with their unborn child. Driven by grief and a ferocious desire for revenge, he sets sail on one final hunt: to kill a Devourer, the largest and deadliest of all leviathan breeds.

Nobody in living memory has ever killed such a creature, but that won't stop Rowan from trying, even when he discovers that doing so could bring about the end of the world. For him, it is kill or be killed, and he'll risk everything for vengeance.