Nathan, a youngster in a secluded rat village hidden in the deep woods of the Dark Forest, loves nothing better than tales of knights, heroes, and grand adventure. Then clashing empires turn his home into a battlefield, kill his parents, and cast him into the chaos of a woodland at war. His mother left him a final gift—a strange necklace bearing a rat’s tooth—and a mystery that could change the Dark Forest forever.

The forest has no love for rats in the best of times, and fleeing through the war-torn countryside means facing a thousand dangers—none as terrible as the ruthless owl spymaster Semyon, who will stop at nothing to hold the necklace—and the future of the Dark Forest—in his talons.