This novel relates the story of Mak Strife, who has left his home to embark on a journey to the Golden Mountain. On the summit of Golden Mountain lives the eternal Fem, the most beautiful, powerful, and wise woman in the world. Meeting Her will free Mak of all contradictory desires and give him perfect knowledge and peace forever. Many say the Fem does not exist. One of them is El, a woman Mak rescues from fearsome slave traders in the first chapter...