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From back of book: Nicodemus Weal has lived at Starhaven since he was a boy. His mentor, the famous wizard Agwu Shannon, taught him how to cast spells and use them for all wizardly purposes. Nico showed such great promise that Shannon thought he might be the Halcyon--a powerful mage prophesied to prevent the Disjunction, a magical apocalypse.

There was only one problem: Nicodemus couldn't spell. His mere touch turns any magical text into a dangerous misspell. Even as an adult, his problem is so bad that he can use magic only for janitorial tasks. Others become wizards, but Nico is still an apprentice, reading knightly romances and dreaming of adventure.

When a powerful wizard is murdered with a misspell, Nicodemus and Shannon are both suspected. Even worse, Nicodemus dreams of a foreign city under attack from an ancient, godlike spell, and wakes to find Starhaven abuzz with news of that city's actual destruction. When others die mysteriously, he's hunted as a murderer, and must flee in order to discover the truth about the killings, the nature of magic...and himself.

(Source: Tor Books)