Debut fantasy trilogy Age of Assassins to Orbit

Little, Brown Book Group imprint Orbit has acquired an epic fantasy trilogy about a trained assassin by British debut author RJ Barker.

Age of Assassins, the first in the series, will be published in late summer 2017. It tells the story of Girton Club-foot, a young man apprenticed to a master assassin, who is thrust into a world of politics and treachery when the queen hires the duo not to cause an assassination, but to prevent one.

Commissioning editor Jenni Hill acquired World English rights in the trilogy from Ed Wilson of Johnson and Alcock.

Wilson predicted the book would "make a big splash in the fantasy world", to which Hill added: "We couldn’t be happier to be publishing R J. His debut is confident and stylish, masterful in the execution: it doesn’t let go once it has you in its grasp. In fact it’s just like a master assassin itself."

Age of Assassins is promised to receive a "major" worldwide launch, with Orbit publishing simultaneously in the UK and US. Heyne pre-empted for German rights.

Barker said: "It still feels slightly surreal that after so many years of reading and loving books by Orbit authors I'm now set to become one, and having met the team I don't think Girton could be in better hands."