Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered an impossible job: break into the Ice Court, the most impenetrable fortress in the world, and extract a scientist whose knowledge could reshape the balance of power across the continent. He assembles five specialists, each with their own reasons for taking the job and their own reasons not to trust the others. A heist novel built around an ensemble cast, with alternating POV chapters that reveal each character's history and motivation through the lens of an increasingly desperate plan.