The Last Contract of Isako
A battle-worn corporate samurai undertakes one last mission on a merciless planet where death is always a mere breath away, in this standalone dystopian epic from the author of the modern fantasy classic Jade City.
LIVE BY THE CODE. DIE BY THE KNIFE.
Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend must come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow—to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her death. But when she's offered a final mission, she can't refuse, especially when she realizes who lies at the center of it all: Martim, her last—and worst—apprentice, who's somehow made his way to the top. As she's thrust into a world of corporate espionage and shadowy secrets, what she uncovers could forever change humanity's existence among the stars.
The Last Contract of Isako is epic science fiction like only Fonda Lee can write it—set in a world where money trumps loyalty, the elite have the power to extend life or end it, and one woman in the twilight of her calling must decide what's ultimately worth living—or dying—for.
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Fonda Lee
In modern fantasy, few voices have reshaped the genre’s landscape quite like Fonda Lee. Her worlds pulse with grit and elegance, pulling readers into stories where family loyalty clashes with power, where battles carry philosophical weight, and where magic feels inseparable from lived tradition. It is this ability to blend cinematic action with emotional depth that has made her one of the most compelling writers in speculative fiction today.
Lee’s path to storytelling wasn’t a straight one. Born in Calgary and educated at Stanford, she spent years navigating the corporate world before trading business strategies for the art of building entire fictional societies. Her martial arts training, as she holds black belts in both kung fu and karate, has shaped her writing as much as her love of crime dramas and wuxia cinema, lending her fight scenes a visceral realism and her characters a profound sense of discipline and purpose.
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