A thousand years in the future society has been driven underground by climate change and pollution. Young Aran wishes he could be a warrior like his brother, but Aran's father, Law Carifax, has other ideas about Aran's destiny: after all, someone needs to look after the family farmstead. Following a narrow escape from the vicious sea pirates known as the Marauders, Aran's world is changed by the arrival of a mysterious and secretive new tutor, Peregrine. Little does Aran know that there is more to Peregrine than meets the eye, and as rumours of war begin to spread, the world Aran thought he knew is blown apart, never to be the same again. The Waking World is a story of friendship, betrayal, magic and myth, based on the legends of Merlin and King Arthur.