General plot: two youngsters growing up beyond the northern mountains in a subarctic wasteland find they have special destinies (groan). This involves one of them becoming some kind of doom-laden avatar of death (more interesting) and the other being some sort of organic WMD to be used against a race of beings known as the Endlords, who are apparently evil.

In terms of atmosphere and tone, think of the 'beyond the Wall' bits from ASoIaF, but expanded on a lot more (since it's the whole story here, not just a bit of it). Survival in cold-weather climates plays a major role. Jones is excellent at describing the frost and snow.

In terms of quality, I rate it as one of the strongest modern epic fantasy series. Certainly not far off the Martin/Erikson/Kay level of quality. Better than Jordan, Sanderson or Rothfuss.

Jones has said in the past there'll be 5 or 6 books, and I don't think she's settled on it. ENDLORDS, when it does come out, will be the 5th (so the last one or the penultimate one).

The sequence is also a loose sequel to her earlier BOOK OF WORDS trilogy, which is set in the warmer lands to the south. BOOK OF WORDS is nowhere near as good, it's quite clunkily written and takes a while to get going. It does end really well, though, and a few characters (or their children) play a role in SWORD OF SHADOWS. It's certainly not necessary to read BOOK OF WORDS first.

Links below to reviews of her books so far.