Showing results by narrator "Steven Brand" in All Categories

He stands between two worlds, a savior and a destroyer to both. Dragons and aegres will fall. But one can turn the tide. One who stands in the shadow of kings. Such has been seen by the doomed. The weight of ten thousand lives and all the realm besides now sits on Joran's shoulders. So much has already been sacrificed to bring him to the ancient doors of Drakanan, where he might take on the mantle of Dragon Rider and usher in a new age of heroes. But a time of dragons is not all that has been seen…

For decades, the brothers of the Sixth Order have fought a savage war against the Lonak clans amid the frozen peaks of their dominion. When word reaches the North of a fresh outbreak of the dreaded Red Hand, Brother Sollis, the finest swordsman in the Order, leads a small band to a long-abandoned castle in search of a potential cure but discovers a far greater threat lurking in the mountains. Enemies become allies as Sollis leads an increasingly desperate fight against an inhuman enemy steeped in the power of the Dark.

Following the fall of a beloved prince, division brews across the north. Elyon Daecar, freed of the Warrior King’s cells, rides to Dragon’s Bane to defend the border of Vandar against an incoming Agarathi horde. He must become a prince, and a champion, to his people. But will it be enough? Having finally arrived in Aram, Saska finds herself a captive yet again, this time by the sinister Sunlord Elio Krator, the man once betrothed to her mother. When a Tukoran army arrives to siege the great fortress of Eagle’s Perch, Krator marches to defend it, taking Saska with him.

The new star of British fantasy returns with The Waking Fire, book one of the Draconis Memoria series, a thrilling new epic fantasy of exploration and adventure, spies and assassins, explosive magic and the battle for empire. For decades the lands of the Ironship Syndicate have been defended by the 'blood blessed' - men and women able to channel the powers contained in the potent blood of wild drakes. Elite spies and assassins, their loyalty has established the Syndicate's position as the greatest power in the known world. Yet now a crisis looms.

It has unravelled across the ages, its web woven throughout millennia of chaos and blood. Now, all that was seen shall come to pass, and there is nothing the heroes of Verda can do to stop it. After years of planning and preparation, Alijah Galfrey is finally ready to change the world. He will break the scales of power across the realm, securing his victory and eternal reign. There is no line he will not cross; no sacrifice he will not make to bring peace to the land.

Turned from the path of the assassin, Asher roams the world no better than a nomad, with naught to offer but his sword and grit. But woe betide the monster that believes his sword and grit will not be enough. In a twisted chance of fate, the brash actions of Doran Heavybelly—a dwarven hunter with a lot to say—forces Asher back into the world of man. And so the ranger is brought into the light, into the gaze of Illian’s greatest crime guilds and onto the lawless island of Dragorn.

The Great Calamity has returned, destroying all in his wake. Reeling from the destruction of King's Point and the death of his uncle, Elyon Daecar makes at once for Varinar to discern the state of the city. What he finds gives him small cause for hope. Through the spreading darkness, thin shards of light remain. They must act quickly lest they close forever. Saska's time in Aram has run out. With the city safe from the coalition of Lords Krator and Kastor, she sets her sights on her journey north, bidding her dying grandmother farewell. She has no choice now but to embrace her fate.

The north is at peace, secured by murder and betrayal and the plotting of treacherous kings. As half the northern nobility gather in Ilithor for the wedding of Princess Amilia Lukar and the traitorous King Hadrin, Elyon Daecar finds himself drawn into a plot he never expected. One that may see him soar.

Legend. Myth. Nightfall has long been rumored to be nothing more than whispers on the breeze. If only it were so. In those halls of darkness, where children are taken from the world and given to shadow and dust, Asher is destined for that same fate. He will become the myth. He will become the legend. He will become the whisper of Death itself.

The realm burns. Vaelin Al Sorna is tired of war. He's fought countless battles in service to the Realm and Faith. His reward was the loss of his love, the death of his friends and a betrayal by his king. After five years in an Alpiran dungeon, he just wants to go home. Reva intends to welcome Vaelin back with a knife between the ribs. He destroyed her family and ruined her life.

Millennia in the dark has left these lost and forgotten monsters hungry for war. The people of Illian can do nothing but rely on their peacekeepers, the Dragorn. Are the dragon riders ready for what has been buried under their feet? Gideon Thorn, Master of the Dragorn, can feel the Third Age coming to an ominous end. With Inara Galfrey and her dragon by his side, they must investigate the return of this ancient evil.

Here is today's lesson; heroes die. It’s been 15 years since the Orcs were defeated. Fifteen years since a new king rose from the battlefield. Fifteen years since Illian knew the horror of war. Fifteen years of peace are about to end. Something is coming. Shadows gather. Whispers of rebellion have reached the king. Darkness stirs beyond Illian’s borders. Beyond the mountains, Dhenaheim has lost a quiet war. Refugees pour into Illian, bringing suspicion and unrest. For Doran Heavybelly, Dhenaheim's war means facing a personal tragedy that demands his attention...and his axe.

The scales have tipped. The battle for Namdhor, the north, and the entire realm of man was a sure victory for the orcs. But they lost. Now, under the rule of a would-be-king, the armies of man fuel the war when they should be bolstering their defenses. Only a few understand that time is against them, yet these few must fight alone if the dawn is to rise over Illian once more. The heroes of the realm have banded together, but they cannot fight side by side. There is only one way they can win, seen by the oldest dragon and preserved inside the broken mind of a ranger.

The ancient kingdom of Alcedon, the sun-blessed realm that has known only peace for generations, now beset by bloody rebellion sparked by the emergence of an ancient evil ... Into this troubled land comes Guyime, legendary ravager king of the North made immortal by the demonic sword he carries. Leading his band of sword bearers, Guyime must prevent the arch-demon Kalthraxis claiming the Warlord’s Tulwar, the last of the seven demon-cursed blades.

The Steel Horde has laid waste to the Venerable Kingdom, unleashing a storm of fire and blood. Now the leader of this mighty host - Kehlbrand, the warlord who thinks himself a god - turns his eyes to the other merchant kingdoms. No one can stop his divine conquest. No one, perhaps, except Vaelin Al Sorna. Yet Vaelin is on the run, his own army in disarray. Worse, the new blood song he has acquired is as much a curse as a blessing and seeks to guide him down a path far darker than he could have imagined....

The quest of the Seven Swords will unmask treachery. It threatens to summon the malevolent New God...but other dark powers might seize the New God's throne. Ridmark Arban is the Shield Knight, questing to stop the rise of the evil New God and to rescue his friends from the cruel dvargir slavers of Najaris. The sorceress Cathala, imprisoned within magical stone, holds the lore of the creator of the Seven Swords. But dark powers are stirring in the Serpent Marshes, and Cathala has secrets of her own. Secrets that might kill Ridmark and his friends.

To defeat the evil of the Seven Swords, Ridmark must learn the secrets of their making. But the creator of the Swords is imprisoned within the dungeons of Urd Maelwyn, once the stronghold of the dark elven tyrant called the Sovereign. And those who enter the dungeons of Urd Maelwyn never return. To find a way to destroy the Swords, Ridmark enters the Durance of Urd Maelwyn, a twisted dungeon built by a dark elven tyrant. There, he must find the mad smith who forged the Swords. But the ruler of the Durance does not let prisoners escape her iron grasp....

Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path - one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier's life in the king's army. Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance.

Ridmark Arban is the Shield Knight, the only Swordbearer in the realm of Owyllain. He is allied with the noble King Hektor Pendragon, who fights to reunify the Seven Swords and to end the destructive war they have unleashed. But the tyrannical King Justin Cyros is marching to war against Hektor, and King Justin knows the secret of the malevolent New God, a secret that will kill everyone in Owyllain. Meanwhile, the Necromancer of Trojas wields the Sword of Death, and with it he has summoned a vast host of the undead.

We have fought battles that left more than a hundred corpses on the ground and not a word of it has ever been set down. The Order fights, but often it fights in shadow, without glory or reward. We have no banners. Vaelin Al Sorna is the Sixth Order's newest recruit. Under their brutal training regime, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly - all in the name of protecting the Realm and the Faith. Now his skills will be put to the test.