This is Mythborn - Rise of the Adepts (SPECIAL PREVIEW EDITION).
Mythborn in its entirety is over 200,000 words, so I wanted my readers to be able to see if they like the story without having to commit to the full price of the entire novel. Therefore, this Special Preview has 100,000 words (a full-length novel in and of itself) and is only 99 cents! You can still sample the book for free using 'Look Inside', and if you're an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow it for free!
**Warning This Preview ends in a cliffhanger!**
The Special Preview's pricing was reduced as much as possible so that you can take a chance and decide if you like the story. If you would rather purchase the entire book, search for 'Mythborn' and select the 'Full Novel' version instead.
**
Edyn - A world ravaged by war, cursed by Gates through which gods and demons still walk the earth... **
A plume of power erupts, pointing to an ancient Gate between our world and the * Aeris, * creatures born from myths and legends, hungering for worship, and offering only possession and slavery in return.
An order of monks known as Adepts sense the Gate, but are not alone. Elder races have taken note and converge on the Gate's next appearance, a desert stronghold known as Bara'cor. Lacking much of the ancient lore and might, the Adepts still send one of their very best to investigate: Silbane.
Silbane Petracles - lethal assassin, Master of the Way, honed as a living weapon. His mission: stop the Gate from opening, no matter the cost. His best chance: use his apprentice's ability to disrupt magic, possibly killing him in the process.
But others have a stake in the outcome...
Themun Dreys - Lore Father and leader of the Adepts, powerful in the Way. For two centuries he has been saving those born with Talent. Now he faces a danger beyond his Council's abilities and has limited options for a path to salvation.
Lady Lilyth - Lady of Flame, Eye of the Sun, and Aeris Celestial, a goddess who no longer wishes to serve the beliefs and whims of the people of this world. Ravager, destroyer, warforged, she believes Silbane's apprentice holds the secret to life for her kind and will do anything to get it.
Rai'stahn - Dragon-knight of the Conclave, ancient guardian of power. He believes Silbane's apprentice does more than disrupt magic; he eradicates it and forces the world around him to become mundane. He will take any steps necessary to ensure magic and those beings sustained by it, survive.
Kisan Talaris - Master of the Way, fellow warrior and friend to Silbane. Decisive and powerful, she tracks unknown assassins sent against her Order, but is then given a new directive - kill Silbane's apprentice and complete his mission, by any means necessary.
Destinies converge as the mighty strive to balance the fate of their worlds against the life of one boy. He is Arek Winterthorn , apprentice to Silbane, assassin-in-training, student of the Way.
And he is - Mythborn.
Review
Debut fantasy novelist Lakshman offers a rousing epic in which supernatural beings threaten the world of their own creators.
Did gods and demons always exist, or did their believers bring them into being? That question springboards this Tolkien-esque tale, which includes plenty of fresh twists. In a threatened world called Edyn, archmages and adepts, including the powerful Silbane Petracles, train in a life-sustaining discipline called the Way. Azrael and Lilyth, an angel and a demon who lead the power-hungry Aeris, gear up to fight them in a looming conflict that will determine the fate of the world. At the center of it all is a student of the Way, Arek Winterthorn--a seemingly innocent young man of unknown, perhaps catastrophic, origin.
The text is deftly written ... Lakshman shows a plate spinner's skill as he smoothly balances the novel's diverse elements and keeps the action rolling at a fast clip. The author shapes his ambitious, entertaining story with a lengthy menu of familiar genre elements--good and bad mages, anti-magic fanatics, dragons, dwarves and elves. He also includes bloody combat, a sentient sword, feisty princes and princesses, noble kings and warriors, and gates to other planes of existence--and even mixes in concepts from world religions and ancient mythologies. (The author's descriptions of physical combat, training and strategy have an authenticity that's reminiscent of Elizabeth Moon's 1992 masterwork The Deed of Paksenarrion.) The story's resolution remains to be seen, however, in a planned second volume.
An ambitious, colorful and highly readable fantasy epic. --* Kirkus Reviews*
From the Back Cover
Edyn - A world ravaged by war, cursed by gates from where dreams become real and walk the earth as gods & demons...
Niall Galadine - heir to a legacy of brutal strength on the battlefield, desperate to acquit himself well in the eyes of his father, despite his fear.
Yetteje Tir - cousin to Niall and princess of EvenSea, carefree and whimsical, until her life is brought into sharp focus and honed by tragedy.
Arek Winterthorn - apprentice assassin trained as a living weapon, who learns he is to be sacrificed at the hands of his own master, to demons.
The choices they make in the next seven days will shape their world. None shall survive unscathed, but one will become, Mythborn...
Description:
Author's Note
This is Mythborn - Rise of the Adepts (SPECIAL PREVIEW EDITION).
Mythborn in its entirety is over 200,000 words, so I wanted my readers to be able to see if they like the story without having to commit to the full price of the entire novel. Therefore, this Special Preview has 100,000 words (a full-length novel in and of itself) and is only 99 cents! You can still sample the book for free using 'Look Inside', and if you're an Amazon Prime member, you can borrow it for free!
**Warning This Preview ends in a cliffhanger!**
The Special Preview's pricing was reduced as much as possible so that you can take a chance and decide if you like the story. If you would rather purchase the entire book, search for 'Mythborn' and select the 'Full Novel' version instead.
**
Edyn - A world ravaged by war, cursed by Gates through which gods and demons still walk the earth... **
A plume of power erupts, pointing to an ancient Gate between our world and the * Aeris, * creatures born from myths and legends, hungering for worship, and offering only possession and slavery in return.
An order of monks known as Adepts sense the Gate, but are not alone. Elder races have taken note and converge on the Gate's next appearance, a desert stronghold known as Bara'cor. Lacking much of the ancient lore and might, the Adepts still send one of their very best to investigate: Silbane.
Silbane Petracles - lethal assassin, Master of the Way, honed as a living weapon. His mission: stop the Gate from opening, no matter the cost. His best chance: use his apprentice's ability to disrupt magic, possibly killing him in the process.
But others have a stake in the outcome...
Themun Dreys - Lore Father and leader of the Adepts, powerful in the Way. For two centuries he has been saving those born with Talent. Now he faces a danger beyond his Council's abilities and has limited options for a path to salvation.
Lady Lilyth - Lady of Flame, Eye of the Sun, and Aeris Celestial, a goddess who no longer wishes to serve the beliefs and whims of the people of this world. Ravager, destroyer, warforged, she believes Silbane's apprentice holds the secret to life for her kind and will do anything to get it.
Rai'stahn - Dragon-knight of the Conclave, ancient guardian of power. He believes Silbane's apprentice does more than disrupt magic; he eradicates it and forces the world around him to become mundane. He will take any steps necessary to ensure magic and those beings sustained by it, survive.
Kisan Talaris - Master of the Way, fellow warrior and friend to Silbane. Decisive and powerful, she tracks unknown assassins sent against her Order, but is then given a new directive - kill Silbane's apprentice and complete his mission, by any means necessary.
Destinies converge as the mighty strive to balance the fate of their worlds against the life of one boy. He is Arek Winterthorn , apprentice to Silbane, assassin-in-training, student of the Way.
And he is - Mythborn.
Review
Debut fantasy novelist Lakshman offers a rousing epic in which supernatural beings threaten the world of their own creators.
Did gods and demons always exist, or did their believers bring them into being? That question springboards this Tolkien-esque tale, which includes plenty of fresh twists. In a threatened world called Edyn, archmages and adepts, including the powerful Silbane Petracles, train in a life-sustaining discipline called the Way. Azrael and Lilyth, an angel and a demon who lead the power-hungry Aeris, gear up to fight them in a looming conflict that will determine the fate of the world. At the center of it all is a student of the Way, Arek Winterthorn--a seemingly innocent young man of unknown, perhaps catastrophic, origin.
The text is deftly written ... Lakshman shows a plate spinner's skill as he smoothly balances the novel's diverse elements and keeps the action rolling at a fast clip. The author shapes his ambitious, entertaining story with a lengthy menu of familiar genre elements--good and bad mages, anti-magic fanatics, dragons, dwarves and elves. He also includes bloody combat, a sentient sword, feisty princes and princesses, noble kings and warriors, and gates to other planes of existence--and even mixes in concepts from world religions and ancient mythologies. (The author's descriptions of physical combat, training and strategy have an authenticity that's reminiscent of Elizabeth Moon's 1992 masterwork The Deed of Paksenarrion.) The story's resolution remains to be seen, however, in a planned second volume.
An ambitious, colorful and highly readable fantasy epic. --* Kirkus Reviews*
From the Back Cover
Edyn - A world ravaged by war, cursed by gates from where dreams become real and walk the earth as gods & demons...
Niall Galadine - heir to a legacy of brutal strength on the battlefield, desperate to acquit himself well in the eyes of his father, despite his fear.
Yetteje Tir - cousin to Niall and princess of EvenSea, carefree and whimsical, until her life is brought into sharp focus and honed by tragedy.
Arek Winterthorn - apprentice assassin trained as a living weapon, who learns he is to be sacrificed at the hands of his own master, to demons.
The choices they make in the next seven days will shape their world. None shall survive unscathed, but one will become, Mythborn...