Description:

From Publishers Weekly

In Brown's engrossing debut, the first installment of the Dark Gods saga, one of the mysterious Divines, godlike rulers capable of harvesting a person's life force, has vanished. Young Talen's relatively idyllic life is turned upside down when his family is accused of being soul-eaters who worship a twisted god. Pursued by fearful clansmen and a nightmarish earthen monstrosity known only as Hunger, Talen begins to investigate his latent world-changing abilities. Soon he learns of his family's extensive role in the enigmatic Order, whose mission is to break the yoke of the Divines, and the nature of the dark power that hunts them. Brown's narrative takes a few hundred pages to get up to speed, but the latter parts are breakneck-paced and action-packed. Patient readers will be rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy adventure. (Oct.)
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Review

Praise for Servant of a Dark God

“A great setting, a smart story.”
--Brandon Sanderson, author of _Warbreaker

_“In his debut novel, Servant of a Dark God, John Brown adds his voice to epic fantasy with a world I can see and smell and taste and believe in . . . and characters I can cheer for, travel with and want to see again.”
--Ken Scholes, author of Lamentation 

“A complex, powerful story.”
--David Drake

“[An] engrossing debut. . . .  breakneck-paced and action-packed.  Patient readers will be rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy adventure.”
_--Publishers Weekly 

_“A classic heroic saga, dealing with the bedrock issues of good and evil and identity. These are classic themes because they matter; and Brown makes them matter both to his young protagonist and the reader. It promises to continue for quite a distance, and I hope it does.”
--Kage Baker 

“Brown’s first novel, the opener in a new fantasy series, creates an elaborate new world with a rich and deep spiritual and political background. . . .  Reminiscent of L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s ‘Recluce’ novels and David Drake’s ‘Lord of the Isles’ series and David Farland’s ‘Runelords’ books, this well-wrought tale of families in conflict against both politics and religion represents a welcome addition to large-scale fantasy.” 
--_Library Journal_ (starred review) 

“Akin to Steven Erickson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, or R. Scott Bakker’s The Prince of Nothing. . . .  There is the sense, right from the start, that Servant of a Dark God is a tale being told by a first-rate story-teller. It may be his first novel, but … John Brown knows how to grab a reader’s attention and hold it all the way through the book. That’s a talent that works well in any genre, and bodes especially well for the next two volumes in what promises to be an engrossing fantasy trilogy.”
_--New York Review of Science Fiction 

_“A complex and intricate world, filled with all the permutations of human good and evil, as well as evil that goes beyond the human.  Neither heroes nor villains are quite what they seem at first, and where the cost of virtue is high indeed, yet where, in the end, the tenacity of such virtue is what is required to triumph.”
--L. E. Modesitt, Jr author of _Arms-Commander

_“This intricate story buries the truth under layers of corrupted history, forgotten legends, and deliberate lies… A provocative, suspenseful beginning of a new series.”
_--Booklist

_"Thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last!  John Brown shows himself to be a writer with remarkable depth and power.  I haven't seen a debut novel this good in years!"
--David Farland, author of Berserker Lord