Dark, intense, and deeply compelling…
Ash makes his debut with this brooding tale of exile and obsession. The story follows Renealt, a man cast adrift in a world that fears magic. Waking in a barn covered in blood, he remembers only fragments: mages, a ritual, and a woman who shouldn’t exist. His search for answers costs him everything.
Ash wastes no time pulling readers into Renealt’s disoriented state. One moment, he is dying; the next, he is whole again. His search is less a quest than a descent into obsession. The pacing mirrors this unraveling, urgent at first, then slow and uneasy after his exile. Some stretches linger too long in introspection, but they sharpen the novel’s central tension: how much of what Renealt seeks is truth, and how much is just a man unable to let go? Renealt is hollowed by loss. Offered a chance to move on, he refuses. Even his drinking companions begin to look at him differently. One by one, doors close, and he walks forward alone.
Beneath its dark fantasy trappings, the novel is about control; over history, belief, and the past. It’s also about loss. Renealt isn’t just searching for answers; he is trying to reconcile himself with a world that has moved on. This is a slow-burning fantasy steeped in existential dread. It is less about magic than belief—what we choose to accept, what we sacrifice for truth. At times, the novel lingers too long in Renealt’s turmoil, but it is this very fixation that makes the story so compelling. Whether his answers bring peace or ruin, Ash leaves for the reader to decide.
A gripping exploration of power, loss, and the nature of belief.
Pub date December 18, 2024
ISBN 979-8302434111
Reading age 16-18 years
Price $14.99 (USD) Paperback, $4.99 Kindle edition
