Dave Duncan – författare

Many legends have emerged from the shadows of Ironhall, yet surely none can surpass the greatness and glory predestined for Sir Beaumont—possessor of the purest and strongest of hearts, and a mind as quick, keen, and accurate as his sword. But the day he sets out in the service of the elderly Lord Wassail turns to a black one, and young Beau''s journey ends in horror and blood . . . and disgrace. Banished from the King''s Blades, he now faces a grim future as a homeless pariah, a creature to be shunned and despised. But redemption can come from unexpected directions and in unrecognizable guises. Approached in secret by the legendary Durendal, now Grand Master of the Order, the dishonored paragon is offered one last chance to win back his weapon and his place among his brothers in arms. But to do so, Beau must ride alone back through the icy gates of Hell . . . and do battle with the Devil himself.

The realm''s most feared swordsman, Sir Wolf has earned his name, the "King''s Killer," well. Unlike many of his brother Blades, however, Wolf detests his sworn duty to do the bloody bidding of a liege he can never respect. But when an impregnable fortress is breached and a former royal mistress is abducted by brazen assailants, Wolf must leap into the fray.

Burdened with the company of his disgraced brother, Sir Lynx—the only Blade ever to lose his ward and live—and shadowed by a mysterious Inquisitor with a secret agenda, Wolf must make his way across a landscape of nightmares vivid and terrible enough to chill any fearless heart. For somewhere in this dark, unfamiliar world, the fate of all Chivial hangs in the balance—and it is the destiny of one reluctant Blade to tip the scales to salvation . . . or doom.

As unwanted and rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall....Years later they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm—A magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds each to his ward—if not the king himself, then to whomever else the monarch designates—with absolute loyalty.And the greatest Blade of them all was—and is—Sir Durendal.

But a lifelong dream of protecting his beloved liege from enemies, traitors, and monsters is dashed to bits when Durendal is bonded till death to an effete noble fop at his king''s orders. Yet Destiny has many strange and inscrutable plans for the young knight—for a mission, a contest, and, perhaps, a treasure await him in a faraway land. But he soon finds himself enmeshed in treason and foul intrigues, compelled to betray the king he had hoped to serve. The Blades have ways to protect their own, but death and madness haunt the path to salvation—and few ever return unscathed. As unwanted and rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall....Years later they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm—A magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds each to his ward—if not the king himself, then to whomever else the monarch designates—with absolute loyalty. And the greatest Blade of them all was—and is—Sir Durendal.

But a lifelong dream of protcting his beloved liege from enemies, traitors, and monsters is dashed to bits when Durendal is bonded till death to an effete noble fop at his king''s orders. Yet Destiny has many strange and inscrutable plans for the young knight—for a mission, a contest, and, perhaps, a treasure await him in a faraway land. But he soon finds himself enmeshed in treasonand foul intrigues, compelled to betray the king he had hoped to serve. The Blades have ways to protect their own, but death and madness haunt the path to salvation—and few ever return unscathed.

Elite warrior swordsmen, they are unequalled in any time or realm . . .

The King''s Blades

The King has decreed that new Blades must be sworn into the service of the Grand Duke Rubin, deposed by a foul usurper and currently on the run. But none of the rough youths being readied at Ironhall possess the seasoning to survive what better, more skilled Blades already have not. Still, two woefully unprepared candidates are approached with an offer of early bonding and probable death: deft but dense, rude Ranter, and eager, impetuous Ringwood . . . with a third, the inadequate swordsman but potentially able spy Bellman, enlisted into their threadbare ranks. Joining the Duke''s entourage along with the courageous and prescient White Sister Trudy, the would-be champions must restore a rightful ruler to the throne or die in the process. But before them waits an army of the dead. And the Duke whom the Blades must protect to the last drop of their lifeblood is not the liege they imagined . . .

The mightiest swordsmen in the relm, are bound by magic to defend their noble wards...to the death.

The King''s Blades

Continuing the storyline set out in Children of Chaos, Mother of Lies is a fierce, kinetic romp that will keep readers guessing until the last blow is dealt.The past fifteen years have not been kind to Celebre, the greatest city on the Florengian face of a dodecahedral world. Its walls have been breached and its Doge humiliated by the evil Bloodlord Stralg; all four of its heirs kidnapped and taken over the Edge to Vigaelia; its Dogaressa forcibly impregnated by Stralg and--when her husband''s health begins to fail--left to rule over a city teeming with Stralg''s troops. And if you think Stralg is bad, wait until you meet his sister Saltaja, a fanatic who sees no human cost as too great to keep the Hrag dynasty in power and her goddess--evil Xaran, the Mother of Lies--appeased.But there are a few great hopes for the future of the city: the Mutineer, Marno Cavotti, who will not stand to see his hometown destroyed and is massing a powerful liberation movement mere inches beyond Stralg''s grasp. And the four heirs of Celebre--each with god-given expertise in their respective fields of artistry, combat, wisdom, or death--are wending their way back over the Edge to their birthplace. Of course, even as Marno and the Celebre children are working towards the common goal of defeating the Hrags, they''re all painfully aware that once that hurdle is crossed only one of them can wind up on the throne.At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Children of Chaos is the start of a stirring, politically-charged quest duology by acclaimed fantasy author Dave Duncan.On a dodecahedral world in thrall to the tyrannical, war-obsessed Hrag dynasty, no one could stop the Bloodlord from sending troops over the Edge to Florengia, invading its major cities, and offering them a choice between strict colonial rule and immediate and total destruction. When the doge of Celebre was faced with this ultimatum, he gave his children up as hostages so that the rest of Celebre might live. Thus the four young Florengians were taken from their homes and scattered across the Vigaelian face.Fifteen years later, and you''d never guess that they''re siblings. Fabia was adopted by a wealthy landowner and spoiled rotten, Orlando desperately yearns to overcome his Florengian blood and fight for the Vigaelian army, Benard is a flighty but talented artist, and Wisdom has it that Dantio, the eldest, died fighting his captors. But when Celebre suddenly takes on crucial political significance, one of the siblings must return home to serve as Celebre''s puppet ruler, and the others must be eliminated so that there are no rival claimants to the throne.It''s going to be tough enough finding one another, let alone deciding whether enough kinship remains after fifteen years apart that the siblings will care to help each other out of their respective predicaments. If they''re feeling particularly altruistic, the Celebres might even take on the bonus round: trying to save Dodec from the culture of death and war imposed on it by its evil warlords.One thing''s for certain: the Celebre children are going to have a lot of adjusting to do . . .At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Hierarchy, high priests of the religious order the Light, has installed King Ethan as the monarchical figurehead, ruling both the magical kingdom of Albi and its predominant religion. Scattered throughout the land, worshippers in the old ways of the Earth Mother are persecuted as heretics. And when young missionary student Rollo Woodbridge returns home to Albi, he is immediately arrested for heresy and treason, setting off a chain of events that plunges the land into utter chaos.

The Hierarchy has more treacherous motives, however, and when Rollo is rescued from jail, his family’s home is destroyed—but Rollo and his siblings are left alive. While Rollo tries diplomacy to end the religious and political conflict, his brother and sister swear vengeance. With the hours to deliverance counting down and their lives hanging in the balance, they must decide whether to stay and fight or leave Albi forever in the suspenseful, action-packed Against the Light.

Rigel has always known he is not quite human, but the only clue to his origin is the otherworldly bracelet he has worn since childhood.

His search for his parentage leads him to the Starlands, where reality and fantasy have changed places. There he learns that he is a human-starborn cross, and his bracelet is the legendary magical amulet Saiph, which makes its wearer an unbeatable swordsman. Fighting off monsters, battling a gang of assassins seeking to kill him, Rigel finds honorable employment as a hero. He knows that he must die very soon if he remains in the Starlands, but he has fallen hopelessly in love with a princess and cannot abandon her.

Through the imaginative landscape of the Starlands, Rigel’s quest leads him to encounter minotaurs, sphinxes, cyclops, and more fearsome creatures in Dave Duncan’s latest fantasy series.

While discovering the truth behind his half-human, half-elven parentage, master swordsman Rigel not only defeated the horrific monsters of the Starlands, but also thwarted Prince Vildiar’s dark designs to conquer the elven realms.

Now, despite his fate to die an early, violent death if he remains in the Starlands, Rigel refuses to return to Earth, consumed as he is by love for the newly crowned Queen Talitha. But this passion is perilous: Vildiar has hatched multiple conspiracies to usurp the throne, and a vision has revealed that if Rigel and Talitha ever consummate their love, it will only hasten Rigel’s inevitable demise.

Even under a pall of doom, Rigel never hesitates to defend the land and people he has taken on as his own. As traitors plot Talitha’s downfall, Rigel rescues one of Vildiar’s own half-breed offspring from Earth and offers her a new life in the Starlands. But will she embrace this gift without guile…or is she preparing to plunge a dagger into Rigel’s back?