A brand new fantasy world from Larry Correia, bestselling author of Monster Hunter International!
All Oz Carnavon ever wanted was to become a master mage.
Except, to do so requires the natural gifts or wealth necessary to secure an appointment to one of the prestigious magical academies in the Core City at the center of the seven realms. Oz had neither.
He was born without magical talent, serving in the elemental plane of fire, a nightmarish hellscape of treacherous lava and vicious monsters, where life is cheap, and escape is rare. But Carnavons never give up.
When Oz fakes his death to get out of his family’s contract and crosses the Nexus gate to sneak into the Core, everything seems to be going according to plan… Until he gets blamed for an assassination attempt on the fire realm’s ambassador.
Now, Oz must become a fugitive in a vast magical city, while trying to earn a place among the magical academies which have nothing but disdain for his kind.
And the clock is ticking, because in one week, the most dangerous wizard in the realm of fire is coming to track him down and drag him back to hell.
Is this another epic fantasy series? I’m not sure I want to start another epic fantasy series on the first book. How can we be sure he’ll finish it? Look at what happened with George RR Martin…
(ducks)
Progression Fantasy. Totally different. Instead of a series of massive thousand page books, you get medium sized books of five hundred pages. They never really have an end, instead the MC just keeps getting more and more ridiculously strong until the audience can no longer believe it and loses interest.
Well, I’ve never had an audience lose interest in any of my stuff yet, so here goes. 🙂
I don’t know if you ever read manga or watch anime, but there’s battle based series wherein people whilst using superpowers, still use their heads, even as power levels get higher the closer it reaches the end
Plus, even for them, there’s stuff which you can’t just hit harder and the guys who are just that powerful are still skilled intelligent fighters
Look up Jujutsu Kaisen for a relatively recent manga
Though, the protagonist doesn’t get that much more powerful, it’s only in the last battle that he goes from mainly using physical enhancement+martial arts+quick thinking to gain a “cursed technique” which was the same as the antagonist, but of much lower power
Problem with most series, whether it be manga/anime or Western stuff, is that most protagonists have the simplest powersets or barely any, it makes them generalists who have to rely more on their wits, but can’t get very creative with their powers as physical enhancement is overdone and simple
I’ve only done a couple of the xiangxiang series, but I did finish the entire Cradle series in just about the fastest I’ve ever read 12 books.
Did lose interest in the most recent Thousand Li book, mostly because the protagonist did something annoyingly dumb AGAIN
I’m on book 4 of the Cradle series, and they’re definitely going by quickly. I like the wuxia genre, but a lot of the light novels and web novels don’t seem to have actual endings, and just get dragged in indefinitely. So I’m liking that people like Will Wight are writing books in the west that are inspired by the cultivation genre.
No, Larry finished his “Epic Fantasy” series, “Saga of the Forgotten Warrior”. The last novel (Heart of the Mountain) is finished and due in Jan or Feb (many of us have bought the eARC because we couldn’t wait). Mind you, he completed the entire series in the time GRRM couldn’t finish his current book.
He literally just finished Saga of the Forgotten Warrior with, if I’m remembering right, 6 full novels.
He dedicated the final book to GRRM, saying, “See? It’s not that hard.”
Larry finishes books.
Roflmao and dies….God that’s funny
Fortunately, Larry’s work ethic is a bit better than George, you know what the “R’s” stand for, Martin.
Larry could write a recipe on a napkin, and I would pay 20 bucks to read it. (it would be worth it)
Just point me to the “Preorder Now” button!
I’d at least get the EArc of the recipe
I beyond stoked for a new series to read. Everything Larry has written I have enjoyed. I like some books better then others but they are all great
October 7, 2025?
Hopefully that date will come in a little bit.
Um, is it a good thing that the mere sight of that cover makes me think of the videogame series “Assassin’s Creed” – games that I have never played and never had any interest in playing?
…..since hoods and capes were a thing in fantasy a good many, many, MANY years before video games even existed, it sounds more like a very odd reaction.
Perhaps odd reaction, but that was what also popped into my head as I saw the cover.
But it’s a Larry book, so I’d buy it even if the cover were blank.
Cape, hood…perched on the corner of a rooftop looking down on what appears to be a renaissance era analog city. Not really odd at all. Even more so when you consider the scope of marketing of the Assassin’s Creed series makes people who don’t even play the series highly aware of it.
Also has a bit of Batman feel.
Any word yet on the narrator for the Audiobook?
My reaction as well, and I’ve never played, either. I think it is because I’ve seen it used for costumes and so on.
The second game was good.
Is there a preorder for paperback? The link only has the kindle book.
That will be up later. Don’t know when.
Some of us need analog copies to loan to friends, that never come back, and then the friend complains that NOW they have to buy all his books, and stop doing this to me!
I tell them it’s a vicious cycle. My book pimp did it to me, I’m doing it to you, you’ll do it to someone else…
Book Pimp!! I love it – funniest thing I’ve read this month!
That’s what my friend did to me with the MHI series. I’ve now taken that job as well.
Guys in hoods and capes skulking about on mideveal rooftops has been a thing since the Valdamar series…. also good reads. Anne McCaffery was a good Sword & Sorcery writer….
Completely new genre for me, but I’ve pre-ordered anyway, because it’s one of Larry’s. I’m not an epic fantasy guy, but I’m going to finish his six book epic fantasy trilogy, which I started because I liked his other stuff. So I’ll give this a shot.
Personally, my favorite series is Grimnoir. The audio books especially are fantastic. Bronson Pinchot’s performance is superb, and all the characters are 100% on point. Basically, if I’m at a loss for what to read or listen to, it’ll be Grimnoir on loop until I come across something new.
Is there any word on an audio version?
There will be one.
Was a fantasy traditionalist until a couple of years ago when I discovered progression fantasy/litrpg. Have since been on a tear with the genre. Can’t wait to see what Larry does with it.