Bøger af Alon Shalev

Mastery of your magic can mean the difference between freedom and utter defeat. All Odessiya holds its breath and craves the Wycaan Master who can set them free. Seanchai is a broken elf and a danger to himself and others. His victories have been won at too great a price and he walks alone in darkness, though surrounded by friends and light. All Odessiya waits and watches. A young Wycaan, confident and in his prime may not be enough to defeat the Emperor, but the empty shell that the young elf has become, seems bereft of hope. Seanchai must seek to complete his training with those who have rejected all others. He must pass a great test if he is to return with the skills and resources to set Odessiya free. Seanchai knows how to make friends and form alliances, but he also attracts a dearth of enemies. A Master Assassin seeks vengeance on Shayth and Seanchai. He doggedly tracks them together with three graduates of the Emperor's Military Academy. One holds the destiny of Odessiya in his grasp and the others dirks poised to stab him in the back. Shayth must master his own losses and emotions and make the greatest decision of his life. He was once destined to walk a path to greatness but it is his own past that is most likely to destroy him. All will converge at the Cliftean Pass and when the battle joins, everyone must confront their fears, their enemies, and their destinies.

It was I, King Hothen the Elder, who led the surviving dwarf warriors from the battlefield. Our numbers were perilously small, our prospects harrowing. We left our dead to the vultures and the crows. With our armies decimated, I led our people to a deep cave, far away, and there we built mighty Hothengold. The first law passed was one of survival, known as The First Decree. No man, elf or other - save dwarves - were allowed under the mountains. Those who wandered our way fell to our axes, and the great dwarf nation drifted out of sight and mind of even the most ambitious emperors. But hearken to my words, noble dwarves. The land of Odessiya will never heal until the races reunite. Whether by promise or blade, the Alliance will rise again, and the dwarf nation shall take its rightful place at the council of the great races. Until then, my people, I counsel patience, a trait rarely found among dwarves. Grow our clans and our wealth away from the eyes of the empire, but never forget who we once were. Be vigilant, be patient, and wait the coming of the Wycaan.

Deep wounds fester in the collective psyche of a once proud nation now destroyed and humiliated. All that remains is a driving desire for revenge. It should never have happened. Retribution will know no mercy. He is scorned as the not-King and faces an enemy more powerful than any force he can muster. Prince Shayth Shindell has lost his closest friends and might lose his kingdom. He needs allies. He must stand up and lead. But the old rage festers and while the young prince evokes trust from others, he must first learn to trust himself. Mharina must follow the woman she loves and hates if she is to discover her true potential. She will turn her back on her family, her home, and her teachers. But she will not be as alone as she thinks. Friendship is as powerful as the magic that stirs within her. A disgraced assassin was there at the beginning, killed his best friend, and allowed his greatest enemy to walk away. He spiraled into a world of violence and bottomless flagons of ale. But a chance meeting in a rough tavern offers a chance to regain his humanity and right the wrongs of his tragic past. The social fabric of Odessiya has unraveled. Strands of hope desperately traverse the land and cross borders. Powerful enemies bent upon revenge must be vanquished. The Wycaan Master's vision cannot be allowed to die.

The Wycaan Master never went after the wounded and defeated Emperor. He let his enemy flee and focused instead on creating a free Odessiya and building his dream Wycaan Academy. He settled down to raise a family and build the Wycaan Order anew. Now the Emperor is back, and even more dangerous than before. He has powerful allies from a shadowy past that Seanchai is oblivious to. The Emperor's minions threaten from the north and the south: Odessiya has never been so vulnerable. Worse yet, the Emperor knows how to hurt the Wycaan Master, and he will not hesitate to implement his plan. The stakes are rising, for nothing is more terrifying than a powerful Wycaan father who loses all self-control. Mharina is no Wycaan like her father or siblings. But she possesses her mother's warrior spirit and a mysterious power waiting to be released. She needs a teacher who can recognize and understand her dormant magic and help her fulfill her true potential. But Mharina must pay a terrible price for the tuition by sacrificing all she holds so dear.

The young elf desired only to follow in his mother's footsteps and become a healer. But when the Emperor's army attacks his village to punish traitors and conscript youth, Seanchai flees to the mountains, seeking safe harbor with an uncle he has never met. He is shocked as many people sacrifice their lives to ensure he reaches a Wycaan Master, an enigmatic woman named Mhari, who can teach him to wield a powerful death-and-life magic that might just free the races of Odessiya. In a world defined by strict racial boundaries, where humans rule, dwarves hide deep underground, and elves are a slave nation, Seanchai must find a way to create friendships and trust, unheard of since the fall of the Wycaan Masters, and reunite the races into an alliance that will bring freedom to all. But sometimes one must choose between his companions and his destiny. Seanchai abhors his ability to kill and, in the friendships he forges, discovers something potentially more powerful than his magic. Friendship, however, can be a double-edged sword.

The world has never beheld natural born Wycaan twins. Their potential is unknown and their connection mysterious. Senzia and Ilan are young and unready to face an experienced and relentless enemy. Their teachers are dead. What they have is each other. Prince Shayth Shindell is scorned as the not-King. He has lost those who helped him redeem himself and fought a guerrilla war dragging his army and enemies across the land. But now there is nowhere left to go. The people of Odessiya look to him as his closest friend looks the other way. But his time has come. He can run no more. Mharina lost her mentor and her lover. Her mother grieves the family she has lost and her father is far away, even when by her side. Mharina is the most powerful person in Odessiya, but she is young and alone. Love, she will learn, can be as powerful as the magic that stirs within her. Like magic, however, it nourishes both good and evil. Seanchai is a shell of his former self, his memory erased but for the weight of the violence he caused. He clings to his duty to protect his family, but they are dispersed and in danger. He must face a mighty and vengeful enemy without his power or will to live. But Seanchai was once a Wycaan Master. He will do what must be done: one last time.

Unwanted Heroes brings together an old, battle weary Chinese American war vet and an idealistic and somewhat pretentious young Englishmen, who share a love for San Francisco, coffee and wine. They soon discover they share even more when repressed memories bring them together-finding in each other an unlikely ally to free themselves from the tragic past that binds them both.