Melanthrix the Mage

?In a not-quite Earth in the year 1205, we watch the machinations of good and evil as strains of magic and counter-magic weave their way through Nova Europa. The names of royals and aristocrats are almost familiar. Place names are almost recognizable. Great bastions of power are almost those we have read about in our own histories. But not quite. ?In the differences lies the excitement of Reginald?s complex interplay of plot and counterplot, of East versus West, of King versus King and mage versus mage, of layers and sub-layers of chess-like moves that send armies across a continent?and move the hearts of individuals. ?In Melanthrix the Mage, the first book in the sequence, we see the years leading up to the Great War, years in which Father Afanásy (or Athanasios) tries to unravel the secrets of his birth?secrets that touch upon the deepest-held beliefs of the Kórynthian state?and of the many-tentacled ruling family that governs it. There?s a hidden menace lurking behind the glorious, glittering façade of the kingdom, someone or something that?s murdering key members of the government, one by one, with each killing nastier than the last. And inexorably, inevitably, the kingdom is being pushed toward all-out war with Pommerelia, the major state lying directly to the west. ?Within the course of a single year, Kings and Kingdoms rise and fall, hopes and ambitions are fulfilled and destroyed. Reginald?s The Hieromonk?s Tale series (ex-The Dark-Haired Man) is a magnificent medieval triptych featuring exquisitely drawn scenes of heroism and treachery, of domesticity and warfare, of greatness and madness.??Michael R. Collings, author of The Slab.