Showing results by author "Lawrence Watt-Evans" in All Categories

The first novel in Lawrence Watt-Evans' Obsidian Chronicles: Dragon Weather.Arlian had lived his entire life on the Smoking Mountain - the stony ground, jagged peaks, and black glass were all he had ever known. But then came dragon weather: Oppressive heat, dark and angry clouds...weather that lured the dragons from their caverns deep beneath the earth.

Ethshar and the Northern Empire have been at war for hundreds of years. Hardly anyone alive remembers why, or over what. The tempest, turmoil, and war are endless, and the killing more endless still. The war has become not just a way of life, but an institution; no one dares to dream that it could end. Not even Valder of Kardoret, Ethsharitic Scout, trapped behind enemy lines.

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It all began with Dragon Weather: a wave of incredible heat, oppressive humidity, dark angry clouds . . . and dragons. Dragons with no remorse, no sympathy, no use for humans. Dragons who destroyed an entire village and everyone in it. Everyone, that is, except the young boy, Arlian. Orphaned and alone, Arlian was captured by looters and sold as a mining slave. Years later he escaped, fueled by years of hatred for the dragons, bandits, and slavers that took away his youth - and a personal vow to exact retribution from those who have wronged him.

With his master dead, apprentice wizard Tobas, knowing only an elementary spell for starting a fire, sets out to seek his fortune in the faraway, magical realm of Old Ethshar.

When the foreigners confronted Sterren in Ethshar of the Spices, he was uneasy. When they all but abducted him, taking him to an obscure kingdom in the south, he knew he was in a terrible predicament. A predicament some might actually find appealing - he was by heredity the Ninth Warlord of Semma, least of the small kingdoms; he was a noble, and his rank afforded him material privileges, even in a place as insignificant and obscure as Semma. But the office also carried certain terrible responsibilities: He was to win the war the stupid king had stirred up by his arrogance.

Once, not so long ago,a warlock named Vond built an empire in the southern part of the Small Kingdoms. Vond is gone, but his empire survives under the rule of a seven-person Imperial Council and a young regent named Sterren. The Empire of Vond was hardly trouble-free after Vond's departure. Its neighbors are understandably wary of further expansion, there are questions about how Vond's magic became so potent, and so on. Most of the World, though, doesn't care - Vond is off there in the southeastern corner of the World, far away from anywhere important.

Arlian seeks his final vengeance: death to all of dragonkind. But as he begins to destroy the evil beasts, wild magic seeps into the Lands of Men, sowing chaos and destruction in its wake. Will Arlian's all-consuming quest for justice consume humanity as well? The answer may lie within his ancient foe's most lethal weapon: Dragon Venom.

Twelve thousand years in the future, on a planet far, far away, a country boy named Tulzik Ambroz tracks the man who killed his sister Vika, following him across the poisonous crater that is all that remains of the planet's starport, into the great city of Ragbaan. Ragbaan - site of the planet's original settlement, heart of a civilization that has repeatedly risen to astonishing heights of power and technological prowess, only to fall, every time, back into barbarism.

The gods had chosen the Domdur to rule the world and had chosen Malledd to be their champion among the Domdur. They had not asked Malledd whether he wanted the job. Now a wizard has raised an army of the undead to overthrow the Domdur Empire, and the world awaits the divine champion who is to save them - but will Malledd come? And if he does, can he be the savior the Domdur expect, or has the gods' favor turned elsewhere?

The Wizard Lord's duty is to keep the world in its delicate balance. He must govern lightly to protect his domain from power-hungry interlopers, such as certain wizards who previously fought to rule the world…but if the Wizard Lord himself strays from the way of the just, then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. Breaker, a young man of ambition, has taken the mantle of Swordsman. Never did he realize that he would be called to duty so quickly, or that the balance of power in his world would be so precarious. He had a duty to perform. A world to save. Why does he still have doubts?

All of the world is kept in a delicate balance under the supervision of the Wizard Lord. It is his duty to govern lightly and protect his domain, but if he should stray from the way of the just, then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen are the Leader, the Seer, the Swordsman, the Beauty, the Thief, the Scholar, the Archer, and the Speaker, magically infused mortal individuals who for the term of their service have only one function—to remove an errant Wizard Lord.

All of the world is kept in a delicate balance under the supervision of the Wizard Lord. It is his duty to govern lightly and protect his domain…but if he should stray from the way of the just, then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen are the Leader, the Seer, the Swordsman, the Beauty, the Thief, the Scholar, the Archer, and the Speaker. These are magically infused mortal individuals who, for the term of their service, have only one function: to remove an errant Wizard Lord.