Cove of Storms
Cover designed by the amazing Bruno Barros.
Check his work out here!
- Dark Fantasy
- Epic dungeons
- Morally gray MC
How far would you go to bring back the one you love?
Forced to flee his home after raiders attack, village dancer Matthias is reminded of an old story. The necromancer of legend who’s trapped in the Cove of Storms. The only one who can bring his beloved back.
And there’s nothing that the grief-stricken Matthias wishes for more.
Except that life turns out to have a steep price.
Joined by two reluctant allies, the unpredictable thief Raevan, and the self-righteous gem-caster Anya, Matthias starts collecting the ingredients the necromancer calls for, much to the dismay of his allies.
And while Matthias is willing to pay any price to get back the one he loves, his allies are not.
Matthias will have to find a way to fulfill the bargain he made with the necromancer, while secretly navigating through the moral lines of his allies.
But treacherous caves, haunted mines, and savage monsters are not the only dangers they’re facing. Can they all defeat their inner demons? And will his choices even matter in the end?
Death requires life. Life requires death. And one needs to be careful of what they wish for – and of where their grief takes them.
Author's Note
This is an adult dark fantasy.
Heavy themes like addiction, sexual situations, and graphic violence may be hard for some sensitive readers. :(
Please read with discretion!
ABOUT + MUSINGS
In this world, everyone has a Matron and Patron. A god or goddess that favors them above all the rest. It usually matches their personality or Lifepath. I forgot who said it, but someone said that the three main cornerstones of fantasy are magic, world, and politics. I didn't want to make a politic heavy book. Instead, I narrowed the scope to focus solely on Matthias's story.
I wanted the theme of grief, and the power of love to overpower unnecessary world building. Even unrequited love.
The world is more than black and white; I wanted realistic characters, ones who get jealous and lie, who make mistakes and petty choices. Who feel guilty after the fact. But we can't go through the whole story just smashing through everything with a hammer, so it leaves the door open for magic systems. In the novel, their abilities stem from their Patrons/Matrons, or their Lifepath, but the gods themselves are more of a mythical presence than a direct intervention. Similar to politics, I didn't want the gods to take over the story, even the 'magic,' so their presence is intentionally left ambiguous.
So you'll see it in the book: magic, gods and gossip about current world events. But it's not more important to Matthias than Joury is, so he tunes it out for us. I took away the hand holding. And by that, I mean most authors will start the story with a character who is practically clueless about the outside world as an excuse to give that character a tour while simultaneously giving the reader a tour. We're not doing that. As a reader myself, I refuse to insult your intelligence. If it doesn't directly affect the now, then they don't talk about it. Similar to the way I've never been to Alaska, but it never comes up in my daily conversations despite probably knowing enough about it to make a guess what it'd be like.