The Sleep of Empires: (Book #1 of the Book of the Null)

This debut installment in The Book of the Null series will appeal to readers who enjoy The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, and the like.

Eloran is a world of imperious elves, fractious human realms, and the hated, skeletal kaul--with each nation poised to grasp at any advantage over the others.

When Latanna Forgrym’s despised father tries to betroth her to the youngest son of a powerful, manipulative family, she forges a new path by instead marrying a man she respects but doesn’t love. A chance encounter with a pair of mercenaries leads Latanna to a lost crown, a relic of forces the world has tried desperately to forget, and gives her the means to break free from her corrupt family--but at a terrible price.

A kaul mercenary travels through the human realms with a companion of no nation, no identifiable species, and no memories--not even the memory of his own name. Latanna’s crown sets the warrior on the path to recovering first his name--Vorykas--and then fragments of his past. As he searches for clues to himself, his connection to the crown and the suppressed lore it represents become clear.

When a forbidden book resurfaces, threatening to reveal the knowledge Vorykas seeks, enemy forces move to conceal the book and any hint of its contents, by whatever means necessary. Latanna and Vorykas must unite to defend the realm and reveal the truth. But what they learn has the power to shake the world . . . and make the gods tremble.

David Annandale the author of forty books of fantasy, science fiction and horror. He has written Horus Heresy, Warhammer 40,000, and Age of Sigmar fiction for Black Library. For Aconyte Books, he has written novels set in the Arkham Horror and Legend of the Five Rings universes, along with a trilogy of Doctor Doom novels. He is also the author of the horror novel Gethsemane Hall and the Jen Blaylock thriller series. When he is not creating and/or destroying worlds, he teaches university courses on English literature, film, comics, and video games.