Servant: The Dark God Book 1

Servant

John Brown

A spirited blacksmith's daughter accused of using the dark and terrifying sleth magic.

The young man who hunts her.

And the ferocious monster who only wants to be free.

Trapped in a web of lies and ancient secrets, of right becoming wrong, the three must struggle not only against each other, but also a being of irresistible powers, a creature who is gathering her servants to usher in the impending human harvest.
Praise for Servant

“[An] engrossing debut . . . breakneck paced and action packed. Patient readers will be rewarded with a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy adventure.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“
Servant
delivers solid pacing, a great setting, and a smart story that breaks away from genre conventions.”

—
Brandon Sanderson
,
New York Times
best-selling author

“Brown’s first novel, the opener in a new fantasy series, creates an elaborate new world, with a rich and deep spiritual and political background . . . Reminiscent of L. E. Modesitt Jr.’s Recluce novels and David Drake’s Lord of the Isles series and David Farland’s Runelords books, this well-wrought tale of families in conflict against both politics and religion represents a welcome addition to large-scale fantasy.”

—
Library Journal
(starred review!)

“Akin to Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen or R. Scott Bakker’s The Prince of Nothing . . . There is the sense right from the start that
Servant
is a tale being told by a first-rate storyteller. It maybe be his first novel, but . . . John Brown knows how to grab a reader’s attention and hold it all the way through the book. That’s a talent that works well in any genre and bodes especially well for the next two volumes in what promises to be an engrossing fantasy trilogy.”

—
New York Review of Science Fiction

“In
Servant
, John Brown has created a complex and intricate world, filled with all the permutations of human good and evil, as well as evil that goes beyond the human, where neither heroes nor villains are quite what they seem at first, and where the cost of virtue is high indeed, yet where, in the end, the tenacity of such virtue is what is required to triumph.”

L. E. Modesitt, Jr
,
author of the Recluce and Imager series

“In his debut novel,
Servant
, John Brown adds his voice to epic fantasy with a world I can see and smell and taste and believe in . . . and characters I can cheer for, travel with, and want to see again.”

—
Ken Scholes,
author of
Lamentation

“A classic heroic saga, dealing with the bedrock issues of good and evil and identity. These are classic themes because they matter, and Brown makes them matter both to his young protagonist and the reader. It promises to continue for quite a distance, and I hope it does.”

—
Kage Baker
,
author of
House of the Stag

“A complex, powerful story of a youth trying to learn who he is and what he is, with no allies he can trust in a world stalked by a monster. A book that copies nothing I have read before and which goes its own way brilliantly.”

David Drake
,
author of the Lord of the Isles series

“This was deeper than a hack and slash adventure, but it was still really fun. It was surprisingly deep when it came to things like family, trust, and truth. That said, I was still engrossed enough to pound through this novel in a couple of sittings.”

—
Larry Correia
,
New York Times
best-selling author

“I will say, in utter candor, that
Servant
is a work that truly stands out from other fantasy books on the market. What makes this book work so well is that it’s a story about family first, and a fantasy adventure second.”

—
Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show

“In
Servant
, John Brown has created a dark and detailed world that has us salivating (literally) for more.”

—
Elitist Book Reviews

“Thoroughly engrossing from the first page to the last! John Brown shows himself to be a writer with remarkable depth and power. I haven’t seen a debut novel this good in years!”

—
David Farland
,
New York Times
best-selling author

“This intricate story buries the truth under layers of corrupt history, forgotten legends, and deliberate lies . . . A provocative, suspenseful beginning of a new series.”

—
Booklist
Copyright

SERVANT: The Dark God Book One

Copyright © 2013 by John Brown

All rights reserved

Published by Blacksword Enterprises, LLC

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from John Brown. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

A previous version of this novel was published by Tor Books as
Servant of a Dark God.

Illustration copyright © 2013 Victor Minguez

Map copyright © 2008 Isaac Stewart

Book and cover design copyright © 2013 Blacksword Books

ISBN 13: 978-1-940427-03-4

ISBN 10: 1940427037

First edition: November, 2013

Revised June, 2014

Electronic Edition by Baen Books

www.baen.com