RISE OF THE VEILBREAKER

Schustereit’s fantasy novel is an epic saga of battles and noble burdens.

Thomas Grimhorn is a noble scorned by his father and reluctantly raised into the service of Aleara, the goddess of nature and balance. Against his will, he is destined to become “the Veilbreaker,” a title he earns when a reckless act drags an entire displaced people into his war-torn world. His companions are a familiar band of archetypes: Sir Silas, the grizzled mentor; Avery, the devout priest; Jaxxon, the wild druid, whose irreverence provides light comic relief; and Lyrei, a warrior woman and ally who tempers Thomas’ fatalism with resolve. They trudge through mountains stalked by giants, battle monstrous armies, and weather divine and political betrayals. The plot treads comfortingly familiar thematic ground, touching on the corrosion of faith in the face of hypocrisy; the temptations of cursed power, embodied in Thomas’ whispering sword, Nightshard; and the weight of leadership foisted on those disinclined to accept it. The gods themselves, Klydos and Aleara, treat creation as a game, leaving Thomas to decide whether he is champion, pawn, or usurper. Schustereit writes with gusto, if not always with grace. His blunt prose often strikes with visceral immediacy, and the dialogue mostly manages to avoid leaning too much on medievalist “milords” and “my lieges.” The straightforward writing can come across as wooden and is always highly earnest (“I can change the course of this endless war”); the author’s approach eschews Tolkien-style lyricism, but readers will spot his shadows, and those of Robert Jordan and R.A. Salvatore, in the plot. Battles are frequent, brutal, and sometimes repetitive, but thoroughly cinematic. The narrative succeeds because it refuses cynicism—it sincerely leans into its familiar tropes, with characters who take their gods, heroes, and the story’s stakes deadly seriously. Readers seeking flourishes of irony or subtext may be disappointed, but they will probably keep turning the pages anyway.

A traditional fantasy yarn with engaging, blood-soaked characters.