Servant of a Dark God - Hardcover

John D. Brown

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765322358 ISBN 13: 9780765322357

Publisher: Tor Books, 2009

Synopsis

The launch of a towering new fantasy series introduces an elaborate new world, a strange and dark system of magic, and a cast of compelling characters and monsters. Young Talen lives in a world where the days of a person’s life can be harvested, bought, and stolen. Only the great Divines, who rule every land, and the human soul-eaters, dark ones who steal from man and beast and become twisted by their polluted draws, know the secrets of this power. This land’s Divine has gone missing and soul-eaters are found among Talen’s people.

 

The Clans muster a massive hunt, and Talen finds himself a target. Thinking his struggle is against both soul-eaters and their hunters, Talen actually has far larger problems. A being of awesome power has arisen, one whose diet consists of the days of man. Her Mothers once ranched human subjects like cattle. She has emerged to take back what is rightfully hers. Trapped in a web of lies and ancient secrets, Talen must struggle to identify his true enemy before the Mother finds the one whom she will transform into the lord of the human harvest.

About this title

From the Author:

Please note that THIS IS AN OUTDATED EDITION of the book. 

The NEW EDITION IS CALLED Servant (The Dark God Book 1) and was published in November, 2013 by Blacksword Books, my own imprint.

The new version is the result of a significant edit that includes line edits, copy edits, section resequencing, and one important adjustment and addition. This new version SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGES THE EXPERIENCE FOR THE READER, bringing it back to the author's original intent.

Line edits include changes to make individual sentences or paragraphs read more clearly. I made line edits to almost every page. I think most readers won't notice these. But then that's the point.

Copy edits catch small things like typos and misspellings. There were a number of maddening copy issues that weren't caught in the first version and still others that were introduced as the manuscript moved through production. No book is perfect, and so I'm sure there are still some gremlins lurking in the text. But in this edit we caught and killed a host of the little fiends.

Resequencing involves moving chapters or sections around and does affect the experience. The biggest resequence was switching the first eight chapters back to the original order I intended. This is an important change and will have a large effect on the reader for the first quarter of the book. Then there were three other smaller sections inside the story that needed to be moved around to make the chronology clearer and improve the suspense.

The line, copy, and resequencing edits make up the bulk of the edits. But I did adjust and add a short section to the ending immediately after the climax to clarify a few things that should have been revealed in the first version and that lead into book two.

What does this all mean?

It means that while the new version is a superior version of the tale, the base story remains the same. I care about the characters of Sugar, Talen, Argoth, Hunger, and the others, and the dilemmas they face. So I did not change their tale. As I said above, I did significantly change the experience for the reader.

If you are new to the Dark God world, you will want to purchase the new version.

About the Author:

John Brown currently lives with his wife and four daughters in the hinterlands of Utah, where one encounters much fresh air, many goodhearted ranchers, and an occasional wolf.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0765322358
• ISBN 13: 9780765322357
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448