The Covenant Rising (Dreamtime, 1)

In the land of Bhealfa, magic defines and controls the social order. But the most powerful and expensive spells are used by the authorities to control the entire population.

Reeth Caldason is one of the last remaining members of a warrior race that was brutally massacred decades ago. Cursed with episodes of blind, uncontrollable rage, he is forced to wander the world seeking revenge for his people and a cure for his magical affliction. But the spell that binds Reeth is highly mysterious, and only when a young sorcerer's apprentice tells him of the mysterious Covenant does he regain a glimmer of hope. Forming an uneasy alliance, the two head for Bhealfa's capital city in search of the secretive magical society, unaware that they are about to be drawn into a dangerous world of conspiracy and treachery.

Stan Nicholls is best known for the internationally acclaimed Orcs: First Blood series. His journalism has appeared in Locus, SFX, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mirror, Time Out, Sight and Sound, and Rolling Stone, among many other publications. He currently lives in the West Midlands, U.K., with his wife, the writer Anne Gay.