Embr (Paperback or Softback)

EMBR is the first volume in the Novari Heptalogy, a seven-part fantasy epic following the adventures of two brothers, whose fates have been intertwined with the Knotted Rope.

Aspiring Hunter Avenir and his younger brother Aren live in Point Fire, the Realm’s final bastion of human civilization. The unshakable fortress-city lies at the edge of the Frost: a never-ending wasteland of ice that extends beyond the horizon. Why this city has managed to uniquely survive the harsh conditions is no secret: deep within the fiery bowels underneath the Keep rests EMBR, a powerful and ancient weapon from a bygone era. The Great Sword serves as a universal energy source, sending its life-sustaining heat through the aqueducts and channels which line every street, residence, and workshop within the Point.

“Many over the Few” is the mantra of the Hunters, a guild expected to dedicate their lives to braving the Frost…to feeding the city. Hunters are the closest thing the Point has to heroes, and Borea, Avenir’s father, was one of them. But it has been seven long years since this legendary explorer disappeared, and Avenir has yet to forgive him for abandoning them.

Over all these years, Avenir has devoutly worshipped the only religion he has ever known: Survival. It is a faith that requires rules, requires order, and it is the only thing still filling the void his father left behind. However, when a fateful encounter uncovers a dreadful family secret, Avenir finds that the rules governing his life, and reality itself, have been burned away in a torrent of flames.

Phillip Vorster was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but soon returned to South Africa with his family and spent the majority of his childhood there. Reading second-hand fantasy novels on the beaches near Cape Town are some of his favorite memories... He went on to complete high school in the United States and graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Cognitive Science. He now attends the University of Cincinnati medical school. EMBR is his first written work: Book I of the Novari Heptalogy.