Hammer of Gath: A Tale of Rehavan (Nations End)

A Game of Thrones with Elves and Minotaurs

A tale of war between two nations divided by culture, by gods, and by race, Nations End is a series that moves between the perspectives of characters on either side of a brutal conflict. Follow the rise of Tarquhanna of the minotaurs as he transforms Gath’s confederacy of democratic city states into a single empire. Follow Thessalia, Trellic, and her fellow elven rulers as the hereditary empire of Elisidor dissolves into fractured kingdoms.

As war between elves and minotaurs shatters both governments and corrupts both cultures, the people on either side are forced to question their places in history, the justice of their cause, and the cost or possibility of peace. Read and ask yourself: whose side would I be on?

Grounded, gritty, and close to the characters, Nations End is a fantasy series with limited magic and little of gods. But its scope is grand and its cast is large. You’ll feel for the characters on either side. There are no clear good guys and bad guys here. No chosen one. No noblebright heroes or grimdark evils. Just people. Just nations. Just war.

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“The blow struck in anger always returns to the striker.”

Such are the words of the Elaugh, the moral code of Gath’s stoic minotaurs.Tarquhanna was raised to revere these words, to love them, to see nobility in accepting what comes without resentment or anger.

“Blood for blood.”

Such is the basic creed of Elisidor’s tribal elves, who hold family ties above all else. H’raden was raised to honor these words, to know that he must always be ready to serve the needs of family, tribe, and blood.

When these two apprentice blacksmiths from different nations and different cultures meet, their friendship is as swift to form as it is to end. A misunderstanding between Tarquhanna’s village and H’raden’s tribe leads to bloodshed, sending H’raden on a mission of revenge.

The ambitious elven lord Helior uses H’raden’s story as a rallying cry to stoke the flames of war, and what could have been an isolated incident turns into a conflict that will bring two nations to their knees. Tarquhanna and H’raden rise in prominence, and their story becomes indistinguishable from the story of the war itself.

With characters on either side of the conflict fit to root for or despise, with no clear hard line between hero and villain, Hammer of Gath will leave you asking: Who would I be in this war?

Justin Rose is an author from Superior, Wisconsin. He is the fiction editor of the Torrid Literature Journal and has had short stories featured in several literary journals, such as Black Denim Lit and Emerge Literary Journal. You may find his first novel Ariel's Tear on Amazon and many other online retailers. Inspired by both the classics of Western literature and the speculative fiction of the 20th century, Rose's work is a blend of literary art and speculative adventure that interweaves the higher themes of the classics with the adventurous spirit of genre fiction.