[Shader 01] • Ward of the Philosopher

Deacon Shader is a child out of time, removed as a baby from his Ancient world parents and raised on the Isle of Maranore.

On his seventh birthday, the philosopher Aristodeus arrives to commence the boy’s training with sword and mind. Nothing short of excellence will suffice, if Deacon is to fulfill his destiny and avert the Unweaving of all things.

But as Aristodeus pushes him to the limits, reavers are spotted approaching the coast, and a cloud of horror descends upon the village.

For these are no ordinary pirates. They sail under the Impaled Man, the grisly flag of Verusia, land of the undead and realm of the Lich Lord.

Ward of the Philosopher is a Shader Origins novella of 15,500 words introducing the character of Deacon Shader as a child.

The Shader Origins novellas (Ward of the Philosopher and The Seventh Horse) serve as an introduction to the bestselling Shader series:

1. Sword of the Archon

2. Best Laid Plans

3. The Unweaving

In this brief introduction to the world of Urddynoor, D.P. Prior slots squarely into the sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy traditions pioneered by Michael Moorcock, R.E. Howard, Lin Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. With a strong sense of good against evil set against a post-apocalyptic background of deception and the remnants of long buried ancient civilizations, one cannot help but place this series in the company of Stephen King's The Dark Tower and Steven Erikson's Malazan books. Ultimately, though, the discerning reader will not miss the huge debt the author has to David Gemmell.

For anyone considering taking the plunge into the bestselling Shader books and braving their enormous scope, Ward of the Philosopher presents the perfect entry point to the series.