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Thank you for purchasing this one-volume collection of the Reign of the Eagle series. This is our second series of fantasy novels, and we would like to think we’re getting better with practice. You can be the judge (assuming you’ve read our previous series, Of Duty and Silver, which is also available as a one-volume collection).
The six novels here represent more than six years of work on our part. J started the first book in the series, Black Eagle Rising, for Camp NaNoWriMo in April, 2017. S finished the last section of the final novel, A Troubled Peace, in early August, 2023. Two of the books, Unspeakably Wooed and the original draft of A Troubled Peace, were written as birthday presents. Yes, that’s ridiculously cute, but we regret nothing.
Most of these books were, in fact, written before we decided to start self-publishing our novels, back when we were simply doing this for fun. (Not to imply that we don’t have fun anymore. We always have fun.) Thus, when we started to group the books into series, we discovered there were some gaps in the story. That’s where Siege of Kings, the second novel in this collection, came from. The third book (as you’ll discover, if you haven’t read the series already) opens with our heroes in a precarious position, following a giant, epic battle. A battle that took place entirely off-screen, as it were. Obviously, we had to write the book where that battle happens, or our readers would be most displeased with us. So, that’s why Siege of Kings exists.
Likewise, we had to fill in some blanks in A Troubled Peace, the last book. Certain crucially important events didn’t happen in the main narrative of the book, and the reader was simply invited to imagine that they had happened. And while we certainly do have faith in the power of our readers’ imaginations, that seemed a bit much to ask. So, we added two more sections to the book.
That’s how it is, when you’re a writer: there’s always One More Thing. Like writing this introduction, for example. But now we’ve come to the end, and the book has been duly introduced. In retrospect, we got through it pretty well, if we say so ourselves. Just as we hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction, we trust you will enjoy the six novels in this collection.
J.S. Mawdsley