The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign

Lloyd’s five-volume Twilight Reign epic fantasy series (concluding with The Dusk Watchman) chronicles the larger-than-life exploits of heroes of the Land who turn the tide of destiny. This shiveringly gruesome collection, darker in tone than the novels in the series, frames those grandiose events with short stories that add depth, color, and moral ambiguity to the larger picture. In “A Beast in Velvet,” a mysterious killer stalks the streets of Narkang, leaving behind a trail of hideously savaged bodies and weird runes, but no other trace of his passing. In “The God Tattoo,” mercenary Daken realizes that mages tend to lie to get their own way, and that the gods care nothing for the reality of humans. In “A Man from Thistledell,” Marshal Calath learns that sometimes no good comes of trying to do the right thing. In “Shadows in the Library,” Gennay Thonal’s noble aspiration turns deadly in a way she could never have imagined. Lloyd has done a fine job of adding to the Twilight Reign mythos with these well-crafted works. Agent: John Richard Parker, MBA Literary Agents. (Nov.)