Daan’s debut novel Night’s Reign is not your average Fantasy novel. Featuring two disabled protagonists, and focusing more on character development than plot, it’s best described as a work of literary fiction in a fantasy setting.
Night’s Reign
A floundering priest. A woman in a wheelchair. An ancient curse.
On the run from a cursed king and his army of assassins, priest Niels Bosch seeks sanctuary in rural Briscona. What he gets is a barrage of intimate and unsettling questions from his new cantor, Beldenka Nadinov. Questions he can’t risk answering.
Accompanied by his friend and bodyguard Mikhandor, and Bel’s protector Leks, the pair set out to challenge the mad king. But Bel has a dark secret of her own – a secret that could endanger the entire mission.
When Niels unearths the chilling truth and realises there’s much more at stake than just his life, it’s too late to turn back. He must lift the curse and end Night’s reign forever.
Start reading!
Read the first chapters.
The protagonists
His Holiness Niels Bosch
Niels Bosch is a young priest with a troubled and mysterious past.
He is the kind of guy who would happily fade into the background.
Much to his chagrin, he is the Chosen One of the Goddess Eylah. Destined to save the world.
Not an easy task for an autistic guy who suffers from recurrent depressive disorder.
Lord Beldenka Nadinov
Beldenka Nadinov is a woman in her late twenties, and Niels’ new cantor.
Despite her wheelchair-dependence and apparent frailty, she’s a confident woman with a positive outlook on life.
Bel has short mahogany curls, ivory skin, and verdigris eyes. For practical reasons she usually wears breeches.
She has a great eye for detail and is a natural leader.
Buy Night’s Reign
Night’s Reign is available in E-book format for Kindle and other E-readers, and paperback from several online retailers. Hardcover and Large Print editions are available on Amazon only.
What Readers Say
Review by C. Borden, author of Short Stories from Mythnium
This is literary fantasy fiction and is a gem in its rarity of style. Most fantasy novels (my own included) are typically plot-based, meaning the book follows a plotline, a mission is set upon, a goal is set to be achieved, and the novel narrates the journey with less emphasis on character- development. But Night’s Reign is character based. There is still a very clear plot, but the plot in and of itself is not so important as the development of the characters themselves and their interactions with each other.
(…)
Read the entire review on Goodreads
Review by L.C. Cunningham, author of The Witch of Lichley Lane: and Other Disturbances in Lichley Town
A great story with a novel take on the chosen one!
Two good viewpoint characters here, but my favourite was wheelchair bound Bel. She is snarky and cutting and has real grit as a character, something I enjoy reading and a nice contrast to nice-but-sometimes-hopeless Niels.
There are two narratives going on here, and I found myself being very into the backstory. The story also picked up pace in the back half and the final chapters are where it shines the best (as any good story should!).
L.C. Cunningham
Review by Christiana Matthews, author of Flowerface
If you enjoy beautiful prose, engaging characters and impressive world-building, this is the book for you.
The wheelchair using heroine is independent and sassy, paired with a diffident, awkward hero who doesn’t quite know how he got cast in that role and isn’t sure he can handle it. The dark secrets in his past result in a band of assassins hunting him, thrusting him and his lady into some very cool adventures.
Christiana Matthews
Review by L.R. Friedman, author of Descend
(…) I’ll share a few of my favorite things about it:
– There was a really unique cast of characters throughout the book and no one was one-dimensional. The book is divided in parts which really helped organize the different storylines so they played together beautifully once they merged. For me, sometimes it can get overwhelming when there are a ton of characters to juggle – not with this book. They were introduced in waves so it was easy to follow and keep the storylines and who’s who straight.
– I LOVED Bel. (…)
Read L.R. Friedman’s entire review on Goodreads