Description:

"Gritty, tense, and brutally tragic. High quality storytelling with great characters and a relentless plot." -- Mitchell Hogan, author of A Crucible of Souls and Aurealis Award winner."

For more than a thousand years, the dwarves have hidden away from the world in their ravine city of Arx Gravis.

Governed by an inflexible council whose sole aim is to avoid the errors of the past, the defining virtue of their society is that nothing should ever change.

But when the Scriptorium is broken into, and Ravine Guard Carnifex Thane sees a homunculus fleeing the scene of the crime, events are set in motion that will ensure nothing will ever be the same again.

Deception and death are coming to Arx Gravis.

The riddles that preceded Carnifex’s birth crystalize into a horrifying fate that inexorably closes in.

But it is in blood that legends are born, and redemption is seeded in the gravest of sins.

For Carnifex is destined to become the Ravine Butcher, before even that grim appellation is forever lost, along with everything that once defined him.

The long-awaited Nameless Dwarf origins novel, and the start of a brand new series, Legends of the Nameless Dwarf, Carnifex by D.P. Prior is a welcome addition to the sword and sorcery tradition that spawned R.E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Lieber, and Lin Carter, and it picks up right where the heroic fantasy of David Gemmell left off. With tight point of view, complex characterization, and an abundance of horror, bloodshed, and the relentless march of an uncaring fate, it also carries the hallmarks of modern day grimdark that readers of Joe Abercrombie and George R.R. Martin are familiar with.

**

Review

"Gritty, tense, and brutally tragic. High quality storytelling with great characters and a relentless plot." -- Mitchell Hogan, author of A Crucible of Souls and Aurealis Award winner.

"...by the end I did care about those people--all of them, including Carnifex, were flawed but fundamentally decent people. But I had read The Nameless Dwarf, and I knew what was coming, and how it all ends. That knowledge made the book both hard to continue reading and hard to put down." -- Black Gate Magazine

"A Fantasy Adventure of remarkable scope, populated by many memorable characters. Maybe D. P. Prior's finest work to date." -- Ray Nicholson (Amazon Top 1000 reviewer)

"Whenever I have high praise for a book, I usually like to find at least one aspect of the writing to challenge, but this one's got me stumped. I guess I could complain that it ended all too soon, but then there are three other volumes to enjoy..." -- Laurence Scotford

"It's not often I'm left speechless but this was one of those times. WOW!!" -- Ebookwyrm

"5 Stars is easily earned here and I'm sure it will not be long before we see this, the most unique of dwarves on the big screen! This year is indeed the year of the dwarf!!" -- Scott Morrison

From the Author

Carnifex is the long-awaited origins story of the Nameless Dwarf, who first appeared in The Resurrection of Deacon Shader, then The Unweaving, before getting his own spin-off series that began with The Ant-Man of Malfen (Pulp Empire Volume 5).

The story was expanded into five novellas, which were later collected together in the omnibus: The Nameless Dwarf: The Complete Chronicles (Homunculus 2012).

As the stories gained in popularity, there were numerous requests for the origins of this enigmatic character to be written. The result is Carnifex, and its sequel, Geas of the Black Axe, which takes us up to the start of The Ant-Man of Malfen.

The original 5 novellas have now been revised and re-released as Revenge of the Lich (Legends of the Nameless Dwarf Book 3).

LEGENDS OF THE NAMELESS DWARF:

1. CARNIFEX
2. GEAS OF THE BLACK AXE
3. REVENGE OF THE LICH
4. RETURN OF THE DWARF LORDS