Showing results by author "D. K. Holmberg" in All Categories

The northern mountain village offers protection from the threat of dragons, but is a difficult place, especially for a misfit like Jason Dreshen. His days are spent hunting for food for his family, praying for warmth, and trying to hide his strange silver eye that grants him dragon sight. When a stranger visits during the local Freedom Festival searching for a different kind of dragon, everything changes.

Finn has served the king as journeyman executioner, but the time has come for a testing with the executioner court. Regardless of the outcome, he will no longer serve in Verendal.

Having stopped Lorren and saving the egg, Jason now faces his most dangerous threat as Lorach moves on Dragon Haven. With the city under attack from a strange new power, only with an understanding of the misfit dragons will Jason - and the dragons - finally be free. When even Dragon Haven seeks to use their power, Jason is forced to make a choice between the people who took him in and the dragons he pledged to protect.

A deadly power upends everything a Blade knows. The Queen’s Blade saga continues. Zaren, steadily forging alliances in the bustling Busal City, finds solace in his growing network, a stark contrast to the oversight of his mentor. This newfound stability, however, is short-lived. The unearthing of a mysterious and arcane ritual on the city's fringes catapults Zaren into action, exposing gaps in his preparedness. A series of sinister events, marked by an escalating number of casualties, propels Zaren into a quest for clarity. In his search, he leans on his allies for insights, but ...

The Eternal has more power than Rob. Somehow he must progress to stop him—and the one he serves. Rob’s new allies struggle to understand the changing power that flows through his realm, having now added water essence to the others and purifying the unity essence the Netheral taught him to use. It allows considerable power, and has given Rob a chance to understand the thorny essence that has grown across one part of the realm. While there, he finds a surprising connection to the past that explains why the realms were sundered. Understanding those secrets, including what happened to the ...

Jasn, a warrior known as the Wrecker of Rens, seeks vengeance for the loss of his beloved to the deadly draasin during the Endless War, wanting nothing more than to sacrifice himself in the process. When an old friend offers a dangerous chance for him to finally succeed, the key to understanding what he finds requires him to abandon all that he believes. Ciara, a water seeker of Rens living on the edge of the arid waste, longs for the strength to help her people.

The kingdom has warred with the Vard long enough. Having gone with the Servant of the Vard, Ashan hopes to end that violence. First, he must find himself—even if it means coming to understand the strange Vard magic. When he finds an ancient and dangerous threat unlike anything he's ever encountered that once spread throughout the Vard lands, he begins to understand his enemy. As Ashan discovers the threat might still be active, he learns the truth behind the Vard actions and their hatred of dragons. What can he do if the threat has already spread to his people?

One herald has been stopped. Rob must progress to stop them all. With the Eternal now captive, Rob wants answers. A greater danger is coming, and it’s one he knows nothing about. But the Eternal refuses to tell him anything. Rob knows other heralds will come. As the borders of his realm are attacked, his mastery of unity is key to stopping them—only this time it’s not strong enough. He needs more power. He needs to progress. But how can he progress when he doesn’t know what comes next? And can he do it before this overwhelming power reaches his land? Dragon Unity is book 12 in an ...

When only the traitor has answers, the Blade must first avoid his trap. The Queen’s Blade saga continues. As Zaren seeks to learn what his former mentor planned, a series of strikes in the city force Zaren to take action. Worse, he learns the truth of the queen’s illness and the steps taken to save her. No longer is magic a danger; now it might be a salvation. Time is not on his side. Pushed to his limits, what he discovers may change the course of his service in the city—and to the queen. As the attacks in the city escalate, Zaren and his team search for answers, but it might already...

The realms have united, but Rob still doesn’t have the power to defeat the Eternal. Rob has united the realms, and now the essences have begun to mingle. For some, this means increased understanding of different powers within the lands. For others, this means their connection to power has shifted. And not all are pleased. While planning for another attack from either the Eternal or the Netheral, Rob discovers a threat he cannot overpower. An unusual ally might be key to understanding how to use his new connection to essence, but even that isn’t enough. When the danger comes from within ...

As a new student in the Dragon Academy, Ashan wants nothing more than to understand his connection to the dragons and to harness their power, but he might have come to learn of his power too late for him to use it. Attempts to harness the magic that burns within him haven't succeeded, and he's consoled knowing that if nothing else, he can learn to be a dragon rider.

After capturing the sorcerer called the Apostle, Gavin decided to remain in the city of Yoran where he’s become comfortable. Work that had been plentiful has dried up and comfort becomes complacency. While new friends help to find jobs, they’re not the kind of jobs an assassin trained to be the Chain Breaker should take. He’s trained to kill, not track down relics in a city that long ago banished magic.

Having passed his first test at the Academy, most believe Tolan has proved he belongs. Only Tolan knows the truth: that his shaping required power from the borrowed bondar — and possibly from the elementals themselves. If he can’t find a way to shape without one, he’ll be expelled from the Academy. When he intervenes to stop another attack on the city, he once again finds himself in the middle of the battle between Terndahl and the Draasin Lord. Worse, because of his continued reliance on the bondars, he begins to fear he might be responsible for releasing elementals.

The Chain Breaker series continues with The Paper Dragon. A dark power that attacks Yoran leads Gavin on a dangerous journey. Gavin remains in Yoran while struggling to master his El’aras abilities. With the power of the strange ring that grants him even more power, he knows he has to learn control, otherwise he’ll destroy the city while trying to protect it. When the hyadan, creatures of dark sorcery, come to the city, Gavin has to make a choice between staying to learn control over his power or helping Imogen.

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

Executioners don’t solve crimes; they punish those who commit them. Or, so Finn thought before apprenticed to one. Poverty-stricken Finn Jagger would give anything to heal his ailing mother. With his father imprisoned, Finn has joined a thieving crew to earn the money he needs to save her. When the latest heist turns to disaster and lands him on death row, Finn’s future seems to be tied up with a noose. Until the king’s executioner claims him as an apprentice. Finn soon learns an executioner has far more power and greater responsibility than he’d ever realized.

The powerful draasin - elemental creatures of fire not seen for a thousand years - have returned. Not all are convinced they should have been freed. As Tan struggles to learn earth shaping, he discovers dangerous fire shapers from Incendin have come to Ethea. When the city is attacked by the draasin, Tan must use his connection with them to learn why. Doing so leads him from the city and forces him to once more face the terrible shapers of Incendin, but this time bound to the draasin for help.

With the threat of rogue elementals escaping from the element bond and fear of another attack by the Draasin Lord, life at the edge of Terndahl is difficult for Tolan. Without any magic of his own, he spends his days working a menial job as a carpenter’s apprentice. When an elemental attack draws the attention of the Inquisitors from the Academy, everything changes.

Life on the farm at the edge of the kingdom is anything but routine for Ashan. The plains around Berestal suffer from severe storms, making travel to the city difficult, with the threat of an attack from the people of Vard always looming. He long ago abandoned dreams of serving as a dragon rider, caring for his injured father and brother, but everything is about to change.

Rsiran is a disappointment to his family, gifted with the ability to Slide. It is a dark magic, one where he can transport himself wherever he wants, but using it will only turn him into the thief his father fears. Forbidden from Sliding, he's apprenticed under his father as a blacksmith where lorcith, a rare, precious metal with arcane properties, calls to him, seducing him into forming forbidden blades. When discovered, he's banished, sentenced indefinitely to the mines of Ilphaesn Mountain.