Legend of Ethshar Books
The Misenchanted Sword /A Legend of Ethshar/ A LAND AT WAR / Ethshar and the Northern Empire have been at war for hundreds of years. Hardly anyone alive remembers why, or over what. The tempest, turmoil, and war are endless, and the killing more endless still. The war has become not just a way of life, but an institution; no one dares to dream that it could end. Not even Valder of Kardoret, Ethsharitic Scout, trapped behind enemy lines. / A MISENCHANTED SWORD / But now everything has changed: at a moment of great need, a hermit wizard crafted Valder a magic sword called Wirikidor -- a blade at once cursed and enchanted, a misenchanted blade that makes him unbeatable. / A LEGEND OF ETHSHAR / Soon the tides of battle will turn, and once they've turned they'll turn forever.
A SINGLE SPELL Tobas had been lucky to find a wizard to take him on as apprentice. But then the wizard died suddenly and unexpectedly after teaching Tobas only a solitary spell, and the youth was too old to find a new master. How could he earn a living when all the magic he could do was light fires? A DESTINY UNFOLDING In the Small Kingdoms there were dragons to be slain, princesses and gold to be won, magic castles, witches who knew the secret of immortality, and other treasures. But how could a wizard with a single, simple spell hope to find them and win them?
A STAR RISES IN THE SOUTH When the foreigners confronted Sterren in Ethshar of the Spices he was uneasy; when they all but abducted him, taking him to an obscure kingdom in the south, he knew he was in a terrible predicament. A predicament some might actually find appealing -- he was by heredity the Ninth Warlord of Semma, least of the small kingdoms; he was a noble, and his rank afforded him material privileges, even in a place as insignificant and obscure as Semma. But the office also carried certain terrible responsibilities: he was to win the war the stupid King had stirred up by his arrogance. Two larger and stronger Kingdoms were preparing to invade Semma. And if the country lost, the first thing likely to be forfeit was the life of the Warlord. And if it won . . . if it won, the fate and shape of Ethshar would change forever. For deep in the south there are secrets of magic not even Sterren can imagine. A LEGEND OF ETHSHAR
Ed Smith thought he was having a waking nightmare when he saw a monstrous face at his window, but in the morning his neighbors were missing. The people who later turned up were not quite right, and gradually Smith realized they not only weren't his neighbors, but weren't even human. They were the creatures he had seen . . . In THE NIGHTMARE PEOPLE, Lawrence Watt-Evans has created a terrifying new monster in the classic tradition of Frankenstein and Dracula.
After finally admitting to himself that he possesses no supernatural talent, Dumery leaves the comforts of home to become the apprentice of Kenshar, a dragon-hunter who keeps wizards supplied with the magical blood of dragons. Reprint.
She was everything he wanted, and everything he had been promised. A fortune-teller's prophecy had sent Kelder of Shulara to seek adventure along the Great Highway. He had been ready to give it up, and dismiss the seer as a fraud, when he met Irith. Irith was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was bright and charming and cheerful. And she had wings. Kelder tried to earn Irith's love and respect. He tried to please her, and to fulfill the prophecy that seemed to say he would one day marry her. But as he came to know her, he began to realize that she was not quite what she appeared to be. She was not just a lovely young woman. She was not even entirely human. She had ruined men's lives. And he needed to learn what she truly was before she destroyed him, as well. What he would learn, and where he would go, would makes its mark on the destiny of Ethshar.
Tabaea was an ordinary thief, sneaking and prowling and stealing for a living. Then one night while burgling a house, she witnessed a wizard teaching his apprentice a spell -- the creation of a magic dagger. Tabaea decided to try the magic for herself. But even though she could feel the power rising around her as she went through the steps of the ritual, something had clearly gone wrong. The apprentice's dagger had glowed; it had resisted attempts to pick it up; and there had been a blinding flash at the end of the ceremony. But Tabaea's dagger didn't do any of those things. And it wouldn't free her from bonds, or heal her wounds -- it didn't seem to be magical at all. It just turned black. Then, by chance, Tabaea discovered that her dagger indeed had its own kind of unusal magic -- a dark, powerful magic that promised invincibility to its bearer. But magic can be dangerous even in the hands of an expert -- and for Tabaea, magic and power could spell disaster . . .
Chaos erupts in the magical land of Ethshar of the Spices after a mysterious object falls from the skies, creating a wave of magic in all directions that ignites an uncontrollable madness among Ethshar's inhabitants.
Despite several years of study, Kilisha, an aspiring young apprentice wizard, has much to learn. After gathering ingredients for a lesson, she returns home to find her master, Ithanalin the Wise, transformed into a statue. A tax collector interrupted Ithanalin while working on a spell, a magic mirror tells her, with the result that the wizard's soul has been distributed among the various household objects. "The dish had run away with the spoon" is literally the case here, as all the furnishings have become animated and escaped out the door. In her efforts to track down the runaway objects and restore her petrified master to his former self, a quest that will eventually take her to the Overlord of Ethshar's fortress, Kilisha first tries to involve the Wizards' Guild, but ultimately must rely on the few spells she knows and her master's spell book-as well as her own imagination, initiative and ingenuity.
Part of the Ethshar series, The Spriggan Mirror follows the story of a magical mirror that allows its user to communicate with the elusive and dangerous spriggans. When the mirror goes missing, a group of wizards and adventurers must find it before the spriggans use it to wreak havoc. Set in the richly detailed world of Ethshar, this novel blends adventure, magic, and clever problem-solving in a tale of mystery and intrigue.
Once, not so long ago, A warlock named Vond built an empire in the southern part of the Small Kingdoms. Vond is gone, but his empire survives under the rule of a seven-person Imperial Council and a young regent named Sterren. The Empire of Vond was hardly trouble-free after Vond's departure. Its neighbors are understandably wary of further expansion, there are questions about how Vond's magic became so potent, and so on. Most of the World, though, doesn't care -- Vond is off there in the southeastern corner of the World, far away from anywhere important. But one day a dockworker named Emmis watches a Vondish ship arrive in Ethshar of the Spices and finds himself hired as native guide and aide to someone who claims to be Vond's ambassador plenipotentiary to the overlords of the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars. But who is the Vondish ambassador, really, and what is his true business in Ethshar? And who has followed him to the city?
The Calling. Sooner or later, it claimed every powerful warlock . . . a growing magical compulsion to go north to the mysterious land of Aldagmor that nothing could stop. None ever returned. Hanner the Warlock knew his days were numbered. The Calling pulled at him ceaselessly now, and his ability to resist had begun to crumble. So he determined to find a place where the Calling couldn’t reach him . . . another world, located through a magic tapestry. Every warlock knew that the farther he was from Aldagmor, the weaker the Calling was — and the weaker his magic was, as well, but that was only a secondary consideration. That weakening had given Hanner the idea to find, or make, a place so distant from Aldagmor that the Call couldn’t reach it at all. Unfortunately, the Call took him anyway. And that’s where his story really gets interesting. Because the Calling wasn’t what everyone believed. And when the warlocks who had been Called over the decades suddenly woke up again at the object doing the calling — and found themselves without their powers — their world may never be the same!
Ethshar? Many readers already recognize the name, but if you aren’t one of them, perhaps a brief explanation is in order. “Ethshar” is the invented world that has been the setting for almost a dozen novels from the pen of Lawrence Watt-Evans. Its inhabitants don’t call it that; they call it “the World.” For readers, though, that’s not specific enough. The dominant nation on the World is the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars, while the largest, richest city, where most of the stories are set, is Ethshar of the Spices, so “Ethshar” is close enough. You don’t need to have read any of the novels to enjoy the stories herein; each stands alone. And if you’ve read the novels, you will doubly thrill to these new voyages to the world of Ethshar, with 11 stories . . . collected for the first time in a single volume!
The great wizard Nabal's death offers many opportunities, both for those who knew him and those who did not. For young conmen Ezak and Kel, it means a chance to loot the wizard's estate... if they can win the confidence of Nabal's widow, Dorna. But Dorna has plans of her own. She means to leave the tiny village for a better life in the city. And all of Nabal's wizardly artifacts and talismans will pay for that new life ― if she can only get them there intact!
Young Ishta found it in the forest, buried beneath dead leaves: a rounded, flattened stone as black as onyx. One side held a golden oval that glowed with a unnatural light. Of course, it had to be magic. But what did farmers know of magic? It could be dangerous, or it could be some harmless toy. They had to find out. Since Ishta was too young to bring her discovery to the Baron of Varag’s stronghold, her older brother, Garander, went instead. Once there, Azlia, a beautiful wizard, recognized the stone immediately as Northern sorcery. She had to call Sammel, the local sorcerer, to find out its nature ... a relic of the last great war. When the Baron takes the stone for himself, that should have ended things. But it was just the beginning for Garander. Because that magical stone wasn’t the only relic left in the woods...
No good deed goes unpunished! When Morvash of the Shadows, a journeyman wizard, discovers some of the statues in his uncle’s house are real people turned to stone, he sets out to do the right thing. But turning them back is a bigger challenge than he anticipated.... Darissa the Witch’s Apprentice wants to help a prince of Melitha defend their homeland against an invasion. But there’s more to both of them than meets the eye.... Hakin of the Hundred-Foot Field dares to speak to a demon -- and abruptly finds himself employed to find the demon's employer, a missing magician...and learns the name of his father.... Before long, these reluctant heroes find their separate fates entwined. For they are the only ones standing in the way of a mad wizard’s scheme that could unleash the greatest monster Ethshar has ever seen!
Life can be hard in Ethshar of the Sands, especially when you're an aging diva whose husband has just left you. Never mind that he gave her their house and plenty of money. Never mind that he no longer loves her and never wants to see her again. Or hear her voice. Or interact with her in any way, shape, or form. Dulzan just wants his freedom to be a humble carpenter. Sharra wants Dulzan, though, and that's all that counts in her head and heart. And as so often happens with a wife scorned, she turns to magic to get her way. Because she has to have him, no matter the cost. A legend of Ethshar from the best-selling author of The Misenchanted Sword and With a Single Spell.