Step into the world of NINRAGON! Here comes a series of top fantasy novels from German cult author and comic writer/artist Horus W. Odenthal starting with the sprawling saga of Auric the Black. The author's first fantasy trilogy in this series won him as a dark horse independent author the bronze medal of the DPP, the German Fantastic Award, both for Best Debut Author and Best Series. "Today, there's simply nothing that can compare to NINRAGON. It's definitely the best epic fantasy work published in recent years." - fantasybook.de The old elven race of the Ninraé have long withdrawn into their huge secluded fortresses and are preparing to leave this world altogether. Their lives are about to change dramatically when a small band of them lead by the outsider Darachel discovers a badly wounded, unconscious human-male. Between life and death, Auric tells the story of his life, how he grew up in a barbarian background blessed or cursed with acute intelligence, struggling for survival and his way of life among the Valgarians and their wars, not knowing that a great fate awaited him. As Auric's story unfolds, he and Darachel are soon to discover a bond between them, formed by something more than sheer circumstances, something that harkens back to the Elder Days, when the Fire Wars raged and dragons walked in flesh and held reign over the Earth. But there are whispers, both in dreams and reality, voices long unheard that could mean that those days are not as dead and gone as everybody may think. It seems not only Auric has entered the Blighted Reaches. NINRAGON lifts the veil of fairy tale and legends from the fantasy genre and shows what life in those fantasy worlds could really have been like. Its splendor, its horror, the dark and gritty and its sense of wonder. A sharp, fresh look at old tropes in the tradition of George R.R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, Richard Morgan and Glen Cook.
About the Author: Back in the day, Horus W. Odenthal's desired career already was being an author. After reading some of the usual mainstream and genre classics, a dose of Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and some of the other usual suspects, he was hooked and starry-eyed. But then he discovered the world of drawing and made a name for himself with his comics, which he published under the name of "Horus". Although he was quite successful and was merited several nominations and awards, he seemed to have hit a wall after some time. He liked comics, he liked the medium, he liked writing and drawing them, but there were other stories waiting to be told that seemed hard to realize within the constraints and realities of that medium. Something still seemed missing; in terms of creativity, his personal goal was still a long way off. When his wife encouraged him to "write a book, then", that was an experience of enlightenment to him. He had come full circle. He had returned to his original dream, and from that moment on, he has been addicted to writing fantasy stories. Particularly when he gradually developed and discovered the world of NINRAGON. NINRAGON provided a universe for him to tell stories, to lose himself and to realize his full potential. When he isn't busy writing, he reads or spends time with his wife and his wonderful twin daughters. In Germany, his NINRAGON novels have been published since 2013. In 2013, the NINRAGON trilogy was nominated for the "German Fantastic Award" (DPP), a German literary award, in the area "Best German Debut Novel", while NINRAGON itself was nominated as "Best Series".