About The Tethered Citadel
Introducing... THE TETHERED CITADEL Trilogy
The Tethered Citadel trilogy is a fantasy written for the general market, and comprises MAP'S EDGE; WORLD'S EDGE and SORCERER'S EDGE. It is set on a fantasy world, beginning at the edges of the tyrannical Bolgravian Empire, and heading off the map.
David says: This series had its inspiraiton in an overseas holiday (remember them!) to Japan. I was struck by how the landscape of Japan and New Zealand had so many similarities – both countries are formed by islands at the edge of the Pacific, on a roughly northeast-southwest axis, with a mountainous spine, in similar climatic zones (though on opposite sides of the equator). Remove the buildings and differing agriculture, and the two countries start to look quite similar.
I also saw similarities between the Japanese warrior culture of the past, and the Maori of New Zealand. That started me thinking initially about alternative history ideas like “What if Japan had found New Zealand before the Europeans?” (an idea that still intrigues me), but then, as is the way of these things, the idea got blended with other concepts, and lo and behold, The Tethered Citadel was born, a story set in a fantasy world that draws inspiration from both countries, as well as Europe.
What emerged from all that is a fantasy journey off the map, full of surprises and discovery, both in terms of lands and people, but also of new ways of thinking and behaving. It’s a culture clash story, a little guys against the oppressors story, and about finding your family. But mostly, hopefully, its pacey and enjoyable entertainment. I hope that’s how you find it, if you give it a go.
Titles in The Tethered Citadel
SORCERER'S EDGE is the Book 3 of The Tethered Citadel trilogy.
After all they’ve suffered, rebel sorcerer Raythe Vyre and his fortune-seekers are still empty-handed, but they’ve found real treasure: peace.
Deep inside the Ice wastes, Raythe’s people stumbled upon Rath Argentium, the legendary Aldar city, and the long-lost Tangato people. After fighting through betrayal, treachery and powerful magic, they forged a hard-won treaty with the Tangato and their extraordinary queen, Shiazar. Now they’ve put aside their dreams of wealth and revenge and embraced something better: a life outside the tyrannical Bolgravian Empire.
But the Bolgravian Empire never gives up.
The empire hasn’t forgotten Raythe Vyre, and his enemies know where he is. Guided by Toran Zorne, the implacable imperial assassin, they are coming to claim Rath Argentium for themselves. Raythe and Shiazar know that courage and cunning won't be enough this time: they are outnumbered, out-gunned and out of time.
Faced with total annihilation, it’s up to Raythe to find an edge . . .
WORLD'S EDGE is Book Two of The Tethered Citadel trilogy.
When Raythe Vyre’s refugees fled the tyrannical Bolgravian empire, they were seeking treasure – but they found so much more.
Hundreds of miles inside a desolation of ice, Raythe and his misfits have found the legendary Rath Argentium, the royal city of the Aldar, impossibly preserved for five centuries – and a potential treasure trove of the priceless magical ore, istariol.
It’s enough wealth and power to change lives – and history.
But the lands around Rath Argentium aren’t empty. They’re the realm of the Tangato, a lost people keeping alive the memory of the fabled Aldar, a race of sorcerers of immense power. To them, Raythe’s people are not just trespassers, but harbingers of doom – and they must die.
Raythe, his precocious daughter Zar and their companions are about to face deadly treachery, sorcery and war, in a place where the horrors that destroyed the Aldar still lurk.
At the world’s edge, the merest slip will see them fall . . .
MAP'S EDGE is Book 1 of The Tethered Citadel trilogy.
Soldier, sorcerer and exiled nobleman Raythe Vyre has run out of places to hide. When the all-conquering Bolgravian Empire invaded, Raythe grabbed his daughter Zar and after taking part in a disastrous rebellion, they washed up on the edge of the continent.
Now he’s found a chance of redemption for himself and the precociously talented Zar: a map showing a hitherto unknown place that’s rich in istariol, the incredibly rare mineral that fuels sorcery. Mining it will need people, but luckily there are plenty of outcasts, ne’er-do-wells and loners desperate enough to brave haunted roads through the ruins of an ancient, long-dead civilisation, to seek wealth and freedom.
But the Bolgravian Empire is not about to let anyone defy it – and even out here, at the edge of the map, implacable imperial agent Toran Zorne has caught Raythe’s scent.
The hunt is on.