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19 ratings | 3 reviews | avg rating:4.89

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John D. Escu

Goodreads Author

Born

Romania

Website

https://www.instagram.com/john.d.escu_author/

Genre

Fantasy, Art, Graphic Novels

Member Since

April 2024

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John D. Escu is a Romanian-born tattoo artist and musician living in Germany.

Raised in a military family, John was fascinated as a child with his parents’ stories regarding events occurring throughout Medieval Europe, WW1, WW2 and the Romanian Revolution of 1989.

Where his father would focus on warfare and military conquests, his mother would terrify him and his sister with tales and legends of Romanian folklore.

Vampires and "Strigois" rising from their graves, roaming the streets under the full moon, gave them both sleepless nights, as they both feared what could be lurking outside their windows.

Fascinated with comic books, Saturday morning cartoons, and early ’90s anime, John began drawing and developing his own stories at an early age, c ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Saw your book on mikes books booktube and have ordered through Amazon. My question would be this is this just a one book series with the illustrations or is it gonna be more than one book? I’m still ordered. I just don’t wanna start the series unless I know how many books are going to be in it, but I’ve read the first few sample pages via the Kindle app and it’s incredible. I’ve ordered the hardcover.

John D. Escu Hello Jet Krieg!

First of all, thank you question and support! I am glad you enjoyed the first sample pages. It will only get better :) (I hope!)

Favors…moreHello Jet Krieg!

First of all, thank you question and support! I am glad you enjoyed the first sample pages. It will only get better :) (I hope!)

Favors within Ashes is the first book in the Sins of Starlight Collapse series.
I plan to have a total of nine books in this series.

Book 2 has now over 180k words written, and book 3 is a little over 50k.

Each book in the series will have an additional Illustration book published along with it, which contains info about the creation of characters (regarding motivation and names) along with early sketches and drafts of their designs.

In Seeds of Dautrinias (The Illustration Book for Favors within Ashes) you can see the very first designs I did for some of the characters. Some of them date back to 2003.
This Illustration book represents a gathering of "extra info and drawings" and appeals to readers who have really enjoyed the main book, and want to dive a bit more inside the creation process of the world, animals and characters.
It has no impact on the main plot whatsoever, but it is recommended to read the main book in the series first, and only after, the Illustration Book.

Thank you again for your support and watch out for the rats of Radiant Star!
John D. Escu
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When did you decide to create Seeds of Dautrinias to go alongside Favors within Ashes?

John D. Escu I had a lot of drawings which did not made the final cut in Favors within Ashes and I wasn`t sure what to do with them.

Only when I found out that my …moreI had a lot of drawings which did not made the final cut in Favors within Ashes and I wasn`t sure what to do with them.

Only when I found out that my old drawings (20+ years ago) were still being kept by my parents in Romania, I decided to gather them all and present them to the public as an Illustration Book :)

Each book in the Sins of Starlight Collapse series will receive its very own extra Seeds of Dautrinias edition, with other drawings of the characters now shown in the previous book :)

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John D. Escu’s books

Average rating: 4.3 · 100 ratings · 77 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Favors within Ashes (Sins of Starlight Collapse Series, #1) 4.16 avg rating — 80 ratings — published 2024 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Seeds of Dautrinias (Illustrations of Escu, #1) 4.85 avg rating — 20 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

2 posts
John D. Escu's Blog

Happy B. Day to Favors within Ashes and Seeds of Dautrinias!

Thank you so much to all of you for purchasing and reading Favors within Ashes and Seeds of Dautrinias!

This past year, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know so many of you wonderful people.

Your support, our conversations, and your honesty have been absolutely incredible!

You’ve helped me grow in my craft and stay motivated to continue writing the second book in the Sins of Starlight Collapse Read more of this blog post »

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Published on November 14, 2025 09:22 • Tags: favors-within-ashes, grimdark, john-d-escu, sins-of-starlight-collapse

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Series by John D. Escu

Sins of Starlight Collapse (1 book)
by

John D. Escu (Goodreads Author)

4.16 avg rating — 80 ratings

John is Currently Reading

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1984

by George Orwell

bookshelves: currently-reading

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John’s Recent Updates

John D. Escu is now friends with stefansbooks
Oct 05, 2026 09:48PM · like
John D. Escu is now following Jenn and K
Oct 05, 2026 02:23PM
John D. Escu liked Reader's review of Favors within Ashes (Sins of Starlight Collapse Series, #1): "Es hat Spaß gemacht, das Buch zu lesen; Es ist düster und kann sich mit den besten Werken berühmterer Autoren messen. Ein besonderes Merkmal ist, dass der Autor alle seine eigenen Zeichnungen ohne Hilfe von KI erstellt – etwas sehr Seltenes."
Oct 05, 2026 07:09AM · see review
John D. Escu rated a book it was amazing Behind You by Marius-Andrei I.	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 02, 2026 04:45PM · like
John D. Escu made a comment on Cătălina Andrici’s review of Seeds of Dautrinias (Illustrations of Escu, #1) " Thank you so much! "
Oct 02, 2026 11:08AM · see review
John D. Escu and 1 other person liked Cătălina Andrici's review of Seeds of Dautrinias (Illustrations of Escu, #1): "If you loved the original book, you have to read this! Getting to see the author's initial thoughts and early creative sparks felt like being handed a backstage pass to the whole story. My favorite part was seeing the early character sketches. It’s " Read more of this review »
Oct 02, 2026 11:08AM · see review
John D. Escu wants to read Behind You by Marius-Andrei I.	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 30, 2026 10:17AM · like
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Sep 30, 2026 10:17AM · like
John D. Escu is now following Marius-Andrei I. Author of Lost in thoughts
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