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Tale of Eisengoth #1
The Corpse King
After years of nothing but grueling training and the desperate dance of death that is the life of an acolyte Arbiter, D’Arden Tal has been named an apprentice. He has been assigned to learn from Havox Khaine, one of the greatest Masters in living memory.
For two years they have traveled across the known world, and now they enter a tiny kingdom on the edge of nowhere. Rumors abound that the monarch of this kingdom is insane, and has created a demented puppet court… of the dead.
D’Arden must learn what it truly means to be an Arbiter, as he makes his first real confrontation with the horrors of corruption. Something much worse lurks within the shadows of the king’s mind than simple madness, and D’Arden will find reason to call him…
The Corpse King.
With this novelette, welcome to the world of a dark fantasy realm ruled by insane gods, and the setting for Book One of the Arbiter Codex. Heroic fantasy for fans of Conan (Robert E. Howard), Kane (Karl Edward Wagner) or Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher (Andrzej Sapkowski) with a Lovecraftian-horror flair.
Now including a 2,000-word sample of Book One of the Arbiter Codex!
For two years they have traveled across the known world, and now they enter a tiny kingdom on the edge of nowhere. Rumors abound that the monarch of this kingdom is insane, and has created a demented puppet court… of the dead.
D’Arden must learn what it truly means to be an Arbiter, as he makes his first real confrontation with the horrors of corruption. Something much worse lurks within the shadows of the king’s mind than simple madness, and D’Arden will find reason to call him…
The Corpse King.
With this novelette, welcome to the world of a dark fantasy realm ruled by insane gods, and the setting for Book One of the Arbiter Codex. Heroic fantasy for fans of Conan (Robert E. Howard), Kane (Karl Edward Wagner) or Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher (Andrzej Sapkowski) with a Lovecraftian-horror flair.
Now including a 2,000-word sample of Book One of the Arbiter Codex!
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First published September 9, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 16, 2015
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths Reviews
The Corpse King is another of my fantasy short story discoveries from Amazon, so sit back and let me tell you all about it.
The main characters here are Apprentice D’Arden Tal and Master Havox Khaine of the Tower of the Arbiters. These manna blade wielding knights . . . err, I mean, Arbiters travel the lands, dealing with the users and abusers of “corrupted” mana wherever they arises. And in this tale of their exploits, a reader finds them far to the southwest of the Old Kingdoms, patiently heading toward a fiefdom where people whisper a demented king rules a land of the undead!
Naturally, the narrative that flows from this set up is moody, creepy, and filled with dark, horror-type images, and Mr. Kellen does such an excellent job infusing those elements into the narrative that it helps The Corpse King stand out from typical fantasy fare. But, never fear, this is still, without a doubt, a fantasy tale. For while the creep is front and center, the tidbits of lore, flashes of magic, sword clashes, and history lessons make it clear that this genre blender is a fantasy at its core.
For me, the strength of the story (other than the horror elements) is the relationship between D’Arden and Havox. Yes, it is typical master-apprentice interaction, but the bond between the two is easily appreciated: A clear sense of their camaraderie shown by Havox’s reaction to D’Arden’s missteps (both the humorous and the dangerous ones) and D’Arden’s obvious love and respect for his master. And it is that character interaction which drove the tale forward.
But not everyone agrees with my assessment of our two heroes. Other reviewers have had a completely different take on Havox, seeing his attitude toward D’Arden as a real negative in the narrative. These people view Havox’s training method as lackadaisical at best and intentionally dangerous at worst, as he seems to withhold information from his apprentice, allowing D’Arden to blunder into danger and appear naive and stupid many times. And I definitely can understand why they could be put off by Havox, viewing his permanent grin and jokes at D’Arden’s expense as a bit too arrogant. However, having had mentors before who used this same method, I saw it more as a the master allowing his student to learn by his own missteps: only intervening when necessary to keep both of them safe. I felt I should mention this difference of opinion, however, so you would be prepared to decide for yourself.
The only other weakness of the tale (for those that perceive it as such) could be the similarity of Kellen’s mana knights and those energy blade wielding knights from a sci-fi franchise named Star Wars. And I’ll be the first one to admit that the Arbiters are eerily familiar to the Jedi Order: their powers and mana blades reminding one of the Force and lightsabers as well as D’Arden and Havox’s relationship mirroring that of a Jedi and his padawan. But that doesn’t mean the Arbiters here are merely fantasy duplicates of George Lucas’ pop culture icons. Nope, Mr. Kellen has tweaked them into their own fantasy mold, much as Stephen King took the spaghetti western cowboy and made him his own in the form of Roland Deschain from Dark Tower fame.
But should you give it a try, you want to know?
Well, if you like to try something a bit different from time to time then you definitely should pick this short story up. The Corpse King might not revolutionize fantasy, but Mr. Kellen has mixed in enough horror with his fantasy to concoct a fine genre blender sure to entertain. At least, that is my opinion.
The Corpse King is another of my fantasy short story discoveries from Amazon, so sit back and let me tell you all about it.
The main characters here are Apprentice D’Arden Tal and Master Havox Khaine of the Tower of the Arbiters. These manna blade wielding knights . . . err, I mean, Arbiters travel the lands, dealing with the users and abusers of “corrupted” mana wherever they arises. And in this tale of their exploits, a reader finds them far to the southwest of the Old Kingdoms, patiently heading toward a fiefdom where people whisper a demented king rules a land of the undead!
Naturally, the narrative that flows from this set up is moody, creepy, and filled with dark, horror-type images, and Mr. Kellen does such an excellent job infusing those elements into the narrative that it helps The Corpse King stand out from typical fantasy fare. But, never fear, this is still, without a doubt, a fantasy tale. For while the creep is front and center, the tidbits of lore, flashes of magic, sword clashes, and history lessons make it clear that this genre blender is a fantasy at its core.
For me, the strength of the story (other than the horror elements) is the relationship between D’Arden and Havox. Yes, it is typical master-apprentice interaction, but the bond between the two is easily appreciated: A clear sense of their camaraderie shown by Havox’s reaction to D’Arden’s missteps (both the humorous and the dangerous ones) and D’Arden’s obvious love and respect for his master. And it is that character interaction which drove the tale forward.
But not everyone agrees with my assessment of our two heroes. Other reviewers have had a completely different take on Havox, seeing his attitude toward D’Arden as a real negative in the narrative. These people view Havox’s training method as lackadaisical at best and intentionally dangerous at worst, as he seems to withhold information from his apprentice, allowing D’Arden to blunder into danger and appear naive and stupid many times. And I definitely can understand why they could be put off by Havox, viewing his permanent grin and jokes at D’Arden’s expense as a bit too arrogant. However, having had mentors before who used this same method, I saw it more as a the master allowing his student to learn by his own missteps: only intervening when necessary to keep both of them safe. I felt I should mention this difference of opinion, however, so you would be prepared to decide for yourself.
The only other weakness of the tale (for those that perceive it as such) could be the similarity of Kellen’s mana knights and those energy blade wielding knights from a sci-fi franchise named Star Wars. And I’ll be the first one to admit that the Arbiters are eerily familiar to the Jedi Order: their powers and mana blades reminding one of the Force and lightsabers as well as D’Arden and Havox’s relationship mirroring that of a Jedi and his padawan. But that doesn’t mean the Arbiters here are merely fantasy duplicates of George Lucas’ pop culture icons. Nope, Mr. Kellen has tweaked them into their own fantasy mold, much as Stephen King took the spaghetti western cowboy and made him his own in the form of Roland Deschain from Dark Tower fame.
But should you give it a try, you want to know?
Well, if you like to try something a bit different from time to time then you definitely should pick this short story up. The Corpse King might not revolutionize fantasy, but Mr. Kellen has mixed in enough horror with his fantasy to concoct a fine genre blender sure to entertain. At least, that is my opinion.
September 14, 2013
A short, quick, rollicking ride and a great introduction to what surely must be a fantastic series. There was good use of magic and an interesting class of character called the Arbiter who must face the mad ruler over a city of the dead. Fantastic.
January 8, 2013
The Corpse King is the story of the young arbiter apprentice D'Arden Tal and his master Havox Khaine who are investigating some strange rumours they have heard on their travels; the rumours of a mad king ruling a kingdom of corpses. As it happens these wild tales turn out to be quite true, but the situation is more complicated than that.
The story starts out quite slowly and balances quiet scenes and scenes of action very nicely all the way through. The story contains not only the outer conflict but also an inner conflict of the main character who several times questions the things his kind (the arbiters) does and the way of the world.
Beside the quite intriguing story it is very well written. It contains, in particular, some very good descriptions of the atmosphere. One of my favourite passages is this:
"As they proceeded on, the rank stench of recent death was slowly replaced by the stale musk of old death, and the corpses became less rotten and more skeletal. The sour pit in D'Arden's stomach grew deeper as they went, the cold fingers of anticipation playing up and down his spine." - Kellen, Christopher (2011-09-09). The Corpse King (Tales of Eisengoth) (Kindle Locations 316-320). . Kindle Edition.
It is quite a page turner really. I found that on every other page some new exciting thing was mentioned that I instantly wanted to hear more about. I swallowed the whole thing quite fast, but then it is not that long either. It is an easily conquerable story in that sense; short, well written, exciting.
The only thing about it that prevented me from giving it my top rating is that its impact on me was not quite what I think it could have been. I felt like I was watching a very interesting play being acted out in front of me instead of getting the feeling that I was in the play myself. This was partly, I think, because Christopher Kellen does not really go into much depth about the characters, so even though I liked them I did not know them well enough to feel really animated when something happened to them.
This is, however, exactly the kind of introductory short story that would definitely make me want to read the novel in which's(?) universe it is set. From the Amazon description:
"With this novelette, welcome to the world of Eisengoth: a dark fantasy realm ruled by insane gods, and the setting for ELEGY: Book One of the Arbiter Codex. Heroic fantasy for fans of Conan (Robert E. Howard), Kane (Karl Edward Wagner) or Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher (Andrzej Sapkowski) with a Lovecraftian-horror flair."
More review by Hypervorean on Numinous Publication, a blog dedicated to high fantasy: http://hypervorean.blogspot.com
The story starts out quite slowly and balances quiet scenes and scenes of action very nicely all the way through. The story contains not only the outer conflict but also an inner conflict of the main character who several times questions the things his kind (the arbiters) does and the way of the world.
Beside the quite intriguing story it is very well written. It contains, in particular, some very good descriptions of the atmosphere. One of my favourite passages is this:
"As they proceeded on, the rank stench of recent death was slowly replaced by the stale musk of old death, and the corpses became less rotten and more skeletal. The sour pit in D'Arden's stomach grew deeper as they went, the cold fingers of anticipation playing up and down his spine." - Kellen, Christopher (2011-09-09). The Corpse King (Tales of Eisengoth) (Kindle Locations 316-320). . Kindle Edition.
It is quite a page turner really. I found that on every other page some new exciting thing was mentioned that I instantly wanted to hear more about. I swallowed the whole thing quite fast, but then it is not that long either. It is an easily conquerable story in that sense; short, well written, exciting.
The only thing about it that prevented me from giving it my top rating is that its impact on me was not quite what I think it could have been. I felt like I was watching a very interesting play being acted out in front of me instead of getting the feeling that I was in the play myself. This was partly, I think, because Christopher Kellen does not really go into much depth about the characters, so even though I liked them I did not know them well enough to feel really animated when something happened to them.
This is, however, exactly the kind of introductory short story that would definitely make me want to read the novel in which's(?) universe it is set. From the Amazon description:
"With this novelette, welcome to the world of Eisengoth: a dark fantasy realm ruled by insane gods, and the setting for ELEGY: Book One of the Arbiter Codex. Heroic fantasy for fans of Conan (Robert E. Howard), Kane (Karl Edward Wagner) or Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher (Andrzej Sapkowski) with a Lovecraftian-horror flair."
More review by Hypervorean on Numinous Publication, a blog dedicated to high fantasy: http://hypervorean.blogspot.com
August 12, 2016
I've been an avid fantasy reader most of my life, starting way back in second grade when my Grandmother gave me "The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe." In all the years since, I've come to realize that while I love fantasy fiction, it is one of the easiest forms of fiction to write poorly. A writer must not only engage us with his or her characters, he or she must engage us in a world that is at the same time unique enough to draw us in and familiar enough for us to not be lost and bewildered while getting "the lay of the land" as it were. When working with a short stories or novellas, the writer has an even greater challenge, as he or she does not have the luxury of many chapters to let the reader explore the world.
Christopher Kellen succeeds in crafting a beautifully contained story in "The Corpse King." We have two engaging characters searching for shelter in a storm. When they find it, tghey get much more than they bargained for. And while this may seem like a cliched set up, Kellen uses this familiar story trope to draw us into his world and the characters' experience. I've read many traditionally published fantasists that would do well to read "The Corpse King" and emulate Kellen's seamless interweaving of plot, setting, and characterization.
I would go on, but I too impatient to get to "Elegy."
Christopher Kellen succeeds in crafting a beautifully contained story in "The Corpse King." We have two engaging characters searching for shelter in a storm. When they find it, tghey get much more than they bargained for. And while this may seem like a cliched set up, Kellen uses this familiar story trope to draw us into his world and the characters' experience. I've read many traditionally published fantasists that would do well to read "The Corpse King" and emulate Kellen's seamless interweaving of plot, setting, and characterization.
I would go on, but I too impatient to get to "Elegy."
February 20, 2024
The Corpse King is a novella designed to be an introduction to Tale of Eisengoth, however, it felt like I'd been dropped into their world with no idea of what was what. They have flaming blue 'manna' swords. They stab themselves in the heart with a crystal needle. They are called Arbiters, but no clear understanding of who or what they are is given. Maybe I need everything given to me on a plate, but instead of world-building, it was already fully formed by the time I started to read.
It was written well, with no editing or grammatical errors to be seen. With detailed and sometimes gruesome descriptions, this is not for the young or faint of heart. A good story that I enjoyed, but without enough world-building for me.
* Verified Purchase - October 2012 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 14, 2016
It was written well, with no editing or grammatical errors to be seen. With detailed and sometimes gruesome descriptions, this is not for the young or faint of heart. A good story that I enjoyed, but without enough world-building for me.
* Verified Purchase - October 2012 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Sep 14, 2016
March 1, 2016
My introduction to Christopher Kellen and his world of Eisengoth was a promising one. Obviously from the title, this a horror-centered fantasy tale. We have two Arbiters, a master and his apprentice, on a mission that takes them to the far reaches of their realm in order to investigate disturbing rumors.
I thought the author did an excellent job setting the tone right from the beginning with language evocative of the creepy and dreadful backdrop. At times I felt there needed to be an added level of editing or maturity in the phrasing of the content as I found it reminiscent of a Dungeon Master setting the tone for his campaign, but I imagine that comes with time and experience. I'm not the least bit opposed to reading more Tales from Eisengoth.
I thought the author did an excellent job setting the tone right from the beginning with language evocative of the creepy and dreadful backdrop. At times I felt there needed to be an added level of editing or maturity in the phrasing of the content as I found it reminiscent of a Dungeon Master setting the tone for his campaign, but I imagine that comes with time and experience. I'm not the least bit opposed to reading more Tales from Eisengoth.
July 19, 2014
I absolutely LOVED The Corpse King! This is one of my favorite short stories to date, I liked the dark plot and what D'Ardan and his master went through to set things right. (By the way, they seem like they'd be a really fun pair to travel with, just say'n.) :P Man, I WANT MOOOOOREEEEEEE FROM THIS STORY. It has the potential to become a really good series, and I was sad when it ended so soon.~ I'll definitely be checking other books from this author sometime.~
Young people can read this dark story too! I didn't notice anything horribly inappropriate about it.
Young people can read this dark story too! I didn't notice anything horribly inappropriate about it.
September 20, 2016
Perfect! Perfect mood/atmosphere, perfect action, perfect introduction to interesting characters and perfect for what I was looking for. I absolutely loved this short story and I am so looking forward to reading this new series by a new (to me) author. As a classic Sword and Sorcery fan, I appreciate the horror theme of the story with all it's corrupt magic goodness. M. Kellen has a great atmospheric prose and he's able to convey a gloomy sense of mystery with great action when nessecary. Do yourself a favor and read it, it's short, it's free and it's perfect Sword and Sorcery
June 27, 2012
A dark, character-driven adventure set in a deliciously grim world.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews