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Origin
Monsters are made, not born.
In Verdalia, humans rule and elves are little more than property—owned, traded, and discarded. Darunia was born into this brutal system, his life destined for servitude. But a single night of blood and slaughter shattered his chains, setting him on a path toward freedom. Too bad freedom is no salvation.
Reaped from a rusted cell by the Commander of the Reaper’s Syndicate, Darunia is thrust into a place where the dead walk and the undying hold power. Here, control is taken, not given, and monsters are created by those who break them. Darunia knows how to survive, how to claw his way to the top with bloodied hands and a savage heart. But survival comes at a to stay alive, he must risk becoming the very thing that made him.
In a world where kindness is weakness and mercy gets you killed, Darunia struggles against the darkness that threatens to swallow him whole. But the past is never truly gone. And when it resurfaces, Darunia must face the one enemy he’s never been able to himself.
Harm does not end. It only passes hands.
A character-focused dark fantasy that explores power, pain, and the trauma of history, Origin is a story of cycles, of monsters, of hunger, of grief that festers through generations, and of whether the first to rise from ruin will be the one to break the cycle or be consumed by it.
In Verdalia, humans rule and elves are little more than property—owned, traded, and discarded. Darunia was born into this brutal system, his life destined for servitude. But a single night of blood and slaughter shattered his chains, setting him on a path toward freedom. Too bad freedom is no salvation.
Reaped from a rusted cell by the Commander of the Reaper’s Syndicate, Darunia is thrust into a place where the dead walk and the undying hold power. Here, control is taken, not given, and monsters are created by those who break them. Darunia knows how to survive, how to claw his way to the top with bloodied hands and a savage heart. But survival comes at a to stay alive, he must risk becoming the very thing that made him.
In a world where kindness is weakness and mercy gets you killed, Darunia struggles against the darkness that threatens to swallow him whole. But the past is never truly gone. And when it resurfaces, Darunia must face the one enemy he’s never been able to himself.
Harm does not end. It only passes hands.
A character-focused dark fantasy that explores power, pain, and the trauma of history, Origin is a story of cycles, of monsters, of hunger, of grief that festers through generations, and of whether the first to rise from ruin will be the one to break the cycle or be consumed by it.
503 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 15, 2025
2 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Jaz Pate
6 books12 followersJaz Pate is a US indie author writing dystopian, fantasy/dark fantasy, LitRPG, and beyond. As the mind behind the dystopian series Brass Hearts, Jaz creates stories that push at societal norms, weaving complex characters into thought-provoking worlds. Using his background and education in healthcare, he brings a sharp, thoughtful perspective to his stories while his experience being schizophrenic shapes his unique writing style: blending grit, vulnerability, and surrealist imagination. He brings a deeply personal lens to writing narratives that sometimes hit where it hurts and always lingers long after the final page.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2025
This review will contain spoilers. This book was received as an ARC, but my review is my honest opinion. Warning, a bit of a rambling review ahead... TLDR - Ultimately, I enjoyed the book enough to finish it and see where his story ended up. It's a good story, if you can handle the triggers. It can be even better with a pass through an editor...
First, the non-spoiler parts. I enjoyed the story, for the most part. Darunia was one of the only characters from the other books that I was distinctly interested and invested in, so seeing his life and how he got to where he is was interesting. One of my issues, if you can call it that, is that the story leans a little more heavily into the trigger warnings than I would've liked. I knew what they were, and because of that knowledge I did take my time and take care of myself mentally while reading, but it sometimes felt overdone. Forced.
The story and all of that aside, my BIGGEST issue was the lack of editing. Words that purely don't exist (like "idiotices" in place of "idiocies"). Incorrect use of your/you're. Missing punctuation - or in some places far too much of it. Capitalization where it shouldn't be, or lacking where it should be. These were all things that I noticed while reading that consistently broke the immersion and ripped me out of the book every time. Not everyone sees things in books the way I do, I know that, but having to read around errors is just exhausting for me, and there seemed to be more the further I got into the book...
The spoiler section:
The concept of the tarot cards and the reincarnation of each into a person was quite interesting and unique. That was perhaps the most intriguing part of the whole story. Truthfully, I started to get bored with the trauma stuff because it was just so constant. You get numb to it. Shock value loses its shock when it's happening all the time. The first time you see Saw, the first few things get a reaction - then it's just gore on the screen. The shock value is gone. Much like someone in the book said, it becomes background noise. For something that important to his character, it shouldn't become background noise.
So much of Darunia's story was bad thing, after bad thing, after bad thing. We get it, life isn't sunshine and roses, but at a point, I was more interested in seeing personal growth and him coping with that negative, not seeing more and more of it.
Making him The Devil was an understandable choice, but I felt the direction of ongoing cannibalism was a bit farfetched for me. Killing everyone in the house, that made sense. But EATING people really didn't. I suspended my disbelief at first, but it was a recurring thing that was actually a core piece of him, so that stopped working. I feel like there is a LOT more to Darunia's story. We never get to see him start learning to speak, which I do remember him doing in the other books. And when we part with him, he's actually on a path that is mildly positive and happy. How do we end up going from that to how he is in the first book? That's not just "I'm a leader so I have to be cold" going on, there's got to be something else that happens between the end of this one and the start of the first book that makes him cold again.
First, the non-spoiler parts. I enjoyed the story, for the most part. Darunia was one of the only characters from the other books that I was distinctly interested and invested in, so seeing his life and how he got to where he is was interesting. One of my issues, if you can call it that, is that the story leans a little more heavily into the trigger warnings than I would've liked. I knew what they were, and because of that knowledge I did take my time and take care of myself mentally while reading, but it sometimes felt overdone. Forced.
The story and all of that aside, my BIGGEST issue was the lack of editing. Words that purely don't exist (like "idiotices" in place of "idiocies"). Incorrect use of your/you're. Missing punctuation - or in some places far too much of it. Capitalization where it shouldn't be, or lacking where it should be. These were all things that I noticed while reading that consistently broke the immersion and ripped me out of the book every time. Not everyone sees things in books the way I do, I know that, but having to read around errors is just exhausting for me, and there seemed to be more the further I got into the book...
The spoiler section:
The concept of the tarot cards and the reincarnation of each into a person was quite interesting and unique. That was perhaps the most intriguing part of the whole story. Truthfully, I started to get bored with the trauma stuff because it was just so constant. You get numb to it. Shock value loses its shock when it's happening all the time. The first time you see Saw, the first few things get a reaction - then it's just gore on the screen. The shock value is gone. Much like someone in the book said, it becomes background noise. For something that important to his character, it shouldn't become background noise.
So much of Darunia's story was bad thing, after bad thing, after bad thing. We get it, life isn't sunshine and roses, but at a point, I was more interested in seeing personal growth and him coping with that negative, not seeing more and more of it.
Making him The Devil was an understandable choice, but I felt the direction of ongoing cannibalism was a bit farfetched for me. Killing everyone in the house, that made sense. But EATING people really didn't. I suspended my disbelief at first, but it was a recurring thing that was actually a core piece of him, so that stopped working. I feel like there is a LOT more to Darunia's story. We never get to see him start learning to speak, which I do remember him doing in the other books. And when we part with him, he's actually on a path that is mildly positive and happy. How do we end up going from that to how he is in the first book? That's not just "I'm a leader so I have to be cold" going on, there's got to be something else that happens between the end of this one and the start of the first book that makes him cold again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2025
I LOVE the first two books in the Brass Hearts series, and I have to admit the main character in this prequel book - Darunia - was a character I didn't 'super' love in the main planned trilogy. I didn't think I wanted, or needed an origin story for him because I wanted to stay with the characters I've grown to love but here I am rating another one of Jaz Pate's books highly.
There are a lot of topics covered in this book, with trigger warning at the beginning that are much needed. Darunia goes through a lot in this story, and it can work as a standalone if you are new to the series or wanting to get into the series from here.
One point I do want to say though is that the authors writing and craft continues to improve with each book I read by them and this novel is by far their most beautiful and moving to date.
There are a lot of topics covered in this book, with trigger warning at the beginning that are much needed. Darunia goes through a lot in this story, and it can work as a standalone if you are new to the series or wanting to get into the series from here.
One point I do want to say though is that the authors writing and craft continues to improve with each book I read by them and this novel is by far their most beautiful and moving to date.
June 14, 2025
(PSA: READ CONTENT WARNING PAGE BEFORE STARTING BOOK!!)
I personally didn’t feel like this book was too dark because I read a lot of dark fantasy, but there are relatively ‘nasty’ scenes that made me cringe. Beside that, This book was very artistic enjoyable. I like the near psychedelic aspects and visuals. And will definitely be a book I pick up again.
I personally didn’t feel like this book was too dark because I read a lot of dark fantasy, but there are relatively ‘nasty’ scenes that made me cringe. Beside that, This book was very artistic enjoyable. I like the near psychedelic aspects and visuals. And will definitely be a book I pick up again.
May 10, 2025
Origin has left me wordless. It was breathtaking. It was beautiful. The story itself was engaging, and honestly, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. I adore the cast so much - Braun, Opal, Tyr, Enki, but most of all, Darunia; I love him so much. He had me held, gripped, choked from the first chapter until the very last. His feelings were my own, and boy, do those feelings hurt... Conflict... Entice. Origin is definitely a new favourite, and I will return to it one day. Until then, it shall live silently within me, waiting.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews