Operation Hellmouth: A Pathfinder Novel

by Chris A. Jackson

War is Hell

Valeros is a veteran adventurer whose life as a mercenary lies far in his past. When conflict erupts, however, more aspects of Valeros's past come crashing into the present day than just his soldiering days. Now, separated from his longtime adventuring companions by a burgeoning war and vast distances, Valeros must rely on new allies to prevent a diabolic dragon's sinister machinations from coming to fruition.

In an exciting race against the clock, Valeros must make himself part of the crew of the Wandering Star, under the command of former pirate and current Andoren operative Torius Vin, hoping to reach the site of a nascent Hellmouth—a living portal to Hell—before a dragon can use it and a sliver of a slain god to upset the balance of power in the region. With the aid of the enigmatic sorcerer and spy Vreva, the naga oracle Celeste, and a young Eagle Knight with her own ties to Valeros's past, the iconic fighter and the crew of Wandering Star must overcome the forces of Hell with the fate of Golarion hanging in the balance.

From fan-favorite fantasy author Chris A. Jackson (Pirate's Honor, Pirate's Promise, Pirate's Prophecy), Operation Hellmouth promises an unforgettable adventure of infernal plotting and family drama on the high seas, set in the award-winning Age of Lost Omens setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Narrated by Steward Alexander, voice of Valeros in the popular Pathfinder Legends full-cast audio dramas from Big Finish Productions.

Operation Hellmouth is the perfect entry point to the Hellfire Crisis event within the Pathfinder setting, a multi-year conflict that will pit the world's most powerful nations into all-out war.

Genres: Fantasy

314 pages, Hardcover

Published March 4, 2026

About the author

From the sea to the stars, Chris A. Jackson’s stories take you to the far reaches of the imagination. Raised on the back deck of a fishing boat and trained as a marine biologist, he became sidetracked by a career in biomedical research, but regained his heart and soul in 2009 when he and his wife Anne left the dock aboard the 45-foot sailboat Mr Mac to cruise the Caribbean and write fulltime.
With his nautical background, writing sea stories seemed inevitable for Chris. His acclaimed Scimitar Seas nautical fantasies won three consecutive Gold Medals in the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards. His Pathfinders Tales from Paizo Publishing combine high-seas combat and romance set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Not to be outdone, Privateer Press released Blood & Iron, a swashbuckling novella set in the Iron Kingdoms.
Chris’ repertoire also includes the award-winning and Kindle best-selling Weapon of Flesh Series, the contemporary urban fantasy Dragon Dreams, as well as additional fantasy novels, the humorous sci fi Cheese Runners trilogy of novellas, and numerous short stories.
To learn more, please visit jaxbooks.com.

Reviews

[Sebastian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good Pathfinder book. If you've enjoyed reading the pirates trilogy by the same author, you'll enjoy this one too.
It's definitely better than the books published by the TTRPG competitor, but it feels very "classic", which is the only thing keeping me from rating it higher.
I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that I think this is the first book that will have any impact on the Golarion setting, which in my opinion adds a star more to the overall 3/5 story.
I wish Paizo was more daring in its novels, either by making them much more relevant to the setting, raising the stakes higher or even seeding plots that might have a bigger impact later on. I really hope they did this in this book but only time will tell.
3/5 book but my hope in that they'll pick up some of the plots seeded here in the main game, I've added an extra star.