Blademaster: Death-Singer

by J.T. Williams

When Death Becomes Beautiful, Who Will Resist Its Song?

In the remote part of the Glacial Seas, entire villages are found dead without wounds—their faces bearing expressions of perfect peace, as if they simply chose to stop living. The only witnesses speak of hearing hauntingly beautiful music before losing consciousness forever.

Rukes, Blademaster of Urlas, protects the boundaries between life and death. Armed with his mystical ruinite blade, he ventures to the devastated port city of Morthaven, where three thousand souls have been reduced to mere hundreds. The empty bodies of the "dead" continue their daily routines like hollow puppets.

The survivors whisper of the Death-Singer—whose music doesn't simply kill, but makes death seem like mercy. As Rukes investigates, he uncovers a horrifying the victims' souls haven't been destroyed but harvested, trapped in crystalline vessels while their consciousness screams in eternal suspension.

And the Death-Singer is only beginning his masterwork.

Kindle Edition

Published August 31, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There are multiple authors by this name in the Goodreads database.

See also: Fantasy author J.T. Williams

Reviews

[Chere Gruver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can people actually be sung to death?

In our last adventure, our intrepid Blademaster, Rukes, came across living bones. In this story, we take that one step further and have a being who has changed himself enough to become a living instrument and is able to actually cause death with his singing. Well, maybe not death as we know it, but he is capable of separating the soul from the body. Naturally, Rukes is off to investigate and protect boundaries—including the one between life and death. These stories are always full of adventure and life and death situations for our hero Rukes. With his trusty Ruinite blade, Rukes always does the right thing, which is something I really do love about the Dwemhar Realms series. In each and every new story, Rukes meets new characters, those he works with and those he works against, but they are always true to themselves. I can’t wait to see what our Blademaster gets himself into next!

I received an advanced reader’s copy and am voluntarily leaving this review.

[Manie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recall from my youthful days how often the "grownups" reviled the music listened to by the youth at that time.
I certainly got curious as to why the beautiful notes of exquisite music is something just about every living soul across the Glacial Seas of Urlas would entrans the youth and the adults in such a way as if possessed and even dying.. in fact leaving entire villages bereft of any life at all.
Hence Rukes as Blademaster of Urlas, has but little choice to investigate.
Morothaven proved to be the origin of this strange malady caused by an even stranger deranged human named Molakhar intend on harvesting all souls in order to become the god of death in charge of the realm of death.
This certainly gave me the chills from head to toe.
Death-Singer by author J. T. Williams is aptly titled as the plot unfolds and an entrancing melody changes the psyches and souls of the people. Phew!
Enjoy.

[Joanne H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blademaster's had a duty with the sword they carried and Rukes duty was to keep a boundary between life and death. Rukes was sent to a village that the people was walking around like robots, effected by the music they heard.
Times gets intense as Rukes tries to find out what, who and why this was going on.
What a tale, busy reading.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why are so many people dead and peaceful. Is someone killing them or is magic used. Will the truth ever come out. Look forward to many more outstanding stories from this amazing author.