Absolon Creed

by Richard S. Ford

A legendary soldier is the last line of defense between his city and monstrous chaos in this grimdark adventure from an unmissable voice in epic fantasy.

Bastion, the once-shining capital of Morrengard, teeters on the brink. Its grand spires are crumbling and its nobility fight over scraps, all while eldritch creatures stalk the streets. The only thing standing in the way of its utter destruction is the Order of a knightly order more brutal than the threats the city faces. And its most brutal champion… Absolon Creed.
 
When two nobles are found murdered in a manner most grotesque, suspicions arise about a traitor within the Order itself. Creed is tasked with investigating, and for his sins he is saddled with a Guenivar Blackmere, a daughter of nobility and the Order's newest, and most untested, initiate. 
 
Together, they are plunged into Bastion's fetid underbelly, where warlocks rub elbows with corrupt nobles and necromancers cavort with the dead. Guenivar must learn fast or perish under Creed’s cold tutelage. Her mentor is quick to anger, and about as friendly as a cornered wolf, but that is the only way to survive these unforgiving streets.

But as the investigation deepens, Guenivar discovers a secret about him that could shatter everything she believed about the order and its heroes. While Creed himself must defeat the ghosts he's spent years trying to bury… before they bury Bastion itself.

Genres: Fantasy

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication September 8, 2026

About the author

R S Ford originally hails from Leeds in the heartland of Yorkshire. He is a writer of fantasy and historical fiction (check out Richard Cullen on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...)

You can find out more about what he's up to, and download free stuff, here:
http://wordhog.co.uk

And follow him on Twitter here: @rich4ord
And Instagram here: thewordhog

Reviews

[Maeghan 🦋 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley & Orbit for a chance to review this arc!!
3.5✨

This epic Fantasy is set in a grim world where danger & betrayal lurks in every corner. The mmc, Absolon Creed, is a legendary soldier battling with multiple PTSD & addiction. His world view was shattered with all his missions & he is quite a complex character.
This novel starts as him and his initiate get separated as the order wants him to train a nobleman daughter who gave everything up to become a soldier. It was clear right away that she got on his nerves. I appreciated that their mentor-tutor situation never went into romance, to be quite honest. He treated her really badly, which is why I think it would’ve helped to have more intel on his tutorship of his previous initiate. It wouldn’t of ‘excused’ his behaviour per say, but it would’ve helped to get a clearer view of who he was. Just to be clear though, it was never because she was a woman - it’s just that the nobles in this world are quite horrible and he came from poverty & hardship, so it just rubbed him the wrong way.

What I wished for though was for the mystery to develop in a way that felt more natural with the story. The pacing was also quite slow in some parts & a few repetitive sentences here and there.

I appreciated having actual complex characters. They had layers & their thought process was quite developed. I did feel that the author succeeded in writing actual emotions. The villains were also very well written. I wasn’t surprised by the reveals but it made sense with the storyline & what had happened to those characters. This story has a lot of depth & philosophical reflections.

Overall, I recommend this one. It was entertaining & had different characters to what we regularly see in Fantasy!

[LambchoP]

Sounds interesting, very excited to give this a try!

[Alex Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The comparison to Richard Swan is very apt, as we have a mentor and student in a dark fantasy world with a tinge of cosmic horror. It's a mix of action-packed quest and noir detective investigation. It's fairly short and contained and the student-mentor relationship is just that without turning romantic, which is a breath of fresh air on the market where everything is either cozy, romantasy or a bloated trilogy epic. We need more well-executed dark action-adventure fantasy that gets to the point (I'm not interested in millions of words endless litrpg serials). I also love dark knight aesthetic when it's accompanied with the matching dark and gritty world, and not just played up to be edgy. Even though it's a spin off from the author's previous series, it was pretty easy to get into without knowing the previous worldbuilding. I would recommend it to fans of Richard Swan, Robert Jackson Bennett, Daniel Abraham and Peter McLean.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolon Creed is a decent read this year- I anticipate that it will come back to be in the middle of the pack of my 2026 reads. Enjoyable standalone with potential for more!

This story was a grimdark thriller with a touch of noir to it. It has the primary POV of legendary protector knight Absolon Creed, and his newest apprentice Guenivar. Their mentor-student relationship is a good part of the story (and thank goodness there was zilch romance between them, I was glad that they didn't go down that direction). There's a lovecraftian horror element to this as well, with monsters, curses, summonings, and rituals. Finally, there's exciting fight scenes, chase scenes, actions scenes- it has plenty to get hyped for!

I give this book a 4/5 rating.

(I received an ARC through Orbit and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review)

[BonniePB · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐.5 - Good

Absolon Creed is set in Bastion, a city in the kingdom of Morrengard that was once a glittering jewel, but is now a crumbling cesspool. The world is gritty, the magic mysterious and arcane. Absolon is what you might get if Elric of Melniboné and Geralt of Rivia (the Henry Cavill model) had a crabby old baby, complete with a drug problem and grumbling responses. Guenivar is his newly assigned apprentice, noble-born and highly motivated, but also quite green.

I thought the investigation elements could have been executed better. This is a familiar story with a few faults, but it was still an enjoyable read.

Thanks to Orbit for the eARC via NetGalley.