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The Obsidian Path #4
The Lord of the Empty Mirror
THE FINAL STEP ON THE OBSIDIAN PATH.
Disgusted by Khraen’s weakness, She Dreams in Blood has gone in search of the fragment that understands power, the shard that drove the Demon Emperor to master his world.
She found it.
Disgusted by Khraen’s weakness, She Dreams in Blood has gone in search of the fragment that understands power, the shard that drove the Demon Emperor to master his world.
She found it.
- GenresFantasyDark FantasyMagic
347 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2026
About the author
Michael R. Fletcher
56 books1,394 followersMichael R. Fletcher lives in the endless suburban sprawl north of Toronto. He dreams of trees and seeing the stars at night and being a ninja. He is an unrepentant whiskey-swilling reprobate of the tallest order and thinks grilled cheese sandwiches are a food group.
His novels include the Manifest Delusions trilogy (BEYOND REDEMPTION, THE MIRROR'S TRUTH, A WAR TO END ALL), the Obsidian Path trilogy (BLACK STONE HEART, SHE DREAMS IN BLOOD, AN END TO SORROW), the City of Sacrifice trilogy (SMOKE AND STONE, ASH AND BONES, SIN AND SORROW), and the standalone novels, SWARM AND STEEL, GHOSTS OF TOMORROW, THE MILLENNIAL MANIFESTO, NORYLSKA GROANS (co-written with Clayton W. Snyder). He also has a short story collection A COLLECTION OF OBSESSIONS.
http://michaelrfletcher.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRFlet...
Twitter: @FletcherMR
Instagram: fletcher_michael_r
His novels include the Manifest Delusions trilogy (BEYOND REDEMPTION, THE MIRROR'S TRUTH, A WAR TO END ALL), the Obsidian Path trilogy (BLACK STONE HEART, SHE DREAMS IN BLOOD, AN END TO SORROW), the City of Sacrifice trilogy (SMOKE AND STONE, ASH AND BONES, SIN AND SORROW), and the standalone novels, SWARM AND STEEL, GHOSTS OF TOMORROW, THE MILLENNIAL MANIFESTO, NORYLSKA GROANS (co-written with Clayton W. Snyder). He also has a short story collection A COLLECTION OF OBSESSIONS.
http://michaelrfletcher.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRFlet...
Twitter: @FletcherMR
Instagram: fletcher_michael_r
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February 11, 2026Ooh, sexy cover art!
The book will be released in ebook and on Kindle Unlimited April 13th.
Just for the hell of it, and because it amuses me, the paperback will be available on April 1st.
In the meantime, the Amazon pre-order page is live if you're so inclined.
The book will be released in ebook and on Kindle Unlimited April 13th.
Just for the hell of it, and because it amuses me, the paperback will be available on April 1st.
In the meantime, the Amazon pre-order page is live if you're so inclined.
May 21, 2026
Ties in the various myriad plot threads together leaving things ending on a whimper of a big bang! I loved it, and a must read for fans of the first book! Highly recommended.
April 23, 2026
The Lord of the Empty Mirror at last completes our trilogy of four books.
If you struggle with that statement then perhaps this series is not for you. 😉
This continues one of the most convoluted love stories of our time. And the dissolution of that love. It’s also about friendships built on trust. And cherished memories. Or is that terrible memories?
Of becoming a better version of oneself.
Unless one becomes worse.
Confused? You don’t know the half of it. Thankfully your lead will be just as lost.
It does definitely have dragons though. That’s about the only certainty I can provide. 😂
If you are familiar with Michael R Fletcher this mind boggling adventure will be a Tuesday for you. Which is a crazy fun Grimdark five star read.
If you struggle with that statement then perhaps this series is not for you. 😉
This continues one of the most convoluted love stories of our time. And the dissolution of that love. It’s also about friendships built on trust. And cherished memories. Or is that terrible memories?
Of becoming a better version of oneself.
Unless one becomes worse.
Confused? You don’t know the half of it. Thankfully your lead will be just as lost.
It does definitely have dragons though. That’s about the only certainty I can provide. 😂
If you are familiar with Michael R Fletcher this mind boggling adventure will be a Tuesday for you. Which is a crazy fun Grimdark five star read.
April 25, 2026
4.5/5 but I'll round it up.
"Once we were the Death of Suns, the dark before the dawn. Now, we are a mirror smashed, the sharp slivers put back together wrong, the reflection splintered and distorted. We stare at ourselves, recognizing the face and yet knowing something is missing."
That line pretty much sums up what The Lord of the Empty Mirror is doing, and what Khraen is at this point. Not a man so much as a collection of pieces arguing with each other.
I loved the original Obsidian Path trilogy, so I went in with high expectations and this didn’t disappoint. Khraen is hunting the shards of his heart but also he's against one that represents the worst (or maybe most honest) version of himself. The part that understands power, control, conquest. Which means you get two Khraens. Sort of.
One is trying to fix things and unite the world, stop a god, and maybe do a bit less mass murder along the way. The other version is much more focused on conquering everything, trusts no one, and absolutely don’t let feelings get in the way.
Bringing in another POV, especially one tied so closely to Khraen himself, works surprisingly well. It allows to dive into one of the series’ core ideas of how memory shapes identity. Who you are, what you remember, and what you choose to become aren’t cleanly separated here. Fletcher really digs into that, and it pays off. If you take a man, break him into pieces, and then put him back together… which version is real? The one trying to be better, or the one who remembers how effective being worse used to be?
Plot-wise, there’s always something happening and it never drags. I liked the twists, but I won't spoil them for you.
Also, it’s properly grim. Every solution costs something awful. There’s a moment where Khraen casually weighs how many souls something is worth, and it doesn’t feel out of place. That’s the level we’re operating on.
Khraen himself is, well, still Khraen. Powerful, determined, and capable of making deeply questionable decisions with full confidence. There were a few “why would you do that” moments, but they always track. He’s not stupid, he’s just very committed to his own logic, which is sometimes worse.
The ending is going to split people. If you didn’t like how the original trilogy wrapped up, this won’t fix that. It follows the same idea and you get no neat closure or the sense that everything is finally “done.”
For me, it was perfect since it fits the series. But if you’re looking for clear answers and everything tied up nicely, you won’t get that here.
TL;DR: I loved it.
"Once we were the Death of Suns, the dark before the dawn. Now, we are a mirror smashed, the sharp slivers put back together wrong, the reflection splintered and distorted. We stare at ourselves, recognizing the face and yet knowing something is missing."
That line pretty much sums up what The Lord of the Empty Mirror is doing, and what Khraen is at this point. Not a man so much as a collection of pieces arguing with each other.
I loved the original Obsidian Path trilogy, so I went in with high expectations and this didn’t disappoint. Khraen is hunting the shards of his heart but also he's against one that represents the worst (or maybe most honest) version of himself. The part that understands power, control, conquest. Which means you get two Khraens. Sort of.
One is trying to fix things and unite the world, stop a god, and maybe do a bit less mass murder along the way. The other version is much more focused on conquering everything, trusts no one, and absolutely don’t let feelings get in the way.
Bringing in another POV, especially one tied so closely to Khraen himself, works surprisingly well. It allows to dive into one of the series’ core ideas of how memory shapes identity. Who you are, what you remember, and what you choose to become aren’t cleanly separated here. Fletcher really digs into that, and it pays off. If you take a man, break him into pieces, and then put him back together… which version is real? The one trying to be better, or the one who remembers how effective being worse used to be?
Plot-wise, there’s always something happening and it never drags. I liked the twists, but I won't spoil them for you.
Also, it’s properly grim. Every solution costs something awful. There’s a moment where Khraen casually weighs how many souls something is worth, and it doesn’t feel out of place. That’s the level we’re operating on.
Khraen himself is, well, still Khraen. Powerful, determined, and capable of making deeply questionable decisions with full confidence. There were a few “why would you do that” moments, but they always track. He’s not stupid, he’s just very committed to his own logic, which is sometimes worse.
The ending is going to split people. If you didn’t like how the original trilogy wrapped up, this won’t fix that. It follows the same idea and you get no neat closure or the sense that everything is finally “done.”
For me, it was perfect since it fits the series. But if you’re looking for clear answers and everything tied up nicely, you won’t get that here.
TL;DR: I loved it.
July 10, 2026
Book 1: ★★★★
Book 2: ★★★★★
Book 3: ★★★★★
Novella: ★★★★★
Book 4: ★★★★★
Michael R. Fletcher’s The Obsidian Path is not just grimdark. Grimdark is too tidy a label for what this series becomes by the time the blood dries and the ash settles. This is ruin fantasy. Soul-rot fantasy. A four-volume saga plus novella descent into identity, monstrosity, empire, memory, and self-justification, where every book sharpens the knife a little more carefully before pressing it deeper into the ribs. Beginning with Black Stone Heart, She Dreams in Blood, An End to Sorrow, Dogged, and The Lord of the Empty Mirror, Fletcher crafts something that feels less like a traditional fantasy saga and more like a necromantic excavation of a man who should never have existed twice. And somehow, impossibly, you root for him anyway. That is the true black magic of this series.
Khraen might honestly stand among the finest grimdark protagonists written in the modern era. Moorcock had Elric, and Fletcher understands something many dark fantasy authors do not: evil alone is boring. Cruelty without intimacy becomes cartoonish. What makes Khraen unforgettable is that Fletcher writes him from the inside out. The first-person perspective does not merely allow us to observe corruption. It shackles us to it. We become unwilling accomplices to rationalization itself. Every atrocity arrives wrapped in logic, necessity, grief, longing, ego, hunger, or fractured memory. Fletcher never asks us to forgive Khraen. He simply makes understanding him unavoidable.
In Black Stone Heart, Fletcher begins with near-feral innocence. Khraen awakens broken, fragmented, literally scattered across the world in pieces of obsidian heartstone. He remembers little. He knows only that he has been divided. The setup is elegant in its simplicity because the retrieval of memory becomes the retrieval of horror. Every recovered shard drags another truth screaming back into existence. Fletcher weaponizes identity itself. Most fantasy protagonists seek destiny or redemption. Khraen seeks recognition of the monster he once was. And the reader keeps whispering: maybe it won't be as bad as they say. Then it gets worse. Then somehow worse again.
Yet Fletcher paces this descent masterfully. The novel rarely sprints, but it never stagnates. It coils. It breathes. It stalks forward with predatory patience while unveiling ancient empires, demonologies, broken civilizations, and metaphysical nightmares. The worldbuilding is phenomenal precisely because it feels ancient in the truest sense. Not merely old, but sedimentary. Civilizations layered atop atrocities, layered atop forgotten gods, layered atop older sins. The setting feels haunted by itself.
Threaded through all of this is Fletcher’s prose, which has evolved into something genuinely distinct within grimdark fantasy. You can see traces of the same literary DNA shared by Anna Smith Spark and Zamil Akhtar: lyrical brutality, existential fragmentation, violence rendered with almost operatic beauty. But Fletcher’s voice remains uniquely his own. Where Queen Grimmy often feels like fever-poetry collapsing inward and Zamil Akhtar feels mythic and hallucinatory, Fletcher writes with the clarity of a butcher-philosopher. Clean cuts. Then sudden torrents of viscera.
Swarm and Steel, along with Ghosts of Tomorrow, were my favorite Fletcher novels before this series. The best ideas from them seem to bleed into The Obsidian Path in bits and pieces, elevating it to epic standards. Not simply aesthetically, but philosophically. It is like lighting an entire forest ablaze when all we needed was a light for our cigarette. Civilizations reduced to appetite and machinery. Endless conquest. Flesh consumed by systems larger than itself. Demons bound into weapons. Empires fueled by nightmare logistics. Souls treated as infrastructure. These books pulse with this fusion of industrialized horror and mystical insanity until the entire setting feels infected by violence as a governing principle. Yet Fletcher never lets spectacle consume character. That is where he lets go of every lingering restraint in She Dreams in Blood, and with it comes the elevation of the series from excellent to unforgettable.
Book two takes everything Black Stone Heart established and mutates it into something stranger, darker, and more psychologically corrosive. The scale expands, but more importantly, so does the emotional complexity surrounding Khraen’s identity. He is no longer merely uncovering his past. He is beginning to grapple with the implications of being the Demon Emperor reborn. The corruption arc evolves into something almost theological. Can a man outrun the momentum of his own myth? Is identity choice, memory, action, or simply repetition? The jungle we are given, both within our protagonist's mind and across the world he once ruled, is rendered so vividly that when it returns in Dogged, I could not help but grin. And the horror escalates magnificently.
And somehow these books are also genuinely funny. Or I am just sick. Or Fletcher is. Or we all are. No matter. It is remarkable how many times I laughed among these pages. Moments like Khraen vomiting after magically forcing himself to drink water only to realize he is still starving are hilarious precisely because they unfold amidst cosmic horror. Fletcher's command of tonal modulation grows with every novel he writes. Without it, grimdark becomes its own villain. With it, the series breathes in a way that feels uniquely Fletcher's. Anyone can write brutality. Few can write moral erosion this convincingly. Fewer still can make readers emotionally invest in a demon-summoning mass murderer reclaiming fragments of his soul across a dying world.
Each book genuinely improves upon the last, which is rare for a series this ambitious. Black Stone Heart hooks you with mystery and corruption. She Dreams in Blood deepens the psychological horror and mythic scope. By the time we reach An End to Sorrow and later The Lord of the Empty Mirror, we are carried from the pinnacle of the demon world to its ending and its beginning in one sweeping grasp of power. Dogged remains my favorite, but for reasons deserving of its own review.
Book three, and later Dogged, are the most action-oriented entries in the series. A tremendous amount happens, and because of that it showcases Fletcher's craftsmanship all the more when he deliberately slows everything to a crawl with what essentially become debates over the "lesser evil." At first, you may find it does not strike with quite the same force as the earlier books. Most definitely if you are a fool like me and read Dogged first, which I feel contains the very best of everything these books have to offer. It is fast-paced, packed with humor and emotion, and not a single character feels wasted.
By comparison, The Lord of the Empty Mirror spends nearly three quarters of its runtime following one fallen emperor trying to outmaneuver another. It can become a prolonged game of "Spy vs. Spy" if you are not careful. But like stacking a towering structure for the sole joy of watching it collapse under its own weight, every careful piece exists for a reason. Those who see the cracks forming before everything comes crashing down may enjoy it just as much as those who go in blind. For me, being the former, I can say the payoff was absolutely worth the long accumulation. Besides 88, I can honestly say following this story has been a ride worth every moment of the wait. Seeing what Fletcher writes next is enough to fuel my excitement in a manner bordering on fanaticism. Then again, perhaps that is what being a fan really means.
I have not mentioned many characters besides our lead because it is ultimately his relationships that shape the story. Above all stands Henka, this world's Lady Frankenstein. She embodies so much of the tension, love, obsession, and inevitable tragedy that define these books. I encourage anyone reading the series to believe every thought our wonderfully unreliable narrator has about her, regardless of your own emotional instincts. If you surrender to that perspective, you will find yourself immersed in an obsession so convincingly written that it genuinely raises goosebumps.
Never have I felt such a powerful need to hate while loving, and to love while hating, as I did with Khraen's relationship with Henka. She is the soul that binds the entire story together. Without her, I am not convinced Khraen's journey would carry nearly the same weight, nor would its failures leave such lasting scars. If you like grimdark that refuses to soften its edges or dilute its convictions, get to reading this series. This is Michael R. Fletcher's finest work to date.
Book 2: ★★★★★
Book 3: ★★★★★
Novella: ★★★★★
Book 4: ★★★★★
Michael R. Fletcher’s The Obsidian Path is not just grimdark. Grimdark is too tidy a label for what this series becomes by the time the blood dries and the ash settles. This is ruin fantasy. Soul-rot fantasy. A four-volume saga plus novella descent into identity, monstrosity, empire, memory, and self-justification, where every book sharpens the knife a little more carefully before pressing it deeper into the ribs. Beginning with Black Stone Heart, She Dreams in Blood, An End to Sorrow, Dogged, and The Lord of the Empty Mirror, Fletcher crafts something that feels less like a traditional fantasy saga and more like a necromantic excavation of a man who should never have existed twice. And somehow, impossibly, you root for him anyway. That is the true black magic of this series.
Khraen might honestly stand among the finest grimdark protagonists written in the modern era. Moorcock had Elric, and Fletcher understands something many dark fantasy authors do not: evil alone is boring. Cruelty without intimacy becomes cartoonish. What makes Khraen unforgettable is that Fletcher writes him from the inside out. The first-person perspective does not merely allow us to observe corruption. It shackles us to it. We become unwilling accomplices to rationalization itself. Every atrocity arrives wrapped in logic, necessity, grief, longing, ego, hunger, or fractured memory. Fletcher never asks us to forgive Khraen. He simply makes understanding him unavoidable.
In Black Stone Heart, Fletcher begins with near-feral innocence. Khraen awakens broken, fragmented, literally scattered across the world in pieces of obsidian heartstone. He remembers little. He knows only that he has been divided. The setup is elegant in its simplicity because the retrieval of memory becomes the retrieval of horror. Every recovered shard drags another truth screaming back into existence. Fletcher weaponizes identity itself. Most fantasy protagonists seek destiny or redemption. Khraen seeks recognition of the monster he once was. And the reader keeps whispering: maybe it won't be as bad as they say. Then it gets worse. Then somehow worse again.
Yet Fletcher paces this descent masterfully. The novel rarely sprints, but it never stagnates. It coils. It breathes. It stalks forward with predatory patience while unveiling ancient empires, demonologies, broken civilizations, and metaphysical nightmares. The worldbuilding is phenomenal precisely because it feels ancient in the truest sense. Not merely old, but sedimentary. Civilizations layered atop atrocities, layered atop forgotten gods, layered atop older sins. The setting feels haunted by itself.
Threaded through all of this is Fletcher’s prose, which has evolved into something genuinely distinct within grimdark fantasy. You can see traces of the same literary DNA shared by Anna Smith Spark and Zamil Akhtar: lyrical brutality, existential fragmentation, violence rendered with almost operatic beauty. But Fletcher’s voice remains uniquely his own. Where Queen Grimmy often feels like fever-poetry collapsing inward and Zamil Akhtar feels mythic and hallucinatory, Fletcher writes with the clarity of a butcher-philosopher. Clean cuts. Then sudden torrents of viscera.
Swarm and Steel, along with Ghosts of Tomorrow, were my favorite Fletcher novels before this series. The best ideas from them seem to bleed into The Obsidian Path in bits and pieces, elevating it to epic standards. Not simply aesthetically, but philosophically. It is like lighting an entire forest ablaze when all we needed was a light for our cigarette. Civilizations reduced to appetite and machinery. Endless conquest. Flesh consumed by systems larger than itself. Demons bound into weapons. Empires fueled by nightmare logistics. Souls treated as infrastructure. These books pulse with this fusion of industrialized horror and mystical insanity until the entire setting feels infected by violence as a governing principle. Yet Fletcher never lets spectacle consume character. That is where he lets go of every lingering restraint in She Dreams in Blood, and with it comes the elevation of the series from excellent to unforgettable.
Book two takes everything Black Stone Heart established and mutates it into something stranger, darker, and more psychologically corrosive. The scale expands, but more importantly, so does the emotional complexity surrounding Khraen’s identity. He is no longer merely uncovering his past. He is beginning to grapple with the implications of being the Demon Emperor reborn. The corruption arc evolves into something almost theological. Can a man outrun the momentum of his own myth? Is identity choice, memory, action, or simply repetition? The jungle we are given, both within our protagonist's mind and across the world he once ruled, is rendered so vividly that when it returns in Dogged, I could not help but grin. And the horror escalates magnificently.
And somehow these books are also genuinely funny. Or I am just sick. Or Fletcher is. Or we all are. No matter. It is remarkable how many times I laughed among these pages. Moments like Khraen vomiting after magically forcing himself to drink water only to realize he is still starving are hilarious precisely because they unfold amidst cosmic horror. Fletcher's command of tonal modulation grows with every novel he writes. Without it, grimdark becomes its own villain. With it, the series breathes in a way that feels uniquely Fletcher's. Anyone can write brutality. Few can write moral erosion this convincingly. Fewer still can make readers emotionally invest in a demon-summoning mass murderer reclaiming fragments of his soul across a dying world.
Each book genuinely improves upon the last, which is rare for a series this ambitious. Black Stone Heart hooks you with mystery and corruption. She Dreams in Blood deepens the psychological horror and mythic scope. By the time we reach An End to Sorrow and later The Lord of the Empty Mirror, we are carried from the pinnacle of the demon world to its ending and its beginning in one sweeping grasp of power. Dogged remains my favorite, but for reasons deserving of its own review.
Book three, and later Dogged, are the most action-oriented entries in the series. A tremendous amount happens, and because of that it showcases Fletcher's craftsmanship all the more when he deliberately slows everything to a crawl with what essentially become debates over the "lesser evil." At first, you may find it does not strike with quite the same force as the earlier books. Most definitely if you are a fool like me and read Dogged first, which I feel contains the very best of everything these books have to offer. It is fast-paced, packed with humor and emotion, and not a single character feels wasted.
By comparison, The Lord of the Empty Mirror spends nearly three quarters of its runtime following one fallen emperor trying to outmaneuver another. It can become a prolonged game of "Spy vs. Spy" if you are not careful. But like stacking a towering structure for the sole joy of watching it collapse under its own weight, every careful piece exists for a reason. Those who see the cracks forming before everything comes crashing down may enjoy it just as much as those who go in blind. For me, being the former, I can say the payoff was absolutely worth the long accumulation. Besides 88, I can honestly say following this story has been a ride worth every moment of the wait. Seeing what Fletcher writes next is enough to fuel my excitement in a manner bordering on fanaticism. Then again, perhaps that is what being a fan really means.
I have not mentioned many characters besides our lead because it is ultimately his relationships that shape the story. Above all stands Henka, this world's Lady Frankenstein. She embodies so much of the tension, love, obsession, and inevitable tragedy that define these books. I encourage anyone reading the series to believe every thought our wonderfully unreliable narrator has about her, regardless of your own emotional instincts. If you surrender to that perspective, you will find yourself immersed in an obsession so convincingly written that it genuinely raises goosebumps.
Never have I felt such a powerful need to hate while loving, and to love while hating, as I did with Khraen's relationship with Henka. She is the soul that binds the entire story together. Without her, I am not convinced Khraen's journey would carry nearly the same weight, nor would its failures leave such lasting scars. If you like grimdark that refuses to soften its edges or dilute its convictions, get to reading this series. This is Michael R. Fletcher's finest work to date.
July 7, 2026
The ending it needed
You have no idea how relieved I was to see the announcement that this was coming out - even more so that I saw it a week ago and didn't have long to wait.
I blazed through the first three books in this 'trilogy' in as many days. They're fun, they're immense, they're packed with magic and cool shit and intrigue and a real bastard for a PoV protagonist, even if he is trying his best.
This delivers more of the same, in many ways. The stakes are as high; the magic and mayhem is just as wild; the violence is as brutal and unforgiving as Michael 'Sir Grimdark' R. Fletcher knows how to paint on the page. I definitely think that the writing, already very good, shows improvement. There were one or two things that niggled a bit when I read the trilogy, little stones in the shoe that would occasionally make their presence known. I didn't find that this time around. From the moment I started reading I was hooked and not let go.
To be honest, if you're reading this it's because you've read the first three books. In many ways the only thing that matters is if he sticks the landing. Is this fourth book the conclusion the inaccurately named Obsidian Path trilogy deserves?
You're godsdamned right it is. I imagine that some people might smart at some of the narrative choices, or the split PoV (is it split PoV when they're both sort of the same person? interesting quandary that) but each step felt right to me. The story beats felt natural, character driven, justified. Even the really fucking dumb ones because oh my god Khraen why are you such an IDIOT? All of the time!
I'm also absolutely fascinated that this series is linked to the Manifest Delusions series, and have now moved the rest of the trilogy up a lot of places on my TBR list.
You have no idea how relieved I was to see the announcement that this was coming out - even more so that I saw it a week ago and didn't have long to wait.
I blazed through the first three books in this 'trilogy' in as many days. They're fun, they're immense, they're packed with magic and cool shit and intrigue and a real bastard for a PoV protagonist, even if he is trying his best.
This delivers more of the same, in many ways. The stakes are as high; the magic and mayhem is just as wild; the violence is as brutal and unforgiving as Michael 'Sir Grimdark' R. Fletcher knows how to paint on the page. I definitely think that the writing, already very good, shows improvement. There were one or two things that niggled a bit when I read the trilogy, little stones in the shoe that would occasionally make their presence known. I didn't find that this time around. From the moment I started reading I was hooked and not let go.
To be honest, if you're reading this it's because you've read the first three books. In many ways the only thing that matters is if he sticks the landing. Is this fourth book the conclusion the inaccurately named Obsidian Path trilogy deserves?
You're godsdamned right it is. I imagine that some people might smart at some of the narrative choices, or the split PoV (is it split PoV when they're both sort of the same person? interesting quandary that) but each step felt right to me. The story beats felt natural, character driven, justified. Even the really fucking dumb ones because oh my god Khraen why are you such an IDIOT? All of the time!
I'm also absolutely fascinated that this series is linked to the Manifest Delusions series, and have now moved the rest of the trilogy up a lot of places on my TBR list.
June 8, 2026
Probably the weakest of the four books but still enjoyable overall
This one did have a lot less action and felt a lot shorter.
The ending I actually really liked. It’s gonna be one of those ones that some love and some hate but I thought it was absolutely in keeping with the books so far.
I really enjoyed my time in this world and will try read more books by the author as I do think he has a great imagination for these darker type stories
This one did have a lot less action and felt a lot shorter.
The ending I actually really liked. It’s gonna be one of those ones that some love and some hate but I thought it was absolutely in keeping with the books so far.
I really enjoyed my time in this world and will try read more books by the author as I do think he has a great imagination for these darker type stories
June 24, 2026
Entertaining conclusion to this very grimdark series. I thought it was well done, especially with the way it ended.
July 23, 2026
Loved it!
May 16, 2026
I don't think I've rooted so hard for a protagonist to not become a better person.
April 13, 2026
I was fortunate enough to be a beta reader for this. Just a great read and progression of a fantastic arc. Strongly recommended
June 23, 2026
Honestly kind of a mid ending. The build up is there but it just sort of collapses in the last 1/5th of the book
June 13, 2026
An amazing fourth book in the Trilogy.
Even though I would have been fine with the story continuing on I feel like he ended it where he could. It seems a lot of his stories end in the similar way as this one. It makes it impossible to predict and that's one of my favorite things about him.
Even though I would have been fine with the story continuing on I feel like he ended it where he could. It seems a lot of his stories end in the similar way as this one. It makes it impossible to predict and that's one of my favorite things about him.
April 24, 2026
This was an enjoyable series overall, even if this final one underwhelmed a bit. The memorable narrative voice of Khraen was well crafted throughout and probably the highlight of the series along with some interesting world-building. I liked how it concluded at the end even if I was somewhat bored reading most of this book. I think the series peaked in the first half of the first book and I definitely longed for that feeling I first had when starting Black Stone Heart. I still recommend checking this out though if you like grimdark fantasy!
August 2, 2026
This book is a surprising fourth entry in the Obsidian Path series. The third book had had a satisfying ending, but apparently the purpose of this book is to close even more loose ends. We get the definitive word on Khraen’s origin, and how he came to be the Demon Emperor.
The book starts right where the previous one had ended, after Khraen has defeated his immediate enemies. But that just means that he’s free to once again pursue his true passion: taking over the world! Of course, Khraen has a bleeding (obsidian) heart, so he frames this as making the world safe for his friend Bren. Bren doesn’t seem like he wants a world war fought on his behalf but Khraen reckons it’s no bother.
So off they set, to gather power and defeat the Wizards. Khraen has quite the tools at his disposal, including dragons and his mighty demon-bound sword Kantlament, “An End to Sorrow”. You’d think that would make victory easy, but there are a couple of problems. First, Khraen is very reluctant to use Kantlament, or any demon sorcery, so he’s fighting with one hand tied behind his back. Second, the Wizards are formidable and have mighty tools of their own.
I didn’t like the way the war was depicted. First, because the Wizards are faceless and utterly without personality. Standard operating procedure when describing conflicts is to let the opposition have their say. They may be humanized, or else they could be black-hearted villains (heh), but either way they are represented. Not so here: this story is about Khraen and Khraen alone. (Well, also Naghron, but he’s not part of the war so I’ll get to him later.) The second problem with this war is that each side can whip out epic, never-before-seen powers at a moment’s notice. This robs the story of tension. “Oh, you’ve got a super-weapon? Well I’ve got a super-duper counter!” Winning isn’t about strategy, relationships or politics, just about who’s got a bigger stick.
Besides the war, the other big strand of the story (arguably the bigger part) is Naghron. He’s another of the Demon Emperor’s shards, but he stands in opposition to Khraen. Where Khraen tries to be good and oppose his bloodthirsty goddess ”She Dreams in Blood”, Naghron considers himself a hard man and a true acolyte of SDiB. He too gets his hand on some of the Demon Emperor’s toys, and manipulates Khraen to guide him to defeat. This was an interesting twist because we get first-person chapters from both Khraen and Naghron, and much about them is similar — but they have different memories and different personalities. One particular highlight is when Naghron dreams that he’s a mythic trickster figure, “Grandfather Coyote” — it’s a very strong story-within-a-story.
The book feels solipsistic. All the chapters are in first-person POV from either Khraen or Naghron, who are aspects of the same person. And there’s so, so much internal monologue! Almost every chapter from Khraen’s point of view contains the same ideas, just using different words: “I need to make the world safe for Bren”; “Can I trust Henka or not?”; “I feel terrible about killing so many people, but it’s for the greater good.” Honestly, I got the gist after the first couple of times Khraen mused about each theme. In contrast, Naghron was refreshingly unreserved in his drive to destroy Khraen.
The final part of the book is about revelations and conclusions. The information comes fast and furious, and I only managed to half-follow it, so it didn’t land with the emotional resonance it deserved. I feel like the last chapters should have been an entire book on their own. I did like the very last chapter, with Khraen’s ultimate fate.
The book starts right where the previous one had ended, after Khraen has defeated his immediate enemies. But that just means that he’s free to once again pursue his true passion: taking over the world! Of course, Khraen has a bleeding (obsidian) heart, so he frames this as making the world safe for his friend Bren. Bren doesn’t seem like he wants a world war fought on his behalf but Khraen reckons it’s no bother.
So off they set, to gather power and defeat the Wizards. Khraen has quite the tools at his disposal, including dragons and his mighty demon-bound sword Kantlament, “An End to Sorrow”. You’d think that would make victory easy, but there are a couple of problems. First, Khraen is very reluctant to use Kantlament, or any demon sorcery, so he’s fighting with one hand tied behind his back. Second, the Wizards are formidable and have mighty tools of their own.
I didn’t like the way the war was depicted. First, because the Wizards are faceless and utterly without personality. Standard operating procedure when describing conflicts is to let the opposition have their say. They may be humanized, or else they could be black-hearted villains (heh), but either way they are represented. Not so here: this story is about Khraen and Khraen alone. (Well, also Naghron, but he’s not part of the war so I’ll get to him later.) The second problem with this war is that each side can whip out epic, never-before-seen powers at a moment’s notice. This robs the story of tension. “Oh, you’ve got a super-weapon? Well I’ve got a super-duper counter!” Winning isn’t about strategy, relationships or politics, just about who’s got a bigger stick.
Besides the war, the other big strand of the story (arguably the bigger part) is Naghron. He’s another of the Demon Emperor’s shards, but he stands in opposition to Khraen. Where Khraen tries to be good and oppose his bloodthirsty goddess ”She Dreams in Blood”, Naghron considers himself a hard man and a true acolyte of SDiB. He too gets his hand on some of the Demon Emperor’s toys, and manipulates Khraen to guide him to defeat. This was an interesting twist because we get first-person chapters from both Khraen and Naghron, and much about them is similar — but they have different memories and different personalities. One particular highlight is when Naghron dreams that he’s a mythic trickster figure, “Grandfather Coyote” — it’s a very strong story-within-a-story.
The book feels solipsistic. All the chapters are in first-person POV from either Khraen or Naghron, who are aspects of the same person. And there’s so, so much internal monologue! Almost every chapter from Khraen’s point of view contains the same ideas, just using different words: “I need to make the world safe for Bren”; “Can I trust Henka or not?”; “I feel terrible about killing so many people, but it’s for the greater good.” Honestly, I got the gist after the first couple of times Khraen mused about each theme. In contrast, Naghron was refreshingly unreserved in his drive to destroy Khraen.
The final part of the book is about revelations and conclusions. The information comes fast and furious, and I only managed to half-follow it, so it didn’t land with the emotional resonance it deserved. I feel like the last chapters should have been an entire book on their own. I did like the very last chapter, with Khraen’s ultimate fate.
April 21, 2026
Underwhelming
After enjoying the first 3 books, I was looking forward to this one heavily and started reading as soon as it was released. To say I am disappointed in an understatement.
What attracted me to this series in the first place was the world building. Fletcher’s spin on fantasy and magic was unique enough to keep me intrigued and the characters, while not great, were good enough to be entertaining. Demons, gods, alternate realities, and magic that is tied to the use of souls, the author manages to put a fun spin on these otherwise overused tropes and bring something exciting to his story. And then just…barely uses them. Throughout 4 books all of these magical systems and ideas are heavily mentioned but rarely demonstrated in practice. The author adopts a “tell not show” approach when it comes to world building and the story feels flat as a result, like wasted potential.
The characters in this 4th book also feel like something is missing. The protagonist khraen, is essentially the same person he was in books 1-3. He does not want to become the Demon Emperor and spends his time self-sabotaging in ways that are honestly baffling. His wife and supposed friend lie and manipulate him throughout yet it’s swept under the rug without consequence because it’s for his own good. I also must say, the constant self-doubt and pity got a bit annoying, especially when you hear about it every other chapter.
The antagonist hardly much better. He hates Khraen for being weak( the author practically beats you over the head with this point) and wants to become the Demon Emperor. He also hates his wife Henka and sees friends as a weakness. He is cold and calculating yet feels as flat as the protagonist and ultimately loses in a horribly predictable way.
The main criticism here is that the author explains these themes to you through long thought-monologues instead of showing them through characterization. Everyone in this book/series stays the same as they were when first introduced.
Overall I give the book 1/5 because of the over-explaining of its themes, lack of subtlety, annoying tropes, and wasted potential. Really disappointing part of the series and honestly sours the previous books for me.
After enjoying the first 3 books, I was looking forward to this one heavily and started reading as soon as it was released. To say I am disappointed in an understatement.
What attracted me to this series in the first place was the world building. Fletcher’s spin on fantasy and magic was unique enough to keep me intrigued and the characters, while not great, were good enough to be entertaining. Demons, gods, alternate realities, and magic that is tied to the use of souls, the author manages to put a fun spin on these otherwise overused tropes and bring something exciting to his story. And then just…barely uses them. Throughout 4 books all of these magical systems and ideas are heavily mentioned but rarely demonstrated in practice. The author adopts a “tell not show” approach when it comes to world building and the story feels flat as a result, like wasted potential.
The characters in this 4th book also feel like something is missing. The protagonist khraen, is essentially the same person he was in books 1-3. He does not want to become the Demon Emperor and spends his time self-sabotaging in ways that are honestly baffling. His wife and supposed friend lie and manipulate him throughout yet it’s swept under the rug without consequence because it’s for his own good. I also must say, the constant self-doubt and pity got a bit annoying, especially when you hear about it every other chapter.
The antagonist hardly much better. He hates Khraen for being weak( the author practically beats you over the head with this point) and wants to become the Demon Emperor. He also hates his wife Henka and sees friends as a weakness. He is cold and calculating yet feels as flat as the protagonist and ultimately loses in a horribly predictable way.
The main criticism here is that the author explains these themes to you through long thought-monologues instead of showing them through characterization. Everyone in this book/series stays the same as they were when first introduced.
Overall I give the book 1/5 because of the over-explaining of its themes, lack of subtlety, annoying tropes, and wasted potential. Really disappointing part of the series and honestly sours the previous books for me.
August 4, 2026
I'm having trouble believing that this was written by the same author responsible for the previous three entries in the series. It's a strange mix of the grimdark fantasy that I've come to expect and the type of power-fantasy-world-building-slop that has pervaded the fantasy genre over recent years. The author seemed to be cramming completely random things that they perceive as 'cool' into the world, despite them having no bearing on the plot or other purpose.
For example, Khraen's are described to us in detail and referenced multiple times across a sequence of chapters. Surely this repetition is signaling that they're going to have some importance to the plot, right? No. At no point does one make an appearance, and we never hear about them again.
I did like the tie in to the author's other series, and there were definitely parts of the story that scratched that grimdark itch, but they're in the minority. I would have been more content if the series had ended with the third entry.
For example, Khraen's are described to us in detail and referenced multiple times across a sequence of chapters. Surely this repetition is signaling that they're going to have some importance to the plot, right? No. At no point does one make an appearance, and we never hear about them again.
I did like the tie in to the author's other series, and there were definitely parts of the story that scratched that grimdark itch, but they're in the minority. I would have been more content if the series had ended with the third entry.
Review of advance copy
If i change so much you don´t recognise me,you can break me back to the man you first met
This book was an insane finish for the Series,i cant really say anything without spoiling something for readers that maybe didnt start the series (if you love Grimdark you shouldve started this series already waaaaay back) or are waiting to start this book on Kindle,while at the end i still had some hope here and there,with the things that were said,that we might get more,but after that sentence i quoted in this Review,it hit me,that it is really the end.
I am really happy that i didnt wait until the book came to the Kindle Unlimited and bought the paperback directly on day first to read it,i couldn´t wait and i wasnt disappointed,but broken!!
This book was an insane finish for the Series,i cant really say anything without spoiling something for readers that maybe didnt start the series (if you love Grimdark you shouldve started this series already waaaaay back) or are waiting to start this book on Kindle,while at the end i still had some hope here and there,with the things that were said,that we might get more,but after that sentence i quoted in this Review,it hit me,that it is really the end.
I am really happy that i didnt wait until the book came to the Kindle Unlimited and bought the paperback directly on day first to read it,i couldn´t wait and i wasnt disappointed,but broken!!
June 30, 2026
The fourth book in Fletcher's Obsidian Path trilogy (hey, it makes sense when he explains it) delves further into ideas about the influence of memory and context (especially love and friendship) on identity. This book absolutely requires that you've read the rest of the series, beginning with Black Stone Heart, but if you love intelligent dark fantasy I highly recommend doing so. The Lord of the Empty Mirror features two distinct versions of Khraen, the former demon emperor, each attempting to fulfill his own vision of who he is and ought to be. The story is thrilling, but it invites the reader to question their own perceptions of themselves and how they got there. If one person had been eliminated from your life, would you be the person you are today? Would you be fundamentally a different person altogether? Who are you anyway?
This volume of the series also introduces the idea that Khraen might be somebody else entirely! Yes, it's going to boggle your mind.
I highly recommend all of Fletcher's work, but only if you don't mind having your most basic assumptions about yourself challenged.
This volume of the series also introduces the idea that Khraen might be somebody else entirely! Yes, it's going to boggle your mind.
I highly recommend all of Fletcher's work, but only if you don't mind having your most basic assumptions about yourself challenged.
May 22, 2026
As much as I enjoyed this series… I cannot fully enjoy that ending unless there are follow up books.
I was hoping for so much more! So much left unanswered.
I pray for some kind of follow up, it can’t end there 🥲
I was hoping for so much more! So much left unanswered.
I pray for some kind of follow up, it can’t end there 🥲
April 15, 2026
That was an ending
That may be one of the worst endings I have ever read I thought we were setting up an epic series instead it's whatever the heck that was uh no thanks.
That may be one of the worst endings I have ever read I thought we were setting up an epic series instead it's whatever the heck that was uh no thanks.
April 29, 2026
Average
Love this series as well all the authors works. But this one felt a rehashing of book two. Just not very original to me, but this won't deter me from future books.
Love this series as well all the authors works. But this one felt a rehashing of book two. Just not very original to me, but this won't deter me from future books.
June 9, 2026
Mannnnn, I didn’t love the ending but seriously such a great series!
July 16, 2026
I was anticipating the release of The Lord of the Empty Mirror as I love the universe of this series. The pacing was good and I liked the ending (even if it was somewhat a bit anticlimatic). However, I had issues with the main character. I expected him to grow as a person over the course of the series and found myself frustrated at times with how predictible and redundant his actions/thoughts were. To me, one of the strongest points of the Obsidian Path is it's worldbuilding. I would love to read other stories set in the same universe.
July 31, 2026
This is a book I have been looking forward to since I binged the first three books of the series after reading Dogged, the standalone prequel to this. (Dogged is now an SPFBO finalist too!)
This one is centred around the shard of Khraen’s heart that drove the demon emperor to master the world. In the meantime, Khraen and his allies are taking a stand against the wizards.
While the book was fast paced and I enjoyed the reveals, the ending let me down. Like seriously, I felt disappointed.
I get it’s the only possible ending unless the author were to write another four books to tie up all the threads left, but all the same, there were so many reveals and twists and in the end, it was like they all went nowhere.
I’m kinda beginning to feel Shen Yuan’s frustration with PIDW, but seriously, this book is not bad or anything. I finished it in one go, and I enjoyed every moment. As for the ending, it’s most likely a personal thing for me.
In the end, this series has been amazing all around, and I even backed the kickstarter for the special edition of the 3rd book.
I have far too many books on my TBR, but I’ll definitely be checking out some of this author’s books.
This one is centred around the shard of Khraen’s heart that drove the demon emperor to master the world. In the meantime, Khraen and his allies are taking a stand against the wizards.
While the book was fast paced and I enjoyed the reveals, the ending let me down. Like seriously, I felt disappointed.
I get it’s the only possible ending unless the author were to write another four books to tie up all the threads left, but all the same, there were so many reveals and twists and in the end, it was like they all went nowhere.
I’m kinda beginning to feel Shen Yuan’s frustration with PIDW, but seriously, this book is not bad or anything. I finished it in one go, and I enjoyed every moment. As for the ending, it’s most likely a personal thing for me.
In the end, this series has been amazing all around, and I even backed the kickstarter for the special edition of the 3rd book.
I have far too many books on my TBR, but I’ll definitely be checking out some of this author’s books.
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