The Heroes We Never Were

by Thomas Howard Riley

An aging drunk former knight who cannot escape the wreckage of his warlike past, and his lord’s headstrong magick-wielding young daughter with a pet dog named Horse discover there may be an assassin among the guests visiting their castle. But when those guests are made up of their House’s most ruthless enemies, it is more difficult than it seems to narrow down to just one. 


War is the only thing Everan Caid was ever good at, and he yearns to return to his old ways. Long ago stripped of his knighthood and all but exiled from the castle of Oldmeadow, he is drunker by dawn than most men can manage all day. Peace, with the lack of killing that it brings, never sat right with him, especially due to the fact he fought on the losing side of the last civil war over Olbaran’s distant throne and has been forced to watch for years as his bitter enemies prospered at his expense. Yet even in the ruin after the war, his loyalty is unwavering to House Kederan and the Knights of Oldmeadow he fought beside, but with the castle suddenly full of visitors who support the usurper king he spent half his life fighting against, the limits of Everan’s oath of peace may soon be reached.


Sera Kederan, on the other hand, rarely finds time for serious things between climbing trees and running about the castle with her favorite bearhounds. Her father may be Lord Kederan, but Sera has little patience for the politics of distant courts…at least until suspicious visitors from those courts arrive at her doorstep. And when she discovers she might have a connection to certain arcane powers, she suddenly feels like she is being hunted in her own home.


With everyone hiding secrets, and a traitor in their midst, the race is on to stop a deadly plot and save their family from a looming war. Yet the deeper they both dig, the more it seems they have uncovered something far worse than they ever could have imagined.

A gritty grimdark tale of loss, betrayal, redemption, and war. With a healthy dose of giant dogs.

Genres: Fantasy

680 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 8, 2026

About the author

Thomas Howard Riley currently resides in the wasteland metropolis, where he reads ancient books, plays ancient games, watches ancient movies, jams on ancient guitars, and writes furiously day and night. He sometimes appears on clear nights when the moon is gibbous, and he has often been seen in the presence of cats.

He always wanted to make up his own worlds, tell his own stories, write his own history, create his own people, honor the truths of life, and explore both the light and the darkness of human nature. With a few swords thrown in for good measure.

And some magick. Awesome magick.

He can be found digitally at THOMASHOWARDRILEY.COM
On Twitter he is @ornithopteryx, where he is sometimes funny, always clever, and never mean.

Reviews

[Bill Adams]

The Heroes We Never Were by Thomas Howard Riley is one chonky book, there is no denying it, but within these 1000 pages lies a tale built upon deceit, grief, vices to mask said grief, murder, blood, magick, and giant dogs. And just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, Riley throws a 300 page epic siege at you where your heart is ripped straight from your ribcage and all your whisky and magick drain out of you.

In the decades after losing a war, the family of House Kederan are trying to restore their name in the eyes of the new High King. As hated guests invade the fortress of Oldmeadow under guest-right, a plot to assassinate Lord Donner Kederan is uncovered by a drunkard, the renown knight Everan Caid. As these guests infiltrate their home under the guise of peace, it is unto a drunk, a young girl, and a giant dog named Horse to uncover the plot before it’s too late.

Let’s first start with the obvious, this book is huge. But what is nice, the book doesn’t read like a brick. Sure, you can read for hours and it feels like your ticker isn’t moving at all but the pace is very steady and there are no lulls in the plot. Yes, there are a couple of scenes that feel slightly redundant or filled with a bit of deus ex magicka, but they build to this crescendo that lasts some 300 pages. And those last 300 pages are so tense, so filled with action, death, and emotional gut punches, it feels like a mixture of The Red Wedding and The Last Battle all in one. It’s edge of your seat stuff, the climax, and when the book finally ends, you feel like you need a shot of whisky and a smoke.

Now, let’s talk characters, there so mannnnnnnny, so many in fact, I won’t have space to talk about them all. But POV-wise, there are two (with a couple of one-offs interspersed later on in the book): the drunk Everan Caid and the magick-wielding daughter Sera Kederan. And both are completely unreliable.

Everan Caid is a drunk and he is written like a drunk. Meaning, he does things so many times throughout this book while deep in his bottles, he doesn’t remember doing them. Bad things, killing things. And Riley writes his scenes perfectly like this, because this helps build the is there/isn’t there a murder plot happening. Everan is a knight many people know and respect, but he’s fallen on hard times for plot reasons, but he is Donner Kederan’s loyal servant and that plays into a ton of scenes where after uncovering the plot to assassinate Donner, Everan tries to make his friend see the truth where all the other Oldmeadow knights just see a drunk making problems. The amount of tension built upon this concept is just exquisite and Riley exploits it to perfection. Everan is also deep and funny when needed, but mainly he is a juggernaut with singular purpose, especially in the climax where he is in total berserker mode. Everan is just an awesome character.

On the other side is rambunctious, clever, snarky, and trouble-seeking Sera. She’s between 8-10 and, again, Riley does a fantastic job of making her read/sound like a kid, which makes her scenes almost unreliable because like Everan, many people around her father sees her as this kid causing a ruckus. Again, tension is just palpable because of her POV. Sera is resourceful for a kid and when she starts learning her innate magick, her story arc just takes off. Not to mention, she is headstrong and really damn funny, especially with her sister Suri, their bickering is top notch (coming from a dad of two youngins).

Then there is Horse, one of the giant bearhounds in this book (shoutout to Redfoot, Pounciful and Goose), and Horse is the best pupper ever. Brave, loyal, and ever around to save your behind, just make sure to save some haunches of meat for him!

A good epic needs side characters that have weight, and Riley doesn’t skimp here. Like I said, there are sooooo many characters we meet, but every character feels like their own. Slane Kotter is a good foil for Everan’s murder plot, aka Lord Suspicious. Other knights like Razer Kean (the Sword with the Smile), Tammer Hain (Everan’s bff), and my personal favorite, Badamir Nor (called Godsteel, I don’t care if he isn’t named after me, I’m claiming him anyway!) (also, there are a number of characters named after some people from the indie community in this book!).

Ultimately, the plot is epic, the characters great, and the greater story Riley introduces in his grand Lumina World book series is just a lot of fun. If you have read any of Riley’s other books, they all take place in this world where magick is hunted and leaves a trace (in the form of rendered colors), then you will fit right in. But if you haven’t, don’t fret, Riley explains everything as this story goes so you are never left in the dark.

The Heroes We Never Were is such a brutal book and does enough emotional damage where you need something cozier to read afterward. Seriously, if you haven’t read any Thomas Howard Riley books, you are missing out, they are some of my fave indie reads!

*I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Heroes We Never Were releases on September 8, 2026*

[Vinay Badri]

A regretful, sozzled Logen Ninefingers meets Arya Stark in a Game of Thrones inspired slow-burn fantasy simmering with Tarantino-esque tension & sharp acts of violence

Imagine the opening of Game of Thrones when Robert Baratheon comes to visit the Starks at Winterfell. What if the Starks were on the losing side of the bitter battle and Baratheon sent his vilest henchmen with a dastardly plan despite the Starks bending their knees & acknowledging the king. The opening of The Heroes We Never Were evokes this strong Game of Thrones feel. To its immense credit, despite the significant influence of Game of Thrones, Thomas Howard Riley narrates a fabulously compelling story. A story that is intensely character-driven while simmering with old tensions, barely repressed trauma, and a Tarantino-esque penchant for drawn-out anticipatory moments of sharp, stark, and sudden violence. All this packed in a 700-page chonker of a book that feels light & intensely engrossing

Channeling Logen Ninefingers’ berserker fighting fury & regrets for a violent life lived & Druss’ indefatigable spirit and never-say-die attitude, Everan Caid is our primary protagonist to the world. A barely functioning alcoholic, Everan is a bitter survivor of the war that took everything from him. A gritty fighter of great renown with the ability to strike fear into enemies’ hearts while carrying grudges, real and imagined, for even longer, Caid now spends his time drinking through life, fighting battles in his mind. This results in him being cantankerous and a nuisance to the lord of Oldmeadow, his family, and his retainers. The situation becomes untenable as the King sends his worst retainers over to Oldmeadow, and by the worst, it means all the reprobates, the traitors and betrayers who caused the devastating loss to Oldmeadow in the civil war. Caid, who would like nothing more than to choke each and every member of the visiting party, has to behave, and this results in him drinking even further. However, with everything not as it seems, Caid is chasing shadows and conspiracies at every turn, some unintentional as well

“It was one thing to fight and lose. It was another thing to have to live with the pain of that loss forever after. That kind of pain cradled you until you were old and grey. There was no way to forget, no way to heal. Bitterness was their nursemaid, from now until the last of their days”

Given Caid’s reputation as a barely functional alcoholic, no one really takes his seriously and matters are further exacerbated when news reaches him of an assassin and a traitor within Oldmeadow. As Caid employs every means at his disposal to investigate, he still has to follow the dictates of this lord & feels everyone else is discounting this threat. In a way, this reminded me of Jeff Nichols’ fabulous Take Shelter. A story about a man (Michael Shannon at his finest) who has a vision about an impending apocalypse and starts to prepare for it even as people around him mock him and turn a blind ear to him. A lot of Everan Caid’s actions and beliefs run in the same direction. He is convinced that the visitors are up to no good, and while the lord and his closest advisors share the sentiment, they fail to see how far things can actually go. Some sequences are kind of repetitive in this search, but it feeds into the escalation

“What made Everan Caid such a capable killer was how much he hated being alive”

This also gives a chance to probe deeper into Caid’s psyche and the sense of mystery hanging around Oldmeadow, Lord Donner Kederan, his deceased wife and their children. Some of those are unpacked deliciously as the narrative proceeds, and it really is a testament to the fabulous writing on display that you are completely engrossed, even if it feels like nothing much happens. This is a story of unresolved grief and untreated trauma raging through Caid, and watching the glimmers of the man and warrior that he was emerge from the depths of the bottle and self-loathing and hate is quite something to read before he vanishes back. In a way, this is also a story of redemption for a violent life lived in the past

“Death cures us of fear”
“It also cures us of life”

The other perspective to this book is from the decidedly Arya Stark-like Sera Kedaran. The youngest daughter of Lord Donner Kederan, Sera is a free and wild spirit. At home with the massive bear hounds that Oldmeadow is famous for, she spends most of her time bunking the lady-like classes she must attend, instead preferring to free-range over the castle, running with the hounds. She is also secretly being tested for hidden magical powers that the kingdom prefers to keep under their thumb. While her perspective isn’t as dimmed by the war and politicking, Sera hates the visitors for the simplest of reasons. She finds her daily running with the hounds interrupted as the visitors have taken up most of the open space. Her feeling is further reinforced as the visitors play rough with the hounds, inescapably sealing her viewpoint that the visitors have to go. She finds an unlikely ally in Everan Caid, and the duo stumble around in their way to rid the castle of the visitors, one by the virtue of being drunk and the other by the virtue of being a kid and a bit naïve about the cruelty of the world at large

“War isn’t for glory. Because there is no such thing. War is for killing, for taking, and for watching your friends die. If you are going to fight, do yourself the favor of not lying to yourself about why you are doing it. Fight for your family, not take someone else’s. Glory is meaningless next to family”

This is a slow-burn of a book. While it does simmer with the threat of violence throughout, the bursts of violence in the first 60% of the book are almost Tarantino-esque - Sharp, unexpected, and brutally violent. The politicking and the past are rich and filled with intrigue. There are layers to this book, and when you peel one, you find another tantalizing layer. On top of this, there is also the question of magic. Oldmeadow houses a practitioner, and the visitors from the king come with a set of priests who are magic hunters. This also sets up a fascinating cat and mouse search at play, especially when Sera also starts getting her powers.

“Our history is the friends we buried and the war we lost. That is all we have. We lost so completely, we barely even have ourselves. The war didn’t just take lives, it took hope, it took our future, and now every day we try to claw it back. But the victors won’t let us have even that”

In a way, this book does reinforce what the Joker says in The Dark Knight: everyone has plans, but introduce a little anarchy and watch everyone just panic. The last 20% of the book is just that. Lord Kederan has plans, the visitors have plans, the King has plans, but the real wildcard (Joker) in this case is Everan Caid & to a lesser extent, Sera. The last 20% is a fountain of violence, and no one does it better than Caid. His berserker self is unleashed, and he finds avenues to creatively and brutally murder almost everyone who comes in his sight, even as the stakes become increasingly desperate and hopeless. The losses are terrible and deeply personal, and this fuels Caid further. While he does spend time reflecting and ruminating about his propensity to serve death unlike anyone and does regret the man he has become, given a sword, high stakes, and a purpose, he is a man transformed. Channeling his fury, sorrow, angst, and trauma, Caid realizes maybe the purpose of his violence can be noble as well. It is truly a bloody and action-packed finale that ratchets the dial up to 11 and also makes the stakes personal by pairing him with Sera and the heartfelt words of Lord Kederan

“For as much as he hated war, and he hated war so very much, he could not deny that it was where he was the most himself he could ever be. When fighting started, Everan shined the brightest. Here in the castle, he was a distance, faded star, but once the cutters were drawn and the bloodletting began, Everan blazed as brilliantly as the sun”

I mentioned Game of Thrones as a major source of inspiration - Be it in the Winterfell like setting, or the Stark-like sibling dynamics or the crypts at Oldmeadow or in the slow measured manner through which magic is introduced in this world. But nowhere does it seem more influential than in the way the book ends. There is a sense of loss, an irrevocable change in the status quo, and a threat of revenge to be served in the future, defining the end of this book. The writing is spectacular in these sequences, especially the last 20% of the book, and there is a tangible sense of violent mayhem and insatiable bloodlust that splatters the pages in a manner reminiscent of Joe Abercrombie’s writing

“War was his freedom. Battle was his liberation. Killing was his religion”

The book lives and dies by its gorgeous writing. As a reader, your mileage may vary depending on how indulgent you think the writing is. It is a doorstop of a book with very little actually happening until 60%, barring Caid’s forays with the bottle & violence. But like Robin Hobb, you would pay to read Thomas Riley pen a shopping list. The writing is lush, gorgeous, and descriptive. Some of that is channeled into how the castle and the bearhounds are depicted, giving them a personality of their own. There is an early chapter that just has Sera run through the castle with her hounds and not much else, but even with that run, so much is conveyed – right from the various parts of the castle, to Sera’s relationship with various people inhabiting the place, to a commentary on how the visitors have disrupted a lot of things Sera considers important and, to her eyes, sacred. The writing isn’t afraid to descend into the muck when it comes to the violence, trauma, and regret, but it still shines extremely bright and never feels less than compelling. There are also a few twists thrown in, and the author keeps you guessing on the identity of the traitor all the way through

“I hate war. I hate the cruelty it breeds and the suffering it brings. But it is the only place where I can do the killing I want without being marked as a murderer. War is horror. A thing that should never be. Yet it is the only place where I am able to exist as myself”

Another notable aspect of the writing and plotting is the unreliability of the narrators. Specifically, the events and information we see unfold are through Everan and Sera’s eyes and biases. The adults in the room (or rather, the castle), on both sides, have other ideas and plans cooking. Despite their best intentions, Everan and Sera essentially go blundering around with Everan particularly operating out of a sense of “I know best”. This is remarkably reminiscent of The Last Jedi and Poe Dameron’s role in that movie. Given it is Oscar Isaac playing Poe, we are conditioned to be on his side but he is operating with limited information as compared to this superiors and you see how that plays out when he makes an ill-advised move. Thomas Riley deploys a similar move late in the book, and you almost wish Caid hadn’t involved himself in certain aspects of the plot, and how Sera has also complicated matters. I really loved this aspect of the plotting, and it is something that I wish a lot more authors would do to add depth and color to their lead characters

“The heroes we could have been. Instead, I am this”

The Heroes We Never Were by Thomas Howard Riley is traditional fantasy evoking legendary authors in the form of George RR Martin, Joe Abercrombie & Robin Hobb. It wears the influence of these authors in its blood-soaked heart to narrate an intensely compelling story about a Logen Ninefingers-like character whose main achievement is his ability to kill. A blood-soaked and violent story packed with reflections on the nature of violence and the men who do so, The Heroes We Never Were establishes consequential stakes and loss through its run with a Tarantino-esque approach to violence. Less is more when it comes to action until the finale explodes in truly blood-soaked, brutal and violent fashion completely upending the status quo for our leads. With secrets still to unpack, grief to resolve, and vengeance to claim, I will be here for when the next book lands. Spectacular!!!!!!

Rating – 4.5 Bearhounds out of 5
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A 4.5 starrer

A regretful Logen Ninefingers imbued with the spirit of a sozzled Druss from Legends meets Arya Stark in an 800-page chonker that is heavily GoT-inspired, in a fabulously amazing narrative style. Despite the size, the story moves incredibly deftly and reads so fantastically well. Unputdownable with a majority of the book focusing on characters but with a Tarantino-esque simmering violence kept at bay for most of the run until it explodes. The last 20% is just incredibly bloodrendingly breathless

Full RTC
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[Douglas Lumsden]

I am a HUGE fan of Thomas Howard Riley's fantasy prose style, and The Heroes We Never Were is an example of Riley at his best. If the Brothers Grimm were alive today, their writing would be in a similar style: plainspeaking, direct, moody, and descriptive, letting the scene fuel the narration and unleash the emotions. It's the kind of fantasy adventure story I love to read.

Riley has crafted a detailed and intriguing world, and he is a master at drawing you into it. His books are long (REALLY long), and the pace is leisurely (until the end), but every scene flows like a mountain stream and adds something essential to the drama. His descriptions are rich in detail, and as a reader I move easily through them, climbing down the stairs of the keep with ease, grabbing a breadroll in Sir Sorna's kitchen on my way to the exercise yard, shouting a greeting to Gregas the blacksmith, and stopping by Selli's laundry before finding my way to the peach orchard. The world of Oldmeadow is so real I experience it in my dreams.

Riley's characters are equally memorable, and every one of them has depth. Most of the story comes to us through the eyes of two distinct protagonists. Everan Caid, the broken knight, is extremely flawed, but totally sympathetic. I'm not generally fond of child characters, but I was fascinated by little Sera's trials and ordeals. These two seemingly mismatched figures are inevitably linked by tragedy and fate, and the most poignant scenes are the ones in which they are together.

The Heroes We Never Were is a long, slow, but fascinating burn, and when the fireworks go off they will absolutely fry your brain. The final 20 percent of this story is one long and extremely brutal action sequence, and it is a grim reminder of the book's most powerful theme: there is no glory in war.

The Heroes We Never Were is a remarkable story by one of my favorite fantasy authors. If you enjoy epic fantasy that removes all the guardrails, this is the book for you.

[Miggins (Hobbit Hole Books)]

Whilst I work on writing my full length review, let me just say that is a splendid read, sincerely worthy of your time!

Thomas delights in the details, in the hidden corners and unforgiving darkness to be found within and beneath the castle location this is centred around. If you're a Tad Williams fan of MST or Fitz and The Fool then this will suit the style of those early sections!

Evran is an an all timer of a character, the sheer pathos embedded into the soul of this character will tear you apart. Sera is fantastic too, despite Evran being my fave :D

Go and read you will not be disappointed.

Full review to come :)

[Max I Like Fantasy Books]

I thought this was excellent and if you like really long books, living with characters, gradual plot development, conspiracies, blood, battles and more this will be a book for you.

Imagine a succession war, similar to Robert's Rebellion in ASOIF. Now imagine that kind of war, except the antagonists win and take the throne. That is where we start this story- over a decade after that war within the keep of a High Lord who lost. All of sudden things are happening, the King and his Priests are drumming up a war with a neighboring country, he is sending a roster of all of your worst enemies to your keep.

But why?

We follow Everan, a horrifically drunken Knight and veteran of the war and Sera, a very Arya coded daughter of our High Lord as they get drawn into the mystery, intrigue and politics of the brewing situation.

This book has got a lot going for it, especially if you love longer, dark, classic ASOIF style fantasies. You have GIANT goodboy dogs, knights with heroic histories, conspiracies, betrayal and long gestating feeling of mistrust of everyone you meet.

One of the benefits of it size, is that the large battle not only feels like its earned its space the emotional impact of it is significant because of the time you spend with each person involved.

I still feel like I am working through my thoughts, but know this they are all good.

[Hanna]

This is an epic tale. The cast is big (thankfully there is a glossary!) and the world is vast.
The plot will pull you in. From epic battles, emotional damage, dogs, bravery and loyalty, everything is there. You will root for, feel for and yell at the characters in your head while reading.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding that brought a vivid picture onto the page. I did struggle with names and who is who a little (the glossary was needed). Some characters feel well thought out, while others were more one dimensional.

If you are in for an epic tale, look no further.

I recived an ARC of the book by the author.

[S. Bavey]

I was lucky enough to be chosen to proofread this book! Go and read it for yourself, it’s an epic chonk filled with great characters, large dogs and heartbreaking bloody battles, but never losing sight of the difference between loyalty and treachery, right and wrong, bravery and cowardice!

[LordTBR]

The Heroes We Never Were by Thomas Howard Riley is an ambitious, brutal chonk of fantasy that is unflinching in its ferocity, vast in scope, and emotionally detrimental. Oh, and did I mention it has giant dogs? Who doesn't love a good boy companion? Get Riley on your shelf ASAP!