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The Twelfth World #3
The Cure for Living - Part Two
“I am what you made me."
In the oasis city of Qurrâb, wealth, power, and fame all bow to a single yâsh, the virtue of one's heart. There, a thirteen-year-old girl with a mind like no other resolves to become the brightest soul history has ever seen, inspiring others to follow her example. Her goal? To unite humanity and vanquish the Darkness, the destructive force within all of us that makes the world the wretched place that it is.
When veteran Jespar tre Moreste reaches the fabled City of Sages forty years later, his only concern is finding Loanne, the sister he once abandoned. Little does he know that his journey will soon lead him into the dark underbelly of the supposed paradise, where ruthless crime syndicates mingle with death cults and forbidden schools of philosophy. As old wounds resurface and reality fractures, Jespar realizes that even after the tumultuous events of Kilay, he still has demons of his own to conquer — and that often, the most charming masks hide the vilest of minds.
~
This is the second part of The Cure for Living, a single story told across two volumes. Closing Jespar’s saga with a haunting blend of mystery, dark fantasy, and thriller, The Cure for Living examines the cost of obsession, the fragility of identity, and the dark side of humankind.
In the oasis city of Qurrâb, wealth, power, and fame all bow to a single yâsh, the virtue of one's heart. There, a thirteen-year-old girl with a mind like no other resolves to become the brightest soul history has ever seen, inspiring others to follow her example. Her goal? To unite humanity and vanquish the Darkness, the destructive force within all of us that makes the world the wretched place that it is.
When veteran Jespar tre Moreste reaches the fabled City of Sages forty years later, his only concern is finding Loanne, the sister he once abandoned. Little does he know that his journey will soon lead him into the dark underbelly of the supposed paradise, where ruthless crime syndicates mingle with death cults and forbidden schools of philosophy. As old wounds resurface and reality fractures, Jespar realizes that even after the tumultuous events of Kilay, he still has demons of his own to conquer — and that often, the most charming masks hide the vilest of minds.
~
This is the second part of The Cure for Living, a single story told across two volumes. Closing Jespar’s saga with a haunting blend of mystery, dark fantasy, and thriller, The Cure for Living examines the cost of obsession, the fragility of identity, and the dark side of humankind.
- GenresFantasy
368 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2026
5 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Nicolas Lietzau
4 books509 followersI’m an independent German author best known for my writing for the award-winning indie videogame Enderal, which grew from niche favorite to cult hit.
Growing up in both the heart of Munich and a bucolic Bavarian farmhouse, my love for stories began by reading German fairytales in the attic and was nurtured by copious amounts of fiction, ranging from fantasy to horror to historical to literary.
Many things have shaped my writing: a turbulent childhood, living in five different countries, and a loss of reality I suffered due to experiments in lucid dreaming. I feel drawn to people and experiences off the beaten path and try to make my work reflect that. I currently live as a digital nomad traveling across Europe as I work on the second Enderal novel.
Growing up in both the heart of Munich and a bucolic Bavarian farmhouse, my love for stories began by reading German fairytales in the attic and was nurtured by copious amounts of fiction, ranging from fantasy to horror to historical to literary.
Many things have shaped my writing: a turbulent childhood, living in five different countries, and a loss of reality I suffered due to experiments in lucid dreaming. I feel drawn to people and experiences off the beaten path and try to make my work reflect that. I currently live as a digital nomad traveling across Europe as I work on the second Enderal novel.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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February 20, 2026I absolutely love this cover art, cannot wait to get my hands on a physical copy!
May 7, 2026
“We need our what-ifs. We need our dreams. They are the stars humanity has looked toward ever since the dawn of time, wondering if perhaps there are other worlds out there and how their light could help us make our own shine just a little brighter.”
Yea this is by far my favorite book of the year and will be hard for me to top. From The Visionary’s story and how they came to be, to Loanne and her ending up in Qurrab, and Jespar discovering a life altering secret about himself, this picked up where pt 1 ended on a good note. I thought it would be a solid 4 until some of the chapters where Yarazi first started showing up. I think this was a beautiful close on Jespar tre Moreste’s story, where obviously he doesn’t become a magically new person but learns to weather the storm inside himself and what the root cause is and tries to deal with everything as best he could. Seeing the internal dilemma going with Jespar as he deals with his families past, Naka, Kawu, Loanne and everything in between, turn him into the man we see towards the end was really good to see and I couldn’t have wished for a better ending to Jespar’s story than this.
"Pain is a shapeshifter," the ghoul says. '"Beware its ruse."
“To doubt, not out of fear but out of awareness of the flawed ways of the human mind.”
The revelations in this book hit harder for me than Dreams for sure, and Quriyani’s character for me was more interesting than Jaaros’. This is also just amazing story telling and I braced myself for how it would end with only 100 pages left and then 50 but Nicolaus handled it not only realistically but also satisfactorily for Jespar. Some of the reveals with dimensionism make me feel like I really wish I played Enderal because there’s so many possibilities in this universe. The Twelth World was very special to me and felt very much alive and well thought out, and is now something I wish I could experience again for the first time.
“Whether he fails or succeeds, all be asks is that she feel it, that he is here. that he never forgot her, and that she is and was always loved. That even if he cannot save her, he was there at this final moment to hold her band.
Let her know.
His mind touches hers.
And she does.”
Yea this is by far my favorite book of the year and will be hard for me to top. From The Visionary’s story and how they came to be, to Loanne and her ending up in Qurrab, and Jespar discovering a life altering secret about himself, this picked up where pt 1 ended on a good note. I thought it would be a solid 4 until some of the chapters where Yarazi first started showing up. I think this was a beautiful close on Jespar tre Moreste’s story, where obviously he doesn’t become a magically new person but learns to weather the storm inside himself and what the root cause is and tries to deal with everything as best he could. Seeing the internal dilemma going with Jespar as he deals with his families past, Naka, Kawu, Loanne and everything in between, turn him into the man we see towards the end was really good to see and I couldn’t have wished for a better ending to Jespar’s story than this.
"Pain is a shapeshifter," the ghoul says. '"Beware its ruse."
“To doubt, not out of fear but out of awareness of the flawed ways of the human mind.”
The revelations in this book hit harder for me than Dreams for sure, and Quriyani’s character for me was more interesting than Jaaros’. This is also just amazing story telling and I braced myself for how it would end with only 100 pages left and then 50 but Nicolaus handled it not only realistically but also satisfactorily for Jespar. Some of the reveals with dimensionism make me feel like I really wish I played Enderal because there’s so many possibilities in this universe. The Twelth World was very special to me and felt very much alive and well thought out, and is now something I wish I could experience again for the first time.
“Whether he fails or succeeds, all be asks is that she feel it, that he is here. that he never forgot her, and that she is and was always loved. That even if he cannot save her, he was there at this final moment to hold her band.
Let her know.
His mind touches hers.
And she does.”
May 8, 2026
Literally just fucking sitting here with my head in my hands
(my immediate reaction after finishing this book)
~
”The world is ill, Loanne. I have the cure.”
I don’t normally write long reviews, but seeing how barren the review section is for this book, I’ll give it a shot. It’s the least I can do for what will likely end up being my favourite read of the year. This review will be posted for both Parts 1 and 2. I firmly believe that The Cure For Living should be read, rated, and reviewed as one continuous ~950 page story (as it was written) rather than in the two physically separate books it’s delivered in.
Cure follows two characters whose stories first seem completely separate but later entwine in the most delicious way as the mystery reveals itself. We have Jespar, our MC from Dreams of the Dying, a walking disaster of a man who is hell bent on a quest to find his sister. Just like in Dreams, Jespar is once again:
- depressed and drowning in self-sabotaging behaviour
- lowkey a hoe
- hallucinating (this guy’s sanity is CONSTANTLY getting a beating… RIP...)
In addition, we have a new MC: Quriyani, an autistic scholar set on a mission to cure the world of its “Darkness”. I really must highlight just how well written of a character she is. Perhaps in part due to the use of 2nd person POV, she comes alive on the pages, and the autism rep is so good. Nicolas does not pull any punches, he never tries to make any part of her uniqueness palatable (as should always be the case when writing neurodivergent characters!).
I did re-read Dreams before diving into this one, and while doing so did slightly enhance the experience, I think that readers would be safe to read Cure even a few years after reading its predecessor. A quick re-cap of Dreams’s main events is included, which is a good enough refresher. This sequel does reference events of Dreams, but is set in a completely different land and its plot stands relatively alone. And— wow. Allow me to praise just how much effort was put into the worldbuilding. I cannot think of a descriptor other than simply rich in all aspects. There is absolutely no “hand-waving”, as is common in many fantasy books. Everything from the technology to the linguistic idioms is fleshed out to the max, everything has a thought-out explanation with roots in this specific society’s culture. It does get a bit challenging sometimes with so many foreign terms and the fact that everyone has multiple names/titles/honorifics, but the glossary and character index at the back of the book helped out. Nicolas Lietzau is one of the greatest worldbuilding talents whose work I have ever had the pleasure to read. I mean, come on. A modern fantasy book that contains not only one but two professionally developed fictional languages? He could have just used Arabic and called it a day, but The Twelfth Word is such a labour of love and you can feel that any question about laziness in its creation would be a grave insult.
If I had one quibble with the book, it would be that it is very long. Some of the internal monologues can get a tiny bit repetitive. It is definitely a slow burn that rewards you (by God does it reward you) but you have to put in the patience for it to get there. It takes a LONG time for Jespar and Quriyani’s stories to start overlapping, so up until that point it somewhat feels like reading two completely unrelated stories. I think Part 1 could be shaved down a bit. Most of it is build-up for the avalanche that is the entirety of Part 2. This is part of the reason why I think the books should be reviewed as a single continuous story; if hard-pressed to rate them separately, I would probably give Part 1 a 4/5 and Part 2 a complete and utter 5/5, but the excellence of Part 2 is only possible through the groundwork of Part 1 the same way that a lone book’s climax is only possible through the chapters leading up to it.
Cure is a blend of genres ranging from action-packed fantasy to philosophical character-driven drama, but to me its identity boils down to a psychological mystery thriller. The journey we go on - both in terms of plot reveals and emotional arcs - is full of twists and turns that physically pained me. We go to some pretty dark places and our MCs do some pretty dark things. Oh, how I love stories about cults. Death cults? Even better.
Underlying this novel - as well as Dreams - is a current of rage at the state of the world, of the helplessness in the face of all the pain it’s built on. And I think that is what speaks to a lot of fans, myself included. It’s been a very long time since I was this emotionally moved by a book. I thought I was going to hold out on crying, but then the epilogue came: simultaneously gut-punching and healing, bitter and hopeful. Nicolas does not give us the “right” ending, but the “real” one. A raw and authentic conclusion to one of the most raw and authentic characters I’ve ever come across.
All in all? Just so fucking good man. Worth the 5+ year wait for sure.
(my immediate reaction after finishing this book)
~
”The world is ill, Loanne. I have the cure.”
I don’t normally write long reviews, but seeing how barren the review section is for this book, I’ll give it a shot. It’s the least I can do for what will likely end up being my favourite read of the year. This review will be posted for both Parts 1 and 2. I firmly believe that The Cure For Living should be read, rated, and reviewed as one continuous ~950 page story (as it was written) rather than in the two physically separate books it’s delivered in.
Cure follows two characters whose stories first seem completely separate but later entwine in the most delicious way as the mystery reveals itself. We have Jespar, our MC from Dreams of the Dying, a walking disaster of a man who is hell bent on a quest to find his sister. Just like in Dreams, Jespar is once again:
- depressed and drowning in self-sabotaging behaviour
- lowkey a hoe
- hallucinating (this guy’s sanity is CONSTANTLY getting a beating… RIP...)
In addition, we have a new MC: Quriyani, an autistic scholar set on a mission to cure the world of its “Darkness”. I really must highlight just how well written of a character she is. Perhaps in part due to the use of 2nd person POV, she comes alive on the pages, and the autism rep is so good. Nicolas does not pull any punches, he never tries to make any part of her uniqueness palatable (as should always be the case when writing neurodivergent characters!).
I did re-read Dreams before diving into this one, and while doing so did slightly enhance the experience, I think that readers would be safe to read Cure even a few years after reading its predecessor. A quick re-cap of Dreams’s main events is included, which is a good enough refresher. This sequel does reference events of Dreams, but is set in a completely different land and its plot stands relatively alone. And— wow. Allow me to praise just how much effort was put into the worldbuilding. I cannot think of a descriptor other than simply rich in all aspects. There is absolutely no “hand-waving”, as is common in many fantasy books. Everything from the technology to the linguistic idioms is fleshed out to the max, everything has a thought-out explanation with roots in this specific society’s culture. It does get a bit challenging sometimes with so many foreign terms and the fact that everyone has multiple names/titles/honorifics, but the glossary and character index at the back of the book helped out. Nicolas Lietzau is one of the greatest worldbuilding talents whose work I have ever had the pleasure to read. I mean, come on. A modern fantasy book that contains not only one but two professionally developed fictional languages? He could have just used Arabic and called it a day, but The Twelfth Word is such a labour of love and you can feel that any question about laziness in its creation would be a grave insult.
If I had one quibble with the book, it would be that it is very long. Some of the internal monologues can get a tiny bit repetitive. It is definitely a slow burn that rewards you (by God does it reward you) but you have to put in the patience for it to get there. It takes a LONG time for Jespar and Quriyani’s stories to start overlapping, so up until that point it somewhat feels like reading two completely unrelated stories. I think Part 1 could be shaved down a bit. Most of it is build-up for the avalanche that is the entirety of Part 2. This is part of the reason why I think the books should be reviewed as a single continuous story; if hard-pressed to rate them separately, I would probably give Part 1 a 4/5 and Part 2 a complete and utter 5/5, but the excellence of Part 2 is only possible through the groundwork of Part 1 the same way that a lone book’s climax is only possible through the chapters leading up to it.
Cure is a blend of genres ranging from action-packed fantasy to philosophical character-driven drama, but to me its identity boils down to a psychological mystery thriller. The journey we go on - both in terms of plot reveals and emotional arcs - is full of twists and turns that physically pained me. We go to some pretty dark places and our MCs do some pretty dark things. Oh, how I love stories about cults. Death cults? Even better.
Underlying this novel - as well as Dreams - is a current of rage at the state of the world, of the helplessness in the face of all the pain it’s built on. And I think that is what speaks to a lot of fans, myself included. It’s been a very long time since I was this emotionally moved by a book. I thought I was going to hold out on crying, but then the epilogue came: simultaneously gut-punching and healing, bitter and hopeful. Nicolas does not give us the “right” ending, but the “real” one. A raw and authentic conclusion to one of the most raw and authentic characters I’ve ever come across.
All in all? Just so fucking good man. Worth the 5+ year wait for sure.
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