Inquisitors: A Tale of Love and Damnation

by Paul G. Zareith

The wars of old against the tide-caller cultists have left Inquisitor Vorain crippled and forlorn. Over the decades of commanding the dark tower, he has found his life fading into obscurity. But that changes when a mysterious presence begins to interfere with his investigation in the shadows of the night.

Once feared, now forgotten, Vorain has long relinquished his yearnings for affection. But after seeing the gruesome handiwork of an unknown outsider, something warm begins to unexpectedly blossom in his heart once again.

Genres: Dark Fantasy

145 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2026

About the author

Fantasy author and lover of dark unhinged speculative fiction. Dabbling in the grimdark, gothic, arcane and all things forbidden and forgotten.

Reviews

[Donna Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect cure for the Lovecraftian horror itch crawling beneath your skin.

I seem to recall Zareith saying this was an experiment in character driven story telling. As it’s the first work of his I’ve read, I’d say he has nailed it perfectly. Our protagonist is a brooding veteran turned inquisitor with a history we learn as he goes about his unpleasant work. The setting is deliciously descriptive, painting a kingdom on the verge of collapse, for reasons I won’t spoil here.
This is precisely the kind of atmospheric, almost poetic Grimdark world I adore, so top marks from me!

[Fer B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an honest ARC review.

This is a rough one. Inquisitors is a great story but not for everyone. You have to be a big fan of these fantasy subgenres.
For a novella, the plot develops and finishes perfectly well rounded. We follow Vorain, a veteran inquisitor with a lot of experiences, feelings and other things to unpack, who is a very dark main character, and I loved it. It plays with your expectatives and it even has great plot twists that caught me off guard.
The worldbuilding and the horror elements, the descriptions, were the best part for me. I adore this kind of worldbuilding/eldritch things to pieces and I would read a 10 book series exploring this world. It is fascinating, very VERY dark and half of me loved the ending. It was perfect for the story, strong and heartfelt...But.

But, the other half of me feels it like a personal affront, because the character involved, for such a short time "on-screen", became my favorite, I rooted for them since the start and their ending was underwhelming, a full on injustice, and I would expand on why I feel like that, but spoilers. As I said before, the ending was fitting, and while I was hoping for another route, I can both love and hate passionately something. In the end, it is an exploration on grief, on trauma response and a view on both sides of human nature. As the story itself establishes: injustice and unfairness all around.

I would definitely read more of the author's works without a doubt, and I recommend this novella to fans of dark and grimdark fantasy. And, the release date is on July 1st!!! So, happy release day and thank you so much to Paul G. Zareith for the ARC!!!

[Bill Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella has a few good things going for it:

- older, jaded, renowned warrior-turned-torturer with lots of ghosts
- a mysterious prisoner from a sea goddess cult & weird things going on
- Eldritch-style body horror from said sea goddess
- short, punchy chapters

This is definitely a character-focused story because we are with Vorain, the titular Inquisitor, as he is tasked with getting information out of this cultist prisoner, mainly in what are their plans and where are some ancient sea goddess relics. But crazy things begin happening while Vorain is away from the prisoner and it's obvious that someone else is torturing him and leaving behind some creepy sea creatures/things in his body. Then throw in some terrible trauma from Vorain's past and we have ourselves a tincture of crazy.

I will say, Zareith's style is great here. It leans heavily into Vorain's POV, from all his aches to all his life's traumas, especially his lost love some 13yrs prior to the sea. We really get a detailed glimpse of this character and how his life got to this point. That said, there are a lot of times where the story is description/worldbuilding heavy and we lose some characterization that comes naturally from dialogue or emotive reactions. But what I really liked about this novella was how Vorain's past shaped him, for good and bad. The idea of the lost love being prominent in this story was really awesome and I liked how it tied to the overarching plot.

The body horror is very inventive and creepy. The use of the sea and kelp and whatnot was done in such a way that it was both new and icky. I liked the slow build of what was happening to this prisoner and was trying myself to figure it out with Vorain. And Zareith does not hold back here in this story. While most of the Bad Things happen off page, he doesn't shy away from the visuals when Vorain encounters them, especially with a certain dead body shows up. And when the villain is finally revealed, there was some great sea-based magic invovled.

I think many people will enjoy the ending and the reveal here, but for me, it fell just slightly too much in the dues ex machina column for me. Again, the connection to the lost love was excellent, but the final reveal just felt too separated from the rest of the story. A few more subtle hints or even just some dialogue beats earlier on in regards to the relics/McGuffins would have really helped solidify the ending more.

However, the final chapter and the ultimate last few paragraphs, those were excellent and I really liked how Zareith ended this story.

All in all, a great novella with great prose, great character work, and solid pacing.

*I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

[L. Garrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inquisitors is one of those brilliantly unsettling stories that not only gets under your skin, but burrows directly into the marrow of your bones and seeps into your very soul.

There’s an eldritch quality that shadows the narrative, inspiring a sense of rising dread in both the reader and jaded protagonist Vorain, the titular inquisitor and a man presented with perhaps his most complex prisoner yet: a condemned adherent of a strange old cult who is slowly being devoured by the essence of his deity. Vorain is tasked with obtaining from this doomed prisoner the whereabouts of a set of artefacts, but as his interrogation prove continuously fruitless, something darker is stirring in the background. As Vorain returns each day for further questioning, he finds the man further devoured by the influence of some hellish, Cthulhu-esque god.

I’ve always loved books with a healthy dollop of body horror, and this novella has to rank up there in terms of creativity. There was some truly horrid imagery, described in such grotesque and lyrical fashion that you truly start to believe there are fates worse than death. It’s not only in the hideous decline of Vorain’s prisoner, but also in Vorain himself, in the way his age and old injuries are catching up with him, in the increasingly instability of his mind as he is confronted with scenes of absolute horror. His is a subtler body horror, but it’s more realistic for it: his prisoner might be falling apart and splitting open, but Vorain’s mind and body is failing due to more natural causes. Both are unstoppable.

For this reason, Vorain really works as a main character. We need more older protagonist, more people like Vorain who are burdened with their years, saddled by personal history, made cynical and even nihilistic by everything they’ve seen and done. You can really feel his hopelessness, his growing callousness, the way he plods through his routine as he’s done the previous decade. He’s also wounded by the loss of his great love, a woman whose influence he searches for even if he knows she is (or at least should be) dead.

Overall, I loved this novella. Its beautiful, evocative writing style combined with some deeply unsettling imagery to provide an eldritch tale that evokes sea cults, abyssal gods, and heinous unravellings of mind, body, and soul.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Review

Haunting and powerfully written, the author does an incredible job of leaning into the world-building and depth of mythos that this story is built upon. The rich, powerful storytelling became a foundation for emotional character dynamics to come to life on the page, and the visceral imagery this dark fantasy tale delved into was an immersive experience readers won’t soon forget.

The fast pacing and the powerful themes the author explored in this narrative helped balance out the depth of world-building at work here. The characters faced shocking twists that brought elements of their past to life in the present, and the depth of their compelling backstories elevated the story of light and darkness through the gods who brought this battle of wills to life on the page. Exploring what it means to truly live and the impact our choices have on our futures, this story blends action and violent suspense with dark, emotional storytelling that readers can easily lose themselves in.

The Verdict

Thrilling, compelling, and entertaining, author Paul G. Zareith’s “Inquisitors: A Tale of Love & Damnation” is a must-read dark fantasy novel. The twists and turns in the narrative, and the shocking yet almost Shakespearean final pages, will stay with readers as they feel immersed in this medieval world and connected to the emotionally developed and richly complex protagonist of this tale.

[E. P. Soulless · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this point, I’ll read pretty much anything by Paul G. Zareith, so signing up for the ARC was a no-brainer. Not only does he write killer stuff, but he’s also a really positive force in the indie community, constantly spotlighting all things weird and obscure.

We follow an aging inquisitor named Vorain, whose glory days as the dreaded “Black Scourge” are long behind him. Picture a Glokta-like figure, except more depressed and utterly done with life. Now drop this infamous, decrepit man into a coastal setting reminiscent of Lovecraftian Innsmouth—complete with cursed relics, abyssal hints, and some prime Zareith-calibre disturbing scenery. One thing I always give Paul credit for is that he keeps me guessing right to the very end. I was so certain, so smug that I’d sussed out the plot by the halfway mark… Only to have that delusion smacked out of me not once but twice. His stories reliably pack the final chapters with dense, twist-heavy resolutions. I actually had to pause and do a double take to process everything that had just happened. And by the finale, even longtime readers familiar with his penchant for tentacled aberrations will come away a little startled. I only wish there was a smidgen more connective tissue to link all the dots, but otherwise this is excellent stuff!

4.25 / 5.00

[G Singhal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dark and imaginative book, very reminiscent of Lovecraft's stories in theme, but presented in an eloquent - almost poetic - style.

This is a short book that focuses on a single primary protagonist - Vorain, who was once a famed commander, and after suffering significant injuries now serves as an inquisitor in a seaside kingdom that is on the verge of ruin. He is tasked with the job of extracting important secrets from a captive, but that what makes it difficult is that not only the captive is an uncooperative hardened warrior cultist, but there is some strange presence that seems to be interfering with his work. The interrogation scenes are accompanied some vivid and visceral imagery and at times I could feel the bile rising up my throat.

Besides the gothic/grim aspects, I also enjoyed how the chemistry between him and the princess slowly evolved, and the gut-wrenching plot twist towards the end.

This is the kind of book that you enjoy, while also making you question your own sanity.

Many thanks to the author for sharing an ARC.

[Stacey Markle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating is 4.5
RtC