Paragon: A Dark Fantasy Thriller

by Rowan Rook

What defines a beautiful world? In Auratessa, a kingdom torn apart by two warring species, a scientist named Amaranth believes he knows the answer. He studies with the goal of shaping Auratessa into a paragon of peace, but his research is going nowhere. When a religious cult that knows his real name tells him there’s another way to change his world, he’s unable to turn down their deadly offers.Soon, he finds his fingers coiled not around textbooks and test tubes, but the trigger of a gun. If he can assassinate each species’ rulers, the cult says, he can claim the magic Auratessa’s original Author left behind. He can become a god in his own right. He can end the war, raise the dead, and rewrite his homeland’s tortured reality.Alongside Shakaya, a scorned soldier and his childhood friend, Amaranth leaves the life he’s known and descends into darkness in search of light. But is it truly his right to judge all of Auratessa? After all, rebirth requires death.Paragon is a dark fantasy thriller chronicling villain protagonists, parasitic romances, bloody battles, fire magic, and dangerous secrets. What does it mean to be just one person in a broken world filled with so many other souls?

815 pages, Paperback

Published June 21, 2020

About the author

Rowan is an agender, asexual, and aromantic speculative fiction author and freelance editor. As a child, they dreamily dictated stories to adults and sat at their family's old typewriter, pounding at the keys to enjoy the sensation of them beneath their fingers. They've never lost that sense of wonder. Rowan aims to craft stories that evoke ideas, create experiences, and leave behind lingering emotions.

Aside from writing, they find joy in game design, heavy music, fiction podcasts, technology, and animals. They currently room with three cats and a collie dog, who keep them company during their daily battles with the blank page. As a night person, the majority of their novels emerge under moonlight. They write from a big, lakeside house on a rural island while dreaming of the city.