Brian McArthur
The Knights of Akhan is probably the installment of the Taldorian Chronicles that is dearest to my heart. We'll have to see once it's all finished! The plot is picking up, and it is so much fun to write.
The reason is the setting: the sunbaked wilderness between the River Andŭn and the Dağlar Mountains is where I would probably choose to live in the land of Taldor. Anyone who has been to the Nabataean ruins of Petra in Jordan, or Havasupai Falls in the Grand Canyon, or Sedona, Arizona, has experienced some of the wild beauty I am trying to capture in this book. After hours of hiking under a sun that kills, you suddenly stumble across breathtaking oases and impressive ruins, bursts of color that delight your weary eyes and pools of cool water that bring life tingling back to your skin. Having grown up in northern Arizona, these are some of my favorite places in our amazing world.
The other reason is the core theme of the story. Fighting human trafficking is one of my passions, and I try to depict it in all its heartbreaking reality, only set in a fictional land. The characters in The Knights of Akhan have the benefit of magecraft to combat this great evil, but the pain and loss they experience is enough to destroy anyone. Hakan of Korah, Kadir of Kazakh, and Çakal the coyote animist show us what life is like from Hakan's perspective. This book is written as if it were his personal memoir, as a warning to the Mage Council that the Scarlet Disciples are very much an active force in the badlands.
The reason is the setting: the sunbaked wilderness between the River Andŭn and the Dağlar Mountains is where I would probably choose to live in the land of Taldor. Anyone who has been to the Nabataean ruins of Petra in Jordan, or Havasupai Falls in the Grand Canyon, or Sedona, Arizona, has experienced some of the wild beauty I am trying to capture in this book. After hours of hiking under a sun that kills, you suddenly stumble across breathtaking oases and impressive ruins, bursts of color that delight your weary eyes and pools of cool water that bring life tingling back to your skin. Having grown up in northern Arizona, these are some of my favorite places in our amazing world.
The other reason is the core theme of the story. Fighting human trafficking is one of my passions, and I try to depict it in all its heartbreaking reality, only set in a fictional land. The characters in The Knights of Akhan have the benefit of magecraft to combat this great evil, but the pain and loss they experience is enough to destroy anyone. Hakan of Korah, Kadir of Kazakh, and Çakal the coyote animist show us what life is like from Hakan's perspective. This book is written as if it were his personal memoir, as a warning to the Mage Council that the Scarlet Disciples are very much an active force in the badlands.
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