Dark | M.A.Batten

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An anti-hero fantasy
for the monster in us all

The Boy With No Name escapes from the hole in which he has been imprisoned his entire life and encounters the few remaining monsters of the Old World hiding in the forest – the world's last minotaur, lykkan, satyr, a handful of goblins, the last two trolls – hunted to the brink of extinction.

When they discover the boy can mimic any ability he sees, even their own fantastical powers, he leads them in an uprising against the world's greatest monster: humanity.

But there is a traitor among them, the King has a deadly new weapon, and the boy must first decide if he is human, or monster.

Meet the characters

THE BOY WITH NO NAME doesn't know how he came to be imprisoned in a hole for his entire life, nor why he can mimic any ability he sees.

KING BALTUS rules Igrador with an iron fist. But now the villagers speak of a Prophecy that a child will rise to take his throne.

STARR is the one human to befriend the Boy With No Name, but a betrayal will force the Boy to make his biggest decision ever. Be a human. Or a monster of the night.

THE BOY WITH NO NAME doesn't know how he came to be imprisoned in a hole for his entire life, nor why he can mimic any ability he sees.

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Explore the realm

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From the castle Underock, King Baltus rules Igrador from the Madragol Mountains in the East to the coast in the West, and from the River Tiberon in the South to the White Forest and Great Ice Fields in the North.

In his long war with the Padogin Bear Riders to the south, his army has been unable to cross the mighty River Tiberon in their mission to seize the ancient and abandoned city of Troha.

This map contains some hidden clues about the places where the Boy and the Nightlings will continue their adventures and face more dangers in the following books.

About the world

Much of the literature that falls into the classic fantasy genre like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones could be considered roughly equivalent to our real world's Middle Ages (c.500 to 1500AD) filled with armoured knights, swords, castles, and a rich folklore of magic and monsters. But the Middle Ages also saw scientific innovations like astrolabes (5th century), gunpowder (9th century), spectacles (c.1260AD), moveable type (c1440AD), and much more.

So in building the fantasy world of this book series, M.A.Batten introduces emerging medieval innovations for a richer, exciting, and more dangerous fantasy adventure.