Ballad of the Blade

Ballad of the Blade is a dark gritty multi-pov epic with a dash of horror and a dollop of gallows humor. It is the debut novel of Andrew P Meritt and the first story of many in A Serenade of Smoke.Magic is dead.The Order made sure of that. They gathered it up and what they couldn''t destroy they hid. Now noble houses squabble over the realm civil unrest smolders in the east slavery and injustice run rampant all while mankind hides behind their two-faced gods.However the truth is magic isn''t dead. It''s just been sleeping and I intend to wake it.Under the light of a sinister moon: A promising initiate struggles to conform in an organization that wants to exterminate the very magic running in his blood. A hired assassin fights to stay one step ahead of shadows betrayals and past mistakes. A musician in over his head tries desperately to trade debt from one group of killers to another. A slave of blood and sand claws his way toward freedom one corpse at a time. An irreverent Justiseer struggles with a particularly obstinate severed head. A man wakes with no memory only to discover a community with problems far greater than his amnesia.Each of them is forced to question if magic truly is dead and wonder...Should it be?Content Warning: The language and imagery depicted in this novel are graphic in nature. If you have any triggers related to violent imagery or explicit language please proceed with caution. If you would like a more extensive list of trigger warnings that include spoilers please go to https: //andrewpmeritt/content-warnings