The Philosopher in Arms

a weblit novel by Karen Wehrstein
Posting every weekday

Web Fiction Guide overall rating ****½

"***** I’ve found a thrill like no other. Every update is heart-filling. Karen gets me every time." - GreenGlass @ Web Fiction Guide

"***** The world-building is particularly brilliant..." - Elizabeth Barrette @ Web Fiction Guide

"Emotional verisimilitude is extremely difficult but is here achieved with an easy grace that staggers me." - Michael Thedford @ Lexy's Basement

†

THE WORLD

DESTROYED BY THE FIRE, a global cataclysm shrouded in mystery, civilization is rising slowly again, with rival nation-states jostling for power. Rare relics of pre-Fire technology remain, most often regarded as magical. Astonishing knowledge crops up in the least expected places. Might humankind’s second rise lead to a second disaster? No one’s much worried about it.

Yet.

THE CHILD

The fiercely democratic people of Yeola-e say they keep but one slave: their hereditary leader. Forged in a strict training steeped in duty and sacrifice, and extraordinarily gifted as a warrior, Fourth Chevenga Shae-Arano-e grows up carrying a bitter secret revealed by a vision: he will not live more than thirty years.

THE POWER

When Kurkas Aan, the Imperator of Arko, the greatest empire in the known world, sets his sights on conquering Yeola-e, Chevenga learns that there is only one way he and his people will have a fighting chance: he must go alone into the heart of the empire and brave its worst dangers.

Aided by Niku, the passionate and volatile holder of the secret of flight, Skorsas, the flawless pleasure-boy of pragmatic genius, Krero, the gruff guard captain of almost-unshakable loyalty, Kaninjer, the ultimately-pacifistic healer, one deadly enemy who turns lover and a host of others, Chevenga and the Yeolis undertake a epic battle for freedom that could land him in the halls of power... or on his funeral pyre.

"More often than once, we have had to remind each other that this is only a story..." - Fantasy Lover @ Lexy's Basement