When a Hero goes bad, it's up to a thief to stop him, in this big-hearted and witty fantasy adventure that's perfect for fans of role-playing games. Working-class thief Styk thought heroes were to be admired. Then one tried to kill him, and the attempt on his life left the town of Plainside burned to the ground, hundreds dead. Given a chance at a new life by a mysterious stolen artifact, Styk sets his sights on justice. OK, more like revenge.

Power is never granted… it can only be seized. BLOOD AND EMPIRE begins best-selling author James Maxwell’s long-awaited new epic fantasy series, THE GATEWAY SAGA—a gripping tale of ambition, sacrifice, and defiance in the face of destiny. Young seamstress Bethany dreams of becoming a diviner, one of the select few able to navigate the mysterious gateways that unite the empire. But without wealth or education, and only her mother to raise her, she is on a path to disappointment. Then Bethany meets Charlton, a cleric, who offers her books and guidance, and she glimpses a life she had ...

For now, the centuries-long war between mortalkind and the Aesir is quiet. Yet not over. With the coming of winter, a season in which the Aesir thrive, they will resurface. Only two people, united by magic, can stop them. But first they’ll have to survive more imminent threats to their lives. Robinson Hawksley is of the tragic belief that his beloved wife, McKenna, has perished in a sorcerer’s fire—just as he is about to ascend to the highest rank in the magic order of the Invisible College.

Millennia ago, a magical race called the Aesir found a new home on a distant world. Attracted to the cold during an ice age, they hibernated for hundreds of years at a time. With each awakening, however, they saw their world changed by ever-evolving mortals encroaching on their territory and way of life. Two civilizations with opposing magic, poised to clash over and over. Now, the Aesir are awakening to wage a new war—this time to exterminate their enemy once and for all.

For 5,000 years, the Wild Era of humanity has reigned supreme, where strength and magic are the source of everything. Kelin Wildfire, once called the Lord of Wildfire and the Archmage of Souls, was mysteriously killed on a battlefield of the Chaos War. Nevertheless, his soul lived on in the cycle of reincarnation, his memories frozen in time. Until today. Now he is twenty years old, an orphan living on a lawless planet in the human domain where he is barely able to scrape by.