The last of the Romans have left Britannia, leaving greedy and ruthless men to seize power and rip the land asunder. Without the discipline of Rome to stop them, relentless Pictii come down from the North to raid her settlements, and boatloads of Saxons sail west from Germania to pillage her shores.
Grown soft with nearly five generations of Roman order, most men in Brython are unable to defend their homes against these threats, both from within and without. But there is hope. Emrys and Uthyr, the two youngest sons of Constantine, the last great Roman leader in Britannia, have come of age and return to Brython to avenge their father and reclaim his usurped throne. Along with their strange druid advisor, Myrthin Wyllt, they lead a campaign to unite the clans of Brython against the tyranny of her enemies, vowing to restore the peace and order once enjoyed under Rome's protection.
Bran knows the war for Brython is far larger than any one clan can hope to win alone. He pledges fealty to Emrys and his obligations thicken. His strength, compassion and loyalty are continually put to the test as he struggles to meet the mounting demands of his country, clan, wife and family, as well as those of his otherworldly master, Arawn, who has daunting plans of his own for him.
Meanwhile, strange, winding roads beckon to Taliesin, leading him to worlds both sublime and dark. Arhianna's fate leads her home, but at a frightening and terrible cost. Gareth finds himself duty-bound to Mynyth Aur, but, like his father, longs for the horizon. In Bran's absence, Lucia strives to remain a strong leader and mentor for her children and the people of her clan, determined to keep those she loves and cares for united in mind and spirit.
New and unlikely alliances are forged while old enemies churn forth new grievances. All struggle to meet their responsibilities within the chaos surrounding their homeland, but remain hopeful they will succeed in putting a just king on the throne who will usher in a new age, free from raids and tyranny.
I see from your profile that you have already self-published 2 books in this series - with no little success. Congratulations! So...
a) Readers of the first 2 books will - unlike me (see last comment) - know some of your characters.
b) New readers won't - and won't even necessarily know that there ARE 2 previous books. Why don't you say so in this back-cover teaser??? Mention the 5th place in that Amazon thingie: It'll let new readers know that this isn't just "another one from the slush pile who decided - out of frustration - to self-publish". It MIGHT get them to buy the 1st 2 books first...
THIRD attempt to post this: meaning that delayed action might cause this comment to appear 3 times...
p.s. Why is this filed under "fantasy"? I haven't read the books, but the blurbs sound more like "historical fiction".
Too many names without proper introductions, in my opinion. e.g. "Gareth finds himself duty-bound to Mynyth Aur". We don't know who the hell either of those two are.
I agree with Tim: for a back cover/teaser, keep it simpler: If you like, you could add to his suggestion (and to fish for the type of reader who likes this sort of thing): "A cast of thousands, each struggling to find their own position in this whole mess!"
SOMETHING like that ;p
Morning JM. Sounds like an interesting read! My tuppence would be to ask whether it's a little on the long side? My instinct (and I claim to be no expert) would be that the first two paragraphs would suffice - the rest to my mind is a little too detailed and it's quite a lot of info to take in (lots of characters etc and potential plot lines). I may even say use the first 2 paragraphs and then end with your final one.
Tim