mdanielmcdowell author

The Shepherd in Shadow by M. Daniel McDowell

To forge a new destiny, he must confront the demons of his past. Mehren Tevaht wasn’t supposed to survive his desperate gambit. Throwing himself into the abyss along with the truename of the demon prince should have been the end of as worthy an end as Mehren can picture for such a coward as himself, anyway. When Mehren awakens in a shadow-realm he’s only seen in dreams with his beloved, the warrior princess Vierrelyne du Talorr, at his side, he knows the spell he meant to do went horribly awry. Together, they traverse a realm both familiar and hostile while the sorcerer tries to figure out what went wrong—and how to fix it—if only to restore Vierrelyne home without him. Haunted by his own past history, and the dawning revelations of the doomsday cult which once held his undying loyalty, Mehren must choose a fate that will define the future for himself, for Vierrelyne, and for all the realms beyond... ...the realm of bodies, the realm of beasts, the realm of spirits, the realm of dream... the Scourgelands beyond the Known Lands of Derebor itself.

Bringer of the Scourge by M. Daniel McDowell

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When the end of ages comes for the empire, the princess must rescue herself. Vierrelyne du Talorr, the last living daughter of the tyrant king, waits locked in a tower cell for the prophesied apocalypse only she can prevent. An army of three brittle allegiances, united under a rival prince, aims for the throne and lays siege to the castle in search of the princess and the fabled weaponry of the empire. With the aid of her mentor in music and swords, and a desperate cultist sent to find her before the mercenaries do, Vierrelyne steals that formidable ancient weapon from her family crypt: a holy suit of armor and a diadem infused with the soul of a demon prince--the Bringer of the Scourge. With it, Vierrelyne discovers an unstoppable power, but the demon within is corrosive, hungry, and dangerously persuasive. Vierrelyne is haunted by what it means to tame this power bequeathed to her, and by what means she might conquer it. When that rival prince finds her, it will take all the strength she can muster, for, if the prophecy she dreads is true, the very weapons she wields might destroy everything she holds dear.