Books of the Elements
4 primary works
Book 1
The great city of Carce (a fantasy world based on Europe during the later Roman Empire) and all life on Earth will be destroyed unless two young men, Corylus and Varus, and two women, Hedia and Alphena, pursue the answer to the mysterious and threatening happenings that prefigure this disaster.
Book 2
When a great creature seems to rise from the sea to devastate the city during Senator Gaius Alphenus Saxa's lavish theatrical event, the crowd is delighted. A few in the audience, although not Saxa, understand that this was not mere stagecraft, but something much darker and more dangerous.
Book 3
"Governor Saxa, of the great city of Carce, a fantasy analog of ancient Rome, is rusticating at his villa. When Saxa's son Varus accompanies Corylus on a visit to the household of his father, Crispus, a retired military commander, Saxa graciously joins the party with his young wife Hedia, daughter Alphena, and a large entourage of his servants, making it a major social triumph for Crispus. But on the way to the event, something goes amiss. Varus, who has been the conduit for supernatural visions before, experiences another: giant crystalline worms devouring the entire world. Soon the major characters are each involved in supernatural events caused by a struggle between two powerful magicians, both mentored by the deceased poet and mage Vergil, one of whom wants to destroy the world and the other who wishes to stop him. But which is which? There is a complex web of human and supernatural deceit to be unraveled. This new novel in David Drake's ongoing chronicles of Carce, The Books of the Elements, is a gripping and intricate work of fantasy"--
Book 4
Corylus, a soldier, emerges as one of the most compelling heroic figures in contemporary fantasy. Battling magicians, spirits, gods, and forces from supernatural realities, Corylus and his companions from the family of the nobleman Saxa-especially Saxa's impressive wife Hedia, and his friend (and Saxa's son) Varus-must face constant deadly and soul-destroying dangers, climaxing in a final battle not between good and evil but in defense of logic and reality.