The Second Son
5 primary works Complete
The Second Son is an exciting secondary world (alternate reality) medieval military non-magical fantasy series.
Book 1
He needs an army… not a handful of insubordinate guards
Whoever set Oren Trevaine up as Lord Captain of the Mountain Guard meant him to fail. The once-formidable army is undisciplined and determined not to allow an untried lordling of the plains to command them.
The spring thaw of the snow-capped Sansford Range will bring the yearly raids from neighboring Mirdon to pillage and plunder the villages under Oren's protection, and he needs to get his men in line before time runs out.
But when the enemy finds a pass across the frozen mountains, Oren must decide whether to let them carve a blood path to the capital… or to lead a handful of men he can’t trust to their deaths.
If you like the grimness of Joe Abercrombie's The First Law Trilogy, the grit of Anthony Ryan's A Raven's Shadow, and the ruthlessness of Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire, Captain of the Guard will be your next favorite read.
Book 2
The raiding season might be over, but the court is a new threat on its own …
A victorious Oren, newly minted Lord Commander of the Mountain Guard, returns to the capital to receive the King’s accolades and to ask for the one thing he wants as his prize—the right to marry the woman he loves.
But the court is a dangerous place, and nothing is as Oren expects when he arrives at his childhood home. The King is under pressure, and he has new demands for Oren that will test both his honor and his loyalty to the Crown.
When tragedy strikes before he can make his choice, more than his own life is on the line. There is a traitor at the heart of Westmere, and Oren must embrace a birthright he’s spent his whole life trying to outpace to prevent a bloody war that will devastate the kingdom.
But who can he trust to help uncover the truth when he must suspect everyone’s motives?
Book 3
To secure peace, he must first rally the kingdom for war…
The dust of betrayal has barely settled, and the threat of war from neighboring Mirdon looms larger than ever. Oren must unite the nobility of Westmere to fight the enemy and get them to trust his lead—or he might face a war within his borders and an invasion.
But snow will hold the mountain passes closed and the kingdom secure until spring. Oren has earned the respect and loyalty of unruly men before, when he served as Captain of the Mountain Guard, and he can do it again.
When he strikes a bold move against his greatest rival, Oren discovers no one is as they seem. The truth he has built his life on shatters, and in the aftermath, he needs to find answers to questions he had never asked himself. If he fails, a chain of events years in the making will drown the kingdom in fire and blood.
Alliances break, and new enemies show their hand. How will Oren protect his people when he can’t anticipate the next attack?
Book 4
The enemy stands revealed, but learning how to defeat it might be a different matter…
After confronting the ugliest truth and escaping the harrowing events at Fontanil, Oren Trevaine returns to his capital to regroup and find his path forward.
But with faceless enemies lurking in every shadow, the Iron Castle feels less like a stronghold and more like a trap. Allowing his court to learn the extent of his troubles will mark Oren’s reign as weak, but ignoring the danger could cost him his head—and that of his wife, Queen Marguerite of Westmere.
When Oren makes his audacious move, reaching out to old enemies to forge a new future, he discovers the extent of the rot threatening his kingdom, and just how far those at its root will go to attain power.
Oren might be a man of peace, but he was made for war. When the choice lies between the lives of his people and his conscience, is it a choice at all?
Book 5
The epic finale of The Second Son series. March along Oren Trevaine and unveil his destiny.