A 210,000 word fantasy Doorstopper featuring three main books:
The Scavengers: The Emperor is dead, leaving no heir. The Council gives all of the Aenar knights an opportunity - anyone who brings back the Amulet of Khuul from his tomb in Arinbjorn will become the next Emperor. Ralan accepts the challenge, liking the idea of glory and heroism. But after his wife Faervel convinces him to bring an educated scholar with him, he asks at the Guild of Scholars if any of the scholars are willing. A professor, shocked at the enormity of the challenge, suggests that Ralan try and find the mysterious N - a travelling but very intelligent scholar who has never been seen, but has carried out many studies and whose findings are priceless to the guild. When Ralan tracks him down, N (or Ninsaar) is impressed by the knight's efforts and agrees to help him. Adventure and Ho Yay ensues.
Hunting To Kill: Khuul has escaped, and a mourning Ninsaar and a 'lovestruck' Eriswen hunt him down. Meanwhile Ulfgar, Seregnis, and Faervel deal with threats of war from the Nord King, who sees Eldrar as a threat to the independence of Arinbjorn.
Dawn of Fire: There are dragons, and closing a rift to Hell is involved. Eldrar, realizing that the prophecies he depended upon were wrong, he snaps and throws himself off a cliff, leaving the other Dragon-Lords to piece together a falling-apart world.
Dawn Of Fire contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Seregnis, Alette and Taerel are very much this. Faervel is a much milder example.
- A Taste of the Lash: Ninsaar received 20 lashes for assassination.
- The Big Guy: Ulfgar and Arinbjorn.
- Book Ends: 'A King looks over his kingdom'.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ninsaar. Taerel also has her moments.
- Demonic Possession: Khuul's fate, thanks to overexposure to the Rift.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Eriswen almost dies in Ninsaar's arms, but gets better.
- Driven to Suicide: Eldrar.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Ninsaar starts to do this after Ralan's death.
- Fate Worse than Death: Being condemned to wander the Forest of Lost Travellers forever, slowly starting to lose your mind until you are filled with constant fear at demons only you can see, unable to think about anything else, or escape.
- Gentleman Thief: Ninsaar.
- God Is Good: Ninsaar has a conversation with the Divine Father, and discovers that he's quite a nice guy and only wants what's best for everyone.
- Happily Adopted: Calien, first by Baralindis and Gilrin, then by Faervel. Even though she is initially led to believe that Faervel is her birth mother, she figures it out herself.
- Happily Married: Ralan and Faervel and Baralindis and Gilrin.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ninsaar sacrifices his death to save the world, and Andasreth sacrifices herself to save Elenyr.
- Heroic Suicide: While not technically suicide, Khuul walks into the Forest of Lost Travellers (a Fate Worse than Death) after seeing that his Demonic Possession will lead to him hurting everyone against his will.
- Heroic Wannabe: Ralan has shades of this, but he gets better over the course of the story.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Lampshaded by Faervel, 'I'm not usually a certain woman, but I'm quite certain that death would not lay her hands on my child'.
- The Load: Ninsaar considers Eriswen to be this at first.
- Loners Are Freaks: Eriswen's parents try to justify her mental illness this way: 'She didn't get out much. Never played with other children. Ended up funny because of it, I guess.'
- Loving a Shadow: Eriswen convinces herself that she's in love with Ninsaar because she thinks it makes her 'normal'.
- Master of Illusion: A rare heroic example with Ninsaar.
- The Ophelia: Eriswen is a very mild form of this.
- Pretty Boy: Ninsaar. Lampshaded by Ralan, 'You're prettier than my wife'.
- Eldrar may also apply.
- And Ralan.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Nords.
- Subordinate Excuse: Thorvil is Ulfgar's right-hand-man simply because he has a massive crush on him.
- Take Care of the Kids: When Ralan dies, he tells his wife to read a letter he wrote before leaving. It tells her about a child he left with a couple because he was so ashamed of her 'origins', and so unprepared for a child. He then begs her to look after the child, because he wants at least his family to go on.
- Undying Loyalty: Thorvil to Ulfgar. This includes going straight into a burning village to find him, knowing he'd probably already died.
