Graven Hunter Files is a series of web novels by PerfectID33
following vampire hunter Sye Graven.
Tropes:
- Androcles' Lion: Death by Demon young Sye encounters a baby demon and raises her, giving her the name Cat and teaching her not to eat people. Adult Sye later encounters Cat, who is eager to reconnect with Sye despite Sye's reluctance. By the next book Treacherous Grounds Cat was became a regular companion of Sye's.
- Animals Hate Him: Sye has trouble riding horses, due to the fact that they all seem to dislike him.
- Child by Rape: Kyrie boasts to Laures about raping his father.
- Darker and Edgier: Offence Report, the first installment of the Cytaran series, is rated M for dealing with much darker themes then the rest of the series. Laures is raised by a sadistic child killer, and grows up to be a brutal General who abuses and rapes a female captain under his command.
- Hereditary Curse: In Death by Demon, Andvari Nagelfar curses Kyrie and all of her ancestors for killing his son. Protagonist Sye receives the curse and has to convince Andvari to drop the curse so that Andvari can pass on to the afterlife.
- Kangaroo Court: Two of these happen in Trial and Error:
- Sye is put before a berserker court for killing two men while under the influence of a ancestral curse and stealing a legendary sword to break the curse. He is surprised to learn the court has no defense and prosecution attorneys, rather an interrogator acting as both. Even if if he can prove he was a cursed, that will only makes things worse as he would be considered responsible for his ancestor's crimes, the reason he was cursed to begin with. Sye is sentenced to death by beheading, and is only saved when he summons the aforementioned sword, as proving himself the rightful owner proves his innocence.
- Sye then has to support Alion, who is brought before the Vampire Court for killing his master, a trial consisting of the Emperess deciding defendant the guilt and then having them beheaded on the spot. Sye has to pretend to be a vampire to even attend, and claims the presence of a vast conspiracy, given the Alion merely being a set up victim would make him just as guilty in their eyes. When Sye exposed as a human, has to invoke an ancient and unused law to prevent himself from being killed on the spot.
- Off with His Head!:
- Sye is nearly beheaded after a berserker court.
- Executions are also done this way in vampire courts and the punishment is performed on the spot.
- Our Orcs Are Different: Orcs are are the typical tolkein-esque orc, with greenish-gray skin, tusks, and a bad temperament. Sye encounters a trio of vampire converted orcs working for the Zemrelt clan, the most aggressive and warlike of the clans.
- Shout-Out:
- Demons known as Barons of Hell are described as big and red with horns, similar to those of the Doom games.
- In Trial and Error Sye notes his ancestor Kyrie was sent to and kicked St. Brutus's home for criminal youths, a reference to the school in Harry Potter that Harry's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia force him to claim he is attending to his Aunt Marge.
