The Reign of Evil is a 2015 novel penned in the vein of J. R. R. Tolkien by upcoming writer Peter Curson.
Harth and Madeline live peacefully on their farm in the world of Nidavia, in the countryside of Penthlin, away from the violence growing in the Western Mountains. Until one day, a group of knights appear at their doorstep to give them an infant, the rightful heir to the throne of Penthlin. Shortly after, they are taken away by a battalion of soldiers from the warmongering nation of Dosleum. Their two sons, Hawk and Falcon, discover them missing, and are taken to the mountains by the leader of the knights, where the truth behind their pasts begins to unravel.
Tropes found in this work include:
- Anti-Armor: Mythrol is the most effective metal to pierce the Dusk Riders' armor. Although Princess Nylia's warhammer, Kamaxia, is nearly as powerful, being sculpted from alien ore.
- Angel Unaware: Just like in The Lord Of The Rings, wizards are actually angels in service to the Goddess of Light.
- Bad Boss: King Dosleum at first appears to be a subversion, only scolding the Dusk Riders for failing to bring back both heirs, and even allowing Hawk to do whatever he wants (although the former case is more Pragmatic Villainy, as he still needed them, while the latter is part of his attempts to groom Hawk into being his willing servant), until he orders his legion of monsters to annihilate his human soldiers, and siphons the life force from the resurrected Dusk Riders to fuel a spell.
- Bittersweet Ending: The King of Evil is slain, and peace has been made between Dosleum and the other nations, and Hawk, Falcon, and Eagle are now safe and have secured their rightful place as heirs to the throne. But Argonal and Angithril have to return to the Goddess, and many people have died in the war with Dosleum.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A major reason behind King Dosleum's downfall. He thinks that he'll be able to bring Hawk to his side despite having brutally tortured and murdered his foster parents in front of him.
- God of Evil: The God of Chaos, who is actually King Dosleum.
- Hate Sink: Royfix, king of Loknol. He's a greedy, elitist jerkass who cares for nothing but his own wealth and power, and for whatever reason, fears Angithril will try to usurp him. He even sinks to imprisoning his own daughter for falling in love with Avnol.
- Heel–Face Turn: Avnol and Matt, the rogue Dosleum soldiers, join Hawk and Falcon at the beginning to atone for taking away their foster parents. Later on, the entire Dosleum army has one when the King orders the monsters to start picking them off.
- Humanoid Abomination: The Dusk Riders are covered in armor, but beneath the armor, there’s nothing but a dark mist.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Hawk proves to be absolutely incapable of falling prey to King Dosleum's attempts at grooming him.
- Kill All Humans: Revealed to be King Dosleum's goal at the end. He intends to rule Nidavia as a kingdom of monsters, and orders his own soldier slain at the climax.
- Our Gargoyles Rock: They're winged demons that don't appear to be made of stone.
- Physical God: Dosleum is actually the physical incarnation of the God of Chaos.
- Retired Badass: Harth was once a skilled Penthlin soldier, and now works as a farmer with his wife, Madeline, all while protecting the heirs to the throne.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Avnol, a rebel Loknol soldier, and Nylia, the princess of Loknol, become this.
- Stupid Evil: King Dosleum is hopelessly incompetent for an Evil Overlord. He hopes to bring Hawk over to his side, but by killing his foster parents, he ensured that he would fail to corrupt him. In fact, he gave him that much more reason to work against him, and simply trusts him to bend to his every whim. Towards the end, he gives him the most powerful sword in Nidavia barring his own. Which Hawk uses to impale him in the final confrontation. Furthermore, he turns against his own people, sending his legion of monsters to kill them all to remove all traces of humanity from Nidavia. He didn't seem to consider that they would retaliate.
- Vampiric Draining: What Dosleum does to his Dusk Riders when he realizes he's cornered.
