New Book Alert: Umbral Ten (Khaldaia Chronicles) by Douglas Murphy; Outstanding Characters and Dystopian Horror Fill Dark Fantasy

New Book Alert: Umbral Ten (Khaldaia Chronicles) by Douglas Murphy; Outstanding  Characters and Dystopian Horror Fill Dark Fantasy

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with a character with vision impairment or enhanced eyesight (Jakob)


Spoilers: What do you get when you combine Epic Fantasy with Dystopian Fiction? You would probably get something like Umbral Ten, the first book in the Khaldaia Chronicles. A book that is firmly set in the epic fantasy milieu but features characters learning to survive and adapt in a chaotic world of corruption, environmental disaster, and fully sanctioned murder and genocide. This book puts the dark in Dark Fantasy and elevates the work into unforgettable horror and terror affecting a cast of outstanding characters.


Before the book officially begins there is a strange prologue in which two characters discuss needing funding and being unable to save the world overnight. For now, it is almost unnecessary and provides a distraction to the rest of the book,u bit also provides hints that there are bigger things going on and that all is not necessarily as it seems.

Once the novel begins proper, we are introduced to six characters: Theodosia AKA Theo, an Elven mage and the wise leader of the group, Ser Lance, a knight dedicated to his religion and code of honor, Rook, a sharp tongued mercenary, Snuffles, Rook's partner who has a dark secret, Sister Tamara, a foul mouthed nun who packs a gun, and Jakob, a meek library assistant with an eidetic memory.


The sextet encounter each other after they are knocked out during a ceremony. When they wake up, they discover that the world around them has changed. Ten years have gone by. The place wherehwhere the ceremony was held is abandoned and lays in ruins. The tree that was once a symbol of life and positive magic is now dead. A once venerated archbishop has turned into a demonic creature, called an Incarnate, who devours human flesh. The only Gods that are worshipped are dark death gods and even small villages have daily human sacrifice rituals. It's pure Hell and our gang of six are right in the middle of it.


So far there isn't much of a single quest beyond mere survival in this pre-Industrial dystopian nightmare but under the circumstances, that's enough. The protagonists have to adjust to a world that they don't recognize and survive when there are many creatures that are out for blood. It's terrifying like someone who was in a coma during the Obama Administration waking up in 2020 and is terrified to experience the Coronavirus pandemic, unidentified Federal troops pulling people off the streets, and a reality show host as President/Dictator. It would be a lot to take in and every day, you would use any ability you had to learn how to survive and to fight in this confusing world.


That is what the six protagonists do and where they shine best. They learn that people that they knew and once respected are now firmly on the side of the human sacrificers. They also work to protect a village of terrified people and a young priest suddenly thrown into the role of village head because of the deaths of those before him. Despite the different temperaments and personalities, the six companions band together to help the villagers and fight off a delegation of dark sorceresses and Incarnates. Their final conflict is actually clever as they outsmart their enemies rather than outfight them.


The six companions are very brilliantly written characters as they interact with each other. They discover some of them, like Snuffles and Jakob, have hidden abilities and others, like Sister Tamara, have alliances that get revealed later. Many of these revelations cause dissension in the group. At one point, they vote whether or not to kill one of the members in case their abilities push them too far.

By far the best character is Jakob. He is almost a stand-in for every fantasy fan who reads the books wishing they were part of the action. He is well read and brilliant, but clearly out of his element among skilled fighters, powerful magic users, and bold warriors. He suffers from an inferiority complex, especially when others describe him as dead weight. He even questions his own self worth, but ultimately shows that he can contribute just as well as any of them.

Umbral Ten is a very dark, but outstanding beginning to a potentially great series. Hopefully, things can only get better for them because I can't see how they can get worse.