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Hi, I'm Ivor K. Hill, author of The First Scars. Thanks for checking out my website!
My fantasy fiction is emotive, action-packed, and dark. It explores themes like found family, power, mental health, and reconciliation. The thing I'm most proud of as an author is that, despite the 'heaviness' of my themes, readers often describe my work as "fun". This matters to me because I read fantasy for the escapism. My dream is that my readers can escape into a fantastical world I created for me and them. You can read more about me on my bio page.
The First Scars, book one of the Soulbrand Trilogy, is a dark epic fantasy action-adventure novel that was funded on Kickstarter by more than 100 backers.
What makes The First Scars stand out is the resurrection system. Inspired by Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, the main characters, The Branded, can resurrect at specified locations upon death. Unlike a time-loop story, however, time is linear in The First Scars - everything that The Branded do before dying matters, as does everything that happens while they are waiting to resurrect.
To learn more about the premise and characters, read on or check out the Amazon page.
Kiln Beast is a prequel novella to The First Scars.
It follows Kurasu and Zelen, key characters and members of the Branded from The First Scars, as they fight on opposite sides of a war. It also introduces Kararyna, a sergeant in the Fatherlander army and Zelen's superior (unfortunately for her).
I'd always recommend reading The First Scars before Kiln Beast.
You can read more about Kiln Beast on the Amazon page.
MEET THE BRANDED
Below are some very short excerpts introducing the main characters of The First Scars
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