Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
Kindle Price: $0.99

Save $11.00 (92%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Craig Halloran
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Darkslayer: Wrath of the Royals (Book 1 of 6): A Sword and Sorcery Series Kindle Edition

by Craig Halloran (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,858 ratings
See all formats and editions

They want him dead, but he won’t die.

Venir didn't choose to be the defender of this unforgiving world full of bloodthirsty magic-wielding underlings set on world domination. The Helm of power and his waraxe called Brool chose him. And there's no turning back.

With enemies closing in from all directions, Venir, his thief friend Melegal, and their companions must battle through an endless cycle of backstabbing Royals, bloody skirmishes, and waves of lies and deceit.

Or see their home descend into total chaos and devastation.

The Darkslayer Series is an epic sword and sorcery adventure set in a world where bored immortals play with the lives of the unsuspecting inhabitants.

Fans of R.A. Salvatore's-Drizzt Do' Urden, Frizt Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, David Gemmell's Druss the Legend, the Witcher, Raymond E. Feist's Pug the Wizard, and Robert E. Howard's Conan delight in The Darkslayer series ... perhaps you will as well.

Scroll up and grab a copy today!

Other Information:

#1 Amazon Best Seller Epic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery!

Content Advisor:
There is no explicit language or sexual content in these books. With that said, there is an onslaught of battles and harrowing dilemmas. So much so, that it's become a favorite of readers aged 13 and up.

Go ahead, strap on a helmet and give it a try!

Craig Halloran is a USA Today bestselling author and a #1 Bestselling Amazon Author in the following genres and categories:

Epic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Coming of Age, Werewolves & Shifters, Dark Fantasy, and Collections & Anthologies. He is a Kindle Unlimited All-Star and a Top 100 Amazon author. Over 80 Stories published.

Other Works:

The Odyssey of Nath Dragon, The Chronicles of Dragon Prequel Series (5 Books)

The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 1 (10 Books)

The Chronicles of Dragon, Series 2, Tail of the Dragon (10 Books)

The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files (10 Books)

The Clash of Heroes (3 Books)

Zombie Impact (3 Books)

The Gamma Earth Cycle (2 Books)

The Red Citadel and the Sorcerer’s Power (5 books in 1)

Learn more about Craig and his works at: WWW.CRAIGHALLORAN.COM

Sign up for his newsletter and get free books! Yay!

Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 16
    The Darkslayer Old School Sword and Sorcery Adventures Complete 16-Book Collection
  2. Print length
    327 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    December 1, 2013
  6. File size
    3136 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Next 5 for you in this series See full series
Total Price: $16.95
By clicking on the above button, you agree to Amazon's Kindle Store Terms of Use
More like The Darkslayer: Wrath of the Royals (Book 1 of 6): A Sword and Sorcery Series
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  5. Everflame
    Kindle Edition
    $0.00
  7. Demonsouled
    Kindle Edition
    $0.99
  16. AMP Messenger: (Book 1)
    Kindle Edition
    $0.00
  22. OMEGA Exile: (Book 1)
    Kindle Edition
    $0.00
  26. Peace Warrior
    Kindle Edition
    $0.00
  30. Frostborn Omnibus One
    Kindle Edition
    $4.99
Next page
Loading...

From the Publisher

blond warrior with helm and sword
two headed dog named Chongo abd huge battle axe
bones the warrior runs on top of

Editorial Reviews

Review

5 out of 5 Stars!

"From the causal fantasy subscriber, to the die-hard Tolkienist, everyone will find something to enjoy in the ever expanding world of Bish."

See full review below.

--Sacramento/San Francisco Book Review

5 out of 5 Stars!

"...this author has written an extremely cool book."

"...makes me believe that these characters should also appear in a video game or up on a movie screen very, very soon. Enjoy!

--Feathered Quill Book Review

From the Author

See Author Page

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003UV8X6O
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Two-Ten Book Press, Inc.; 3rd edition (December 1, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3136 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 327 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,858 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Craig Halloran

Craig Halloran

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

USA Today bestselling author Craig Halloran grew up a role playing fiend and dungeon master's nightmare. Since, he's turned his boundless creativity into more than 100 acclaimed novels that span a wide variety of fantasy fiction sub-genres, from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery to future world apocalypse. Creator of the bestselling Darkslayer and the Chronicles of the Dragon series, he imagines unique worlds and wonders that are breathtaking in concept, and then brings them to life in stories brimming with excitement, suspense, and surprise. A former military policeman who now labors in the realm of the remarkable, Halloran has a large and loyal following of devoted fans who eagerly devour his page-turning, action-packed tales of fantastic adventure.

For more news and anecdotes you can follow him at:

Facebook: The Darkslayer Report by Craig

Twitter: Craig Halloran

www.craighalloran.com (Website and Blog)

www.thedarkslayer.com

www.dragonwarsbooks.com

Or drop him a line anytime as he loves to hear from readers: craig@thedarkslayer.com

***

#1 Bestseller of Epic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery & KDP All-Star!

Dragon Wars (20 Books) releasing 2020-21

The Darkslayer Series #1 (6 Books)

The Darkslayer Series #2 (10 books)

The Chronicles of Dragon, Series #1 (10 Books)

The Chronicles of Dragon, Series #2 (10 Books)

The Odyssey of Nath Dragon, Prequel series, (5 Books)

The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files (10 books)

The Henchmen Chronicles (5 Books)

The Red Citadel and the Sorcerer's Power (1 Stand Alone Book)

The Gamma Earth Cycle (2 Books, Work in Progress)

Zombie Impact (3 Books)

Top Spot: Epic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Coming of Age Anthologies, Werewolves & Shifters

Top 5: Thrillers & Suspense/Supernatural/Werewolves & Shifters/Vampires

Top 10: Dark Fantasy

Top 10: Coming of Age

Over 5000 reviews

4-Star+ Average Rating

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
1,858 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

cearbhael
5.0 out of 5 stars The Royals are easy to dislike as are those that work for them
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2015
Verified Purchase
I found this book quite captivating and it kept me on the edge of my seat. Definitely less predictable than the Dragon books and of course much darker in tone. The Royals are easy to dislike as are those that work for them. The two Underling brothers are not so easy. Yes, they are evil but their relation to each other is actually quite touching. At moments I find myself liking them or even siding with them against their Underling superiors.
All in all it is a very good read but definitely adult in flavour. Well written and has few if any errors in spelling or composition. I think only one sentence caught my attention. Compared to most new self published e-books, the quality is excellent! Highly recommend the series! I am currently reading the 2nd book in the series which I received free in exchange for an honest review. So far that book is easily as good as the first and it has me on the edge of my seat. I can say that I will be getting the next book for sure and am fairly certain I will read the entire series. I will try to give a review of that book soon as I am done. These are my first reviews on Amazon so flying half blind.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Like An Old Conan Book
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2014
Verified Purchase
I found this book to be entertaining in the way that an old Conan book was entertaining. The plot and the character development were minimal, the enemies plenty, and the creator of the world of Bish was having fun stirring the pot. The action was aplenty and the creatures were numerous. At times I felt that they were too numerous....... fight, run around the corner and a new enemy waited, plow through them, and find another a short way down the road.

However, like the Conan books of my youth, I was entertained and found the storyline kept me reading. The God, or whatever it was, wasn't explained very well, and the reader could assume that it wanted to just stir the pot and watch what happened as part of its entertainment. Why not.... if one could create a world, why not make it entertaining?

The only problem I had with the book and the reason for only a 4 star rating was that I like when a book accompanies the story with a map of the world. As I read the story I like to look back at the map to see where the characters are located. In several points in the book I felt that the characters should have been located in one place only to find out that they were somewhere else. It seemed to me that the directions of the world became confused at times. What should have been in the east was described at being in the west and the same for north and south.

Regardless of the above problem, I feel that if the reader is looking for a Conan type of story and likes constant strife and basic fantasy writing, then the reader should enjoy this book.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Media Man
3.0 out of 5 stars A Saturday night D&D adventure in your parent's basement
Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2012
Verified Purchase
Published in 2010, The Darkslayer is a standard Dungeons & Dragons style fantasy adventure written by Craig Halloran. The story takes place on the harsh world of Bish where a warrior named Venir (The Darkslayer) and his slim thieving companion Melegal live in the City of Bone where they make a living skimming and conning royalty out of their money. When Venir and Melegal finally make the mistake of crossing the wrong family of "Royals" they end up fleeing the City of Bone to avoid retribution. Here are my thoughts on The Darkslayer;

Pros

+ Quick, easy and entertaining read.

+ Some rather humorous dialogue.

+ Excellent hand drawn illustrations by Ernie Chan to accompany the story. If you enjoy the illustrations there are more available online if you search the author or artist's names. I found illustrations of Jarla the Brigand Queen, Farc the Ogre, Melegal and Eep the Imp. All very well done and should have been included in the original book.

+ Draws heavily on a Dungeons & Dragons background so if you're fan the story is more easily followed. In addition to all of the standard humanoid and demi-human races included you'll find spell casters using Web, Chain Lightning and other familiar spells as well magical Helms of Infravision/Regeneration, Hat of Hypnotism, Bags of Holding etc.

+ The Underlings were an interesting and exceptionally cruel race.

Cons <Contains SPOILERS>

- Amateurish Writing. I constantly found myself rewriting sentences in my head as I was reading so they sounded more coherent.

- Some poor and often laughable dialogue that would fit a modern day professional wrestling event but not a traditional fantasy setting. Examples include; "You're goin' down! Bring it! Shut it! Anyway... I heard that! You're a pain in the butt! Man, it's Vee! and the list goes on..."

- Plenty of ridiculous and goofy things in the story that prevent you from taking anything seriously. Such things include magic fish that make you grow, Venir being called "Big Vee" or "Big Stupid," Eep the Imp, Lefty Lightfoot the Halfling, Mood the giant red bearded dwarf, McKnight the detective, a female half-orc prostitute named Dolly, a giant two-headed Bull Mastiff named Chongo, The Vicious (some random nasty creatures), Melegal being called "Me" (became confusing while reading), Venir has a giant "V" tattooed on his back etc.

- Venir was referred to several times as having skinny legs but all of his strongman acts and the illustrations contradict this.

- Story suffers from the "Good Guys Always Win" scenario despite overwhelming odds.

The Darkslayer is about as generic of a fantasy book as you can get but that doesn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. Is it Robert E. Howard? Definitely not. Is it the equivalent of the Summoner Geeks video where the guy says, "I'm attacking the darkness!?" Absolutely. He is the "Darkslayer" after all so attacking the darkness is his specialty. Despite the title I wouldn't really classify this as "Epic Fantasy" but instead "Fantasy Humor." The entire book just reminded me of goof off Dungeons & Dragons session with my friends when I was a kid. You know, when it got to be about 4am, the Dungeon Master ran out of things they prepared and began winging the adventure just so everyone could keep playing? That's exactly what The Darkslayer is. Is it serious? No. Is it an amusing read? Yes. Will I read the second installment in the series when it's published? Yep.
37 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Tonergirl
5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT READ!!!
Reviewed in Canada on May 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
I really enjoy reading the Darkslayer series. You know how when you're reading a fictional novel and you come across a creature that your brain has to put a face and body to, well up until just now, seeing all the drawings of characters blew me away because they all looked very much like I had pictured them, except for Eep's who I had pictured much smaller than he is but the likeness is amazing, lol Can't wait to start the next one...
One person found this helpful
 Report
Shadowdraigon
5.0 out of 5 stars real page turner couldnt ask for a better fantasy book!!!!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
Have read many books in my time but these were the first books i literally could not put down every character throughout the series captivated me to read on and on and noticed some people did not like the way the story was jumping from character to character for each chapter but i just thought it left on a cliffhanger which made you want more reading the second series and just don't want the series to end keep up the good work craig your on hell of a writer and should carry on doing what you do best might have to consider moving on to some of your other work once I have read the next book in the darkslayer series hope its not too long till you bring book 3 of the darkslayer series thumbs up my friend.
One person found this helpful
 Report
drabble8
5.0 out of 5 stars 10 stars
Reviewed in Spain on October 21, 2013
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this book and struggled to put it down, book 2 is worth buying but I hope it doesn't disappoint after the brilliant opening book
Report
Ellinah C
5.0 out of 5 stars Darkslayer
Reviewed in Australia on July 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
I was at first not sure but by the end l was convinced great characters......!l do love a big strong hero and after hearing more of his background l now understand him more.....
Report
Ross
4.0 out of 5 stars Better than I had assumed it would be
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2019
Verified Purchase
Wrath of the Royals, the first in the 16 book Darkslayer series following Venir, the Darkslayer (an axe-wielding barbarian) and his companion Melagal (the cowardly "rogue") as they run from the titular wrath of one of the royal families. Venir tends to get himself into bets, as alpha male types just seem attracted to him, and one such bet ends him in the bad books with one of the most powerful, and twisted, royal families.

This leads to the pair going on the run to escape the inevitable wrath. However, little do they know that the Underlings (those twisted, evil humanoids Venir is driven to hunt) are after Venir from different angles - one due to his relentless genocide of their race, and another due to being hired to hunt him down by the royals.

On the surface, I expected this to be a basic sword and sorcery tale; the barbarian wandering the wilds hacking down the Underlings. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fairly well told tale with different layers and a more intricate plot than I had expected.

Halloran's prose is decent, with a good knack for getting the balance between over-narration and concise descriptions. There is enough description of the world without it being laboured. There are some odd choices for phrases or wording here or there (eg "Impending pain was on its way"), and the book could do with a decent thorough edit, but for a first book it is a good effort.

The world of Bish turns out to be something of an experiment on the part of a God, seeing if she can design a world that will remain in permanent conflict for eternity, good and evil constantly vying but neither side ever truly winning. While this could be seen as literally setting up for "deus ex machina" whenever the author chooses, this didn't really come to the fore in this book.

Venir is a reasonably well-crafted character, albeit a stupid brute and something like Logen Ninefingers from Joe Abercrombie's First Law (when he puts on his magical helmet (yes I know!) he becomes more driven to destruction, somewhat akin to the emergence of The Bloody Nine). Numerous times he just gets up in the night and wanders off searching for the conflict he has sensed, the helmet guiding him onwards. But his actions play well off those of his travelling companions, which has now become something like the fellowship of the ring, but without a ring.

The book ends with an extended epilogue giving an idea of Venir's life before he found his magical axe, shield and mind-controlling helmet.

A good self-contained book, which concludes well and could be read on its own, without continuing the series, though I plan to (ideally before my Kindle Unlimited period runs out!).
One person found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report