Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones

“He is the lord of a wealthy land.” 

Antires corrected her. “He’s the lord of a shattered land. The Dervans destroyed Volanus.”

This book reminded me of old school historical adventure tales mixed with old school sword and sorcery, while at the same time feeling like something new and its own thing.

The Dervans thought that Hanuvar perished during the siege of Volanus, but he survived and in these fourteen tales he fights to reunite his people. He faces Dervan soldiers, monsters, sorcerers, and spirits. As Hanuvar has his adventures we learn more about his world, its history, and its people. As exciting as the adventures are, the characters are a big reason why I like this book so much, characters on all sides of the conflict.

There’s an interesting variety of stories and although each one is a separate tale; they also move a larger narrative forward. Also, the final story does a great job of bringing threads from previous episodes together while at the same time setting things up for the next book. 

When I read that the author said Hanuvar was inspired by Hannibal and the Punic Wars, I listened to some episodes of the Hardcore History podcast before reading the book. Episodes 21-23, titled Punic Nightmares I-III cover the wars, Hannibal, and the destruction of Carthage really well. While you can enjoy this book without knowing Hannibal’s history, listening to those episodes really added to my enjoyment of the book as I was reading and spotting some of the parallels. 

The map that’s included, the “historical” notes between chapters, and the “historical” footnotes all added to the impression that I was reading the chronicles of a great hero. I’m really looking forward to the further adventures of Hanuvar.