SIGN OF THE EIGHT

The battle of the Eight is about to start, and two old enemies must face off in the final battle between good and evil, life and death.

Tristan Nightsworn and Martha von Falkenstein once were warriors, allies, and lovers who fought side by side against a common enemy in the Fifth Crusade, until betrayal tore them apart. Eight hundred years later, they once again come to life, emerging from the depths of Germany’s Black Forest. Now leaders on two different sides of a brewing war, each must co-opt allies to their side—Martha on the side of good, and Tristan on the side of doom. Eight fighters in total must be aligned to fight the final battle to decide the fate of the world. Martha’s chosen warriors are troubled teens, while Tristan is surrounded by a serial killer and a neo-Nazi, among others. But before they can fight, they must find the two fabled swords, Xanas and Aurin, the blades needed to seal the end. Originally published in Germany, this violent, dark stand-alone fantasy features a fast-paced plot with underdeveloped worldbuilding that is vaguely religious. The omniscient narration follows every character, major and minor, with a distance in tone that prevents emotional connection with the protagonists as the story hurriedly builds up to an anticlimactic, unsatisfying ending. Most characters are adults who are assumed White excepting a Black teenage girl from an immigrant family from Mali.

A stand-alone fantasy that fails to engage.