Audiobooks
Tantor Media is releasing all five novels of Gods of the Caravan Road as audiobooks!
BLACKDOG
Gods of the Caravan Road, Book One
Audiobook produced by Tantor Media, read by Heather Costa, October 2021.
Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils ...
And long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, the seven devils, who had deceived and possessed seven of the greatest wizards of the world, were defeated and bound with the help of the Old Great Gods ...
And perhaps some of the devils are free in the world, and perhaps some are working to free themselves still ...
In a land where gods walk on the hills and goddesses rise from river, lake, and spring, the caravan-guard Holla-Sayan, escaping the bloody conquest of a lakeside town, stops to help an abandoned child and a dying dog. The girl, though, is the incarnation of Attalissa, goddess of Lissavakail, and the dog a shape-changing guardian spirit whose origins have been forgotten. Possessed and nearly driven mad by the Blackdog, Holla-Sayan flees to the desert road, taking the powerless avatar with him.
Necromancy, treachery, massacres, rebellions, and gods dead or lost or mad follow hard on their heels. But it is Attalissa herself who may be the Blackdog's -- and Holla-Sayan's -- doom.
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The Leopard: Marakand Part One
Gods of the Caravan Road, Book Two
Audiobook produced by Tantor Media, read by Heather Costa, November 2021.
Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils ...
Death and dark magic follow the caravan road ...
Ahjvar, the assassin known as the Leopard, wants only to die, to end the curse that binds him to a life of horror. Although he has no reason to trust the goddess Catairanach or her messenger Deyandara, fugitive heir to a murdered tribal queen, desperation leads him to accept her bargain: if he kills the mad prophet known as the Voice of Marakand, Catairanach will free him from his curse. Accompanying him on his mission is the one person he has let close to him in a lifetime of death, a runaway slave named Ghu.
In Marakand, the great city where the caravan roads of east and west meet, Ahjvar and Ghu will both need to face the deepest secrets of their souls if either is to survive the undying enemies who hunt them.
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The Lady: Marakand Part Two
Gods of the Caravan Road, Book Three
Audiobook produced by Tantor Media, read by Heather Costa, December 2021.
Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils ...
Death and dark magic follow the caravan road ...
The undying assassin Ahjvar the Leopard has been captured by the Lady of Marakand, enslaved by necromancy to be captain of her Red Masks. His shield-bearer, Ghu, a former slave with an uncanny ability to free the captive dead, follows Ahjvar into the war-torn lands of the Duina Catairna to release him, even if that means destroying what is left of Ahj's tormented soul.
In the city of Marakand, former enemies ally and old friends seek one another's deaths as loyalists of the entombed gods Gurhan and Ilbialla raise a revolt spearheaded by the Grasslander wizard Ivah, the shapeshifting Blackdog, and the bear-demon Mikki. The Lady's defences are not easily breached, though, and the one enemy who might withstand her, the Northron wanderer Moth, bearer of the sword Lakkariss, has vanished.
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Gods of Nabban
Gods of the Caravan Road, Book Four
Audiobook produced by Tantor Media, read by Heather Costa, January 2022.
Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils ...
"A lyrical and beguiling fantasy of gods and tortured souls, of grand magics and human frailty. Wonderful books that stand well above your average epic, Johansen’s novels are beautifully written, timeless fantasy Tolkien himself would have loved." ~Tom Lloyd, author of The Twilight Reign series
"If you like epic fantasy full of flawed, diverse, bickering characters banding together to heal both their world and themselves, Gods of Nabban has got you covered. If you want a story with compelling, psychologically rich characters and a fascinating setting of empires, nomads, gods, and ghosts, it has all of that. And if you enjoy the pure sword-and-sorcery thrill of watching the toughest SOBs on the planet facing down a ruthless army of evil, it's got that too. K.V. Johansen takes you on a fantastic journey you won't forget." ~ Chris Willrich, author of the Gaunt and Bone series
Innocent and madman, god and assassin -- two men struggle to seize an empire from the tyrannical descendants of the devil Yeh-Lin. But in war-torn Nabban, enemies of gods and humans stir in the shadows. Yeh-Lin herself meddles with the heir of her enemies and his soul-shattered companion, as the fate of the empire rests on their shoulders.
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The Last Road
Gods of the Caravan Road, Book Five
Audiobook produced by Tantor Media, read by Heather Costa, November 2023.
Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils ...
"... continues the lyrical masterclass of the other books and provides a fitting ending to the series. It's got all the elements of epic fantasy but something deeper too -- a sense of age, of history and landscape that most don't come close to. ... if Robert MacFarlane ever wrote an epic fantasy I'd be hoping it would be like this. It's poetic and cut through with veins of great sadness, gentle humour, humanity and stillness, but fire and fury too. With violence, horror and tragedy across the generations, it never loses the personal aspect -- never forgets its humanity and never descends into gratuitousness. It's simply on a higher level to the vast majority of fantasy books." ~ Tom Lloyd, author of The Twilight Reign and The God Fragments series
"The Last Road is a superbly crafted action/adventure novel by a master of the heroic fantasy genre." ~ MidWest Book Review, Nov. 2019
"The Last Road is a brilliant end to a fantastic series which deserves to be read far and wide, as it’s simply one of the finest epic fantasies I’ve ever read – rich and lyrical, timeless and unique, powerful and poignant, wondrous yet real, full of characters that will stay with me forever, and a world I feel privileged to have visited ..." ~ James Latimer, The Fantasy Hive
The final novel of Gods of the Caravan Road. When even the gods are dying, the hope of the world may lie in its most feared enemies.
A new god proclaimed as the All-Holy has arisen in the west and leads an army eastward, devouring the gods and goddesses of the lands between, forcibly converting their folk and binding their souls to himself. The very fabric of the world appears threatened by forces beyond the understanding of scholars and wizards alike. Even the great city of Marakand, where the roads of east and west converge, seems powerless to resist the All-Holy, though the devils Moth and Yeh-Lin and the assassin Ahjvar, undead consort of the god of distant Nabban, have come to stand with it. That may avail Marakand little, for the shapeshifting Blackdog, once a champion of the gods, follows obediently at the All-Holy’s heel and Lakkariss, the sword of the cold hells, is in his master’s hand.