DIVINITY’S TWILIGHT: Rebirth by Christopher Russell – Epic Fantasy, Military Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell is the opening of a High Fantasy epic about the rise and fall of vast empires.

The story grows from unfinished business between three brothers gifted with magic and power but chose different paths to achieve safety and security for themselves and the people who followed them.

These different paths culminated in a battle where the fate of their world is balanced precariously on a knife’s edge. Darmatus and Rabban are engaged in a war to the death with their oldest brother Sarcon. Sarcon believes the road to that safety lies in power alone, that the only way to be secure is to crush all his enemies, no matter how heinous the deeds required.

Darmatus believes that knowledge and education are the way, while Rabban advocates for engineering and artistry. But all are powerful in war as well as in peace. In the end, Darmatus and Rabban prevail, or so it seems.

But that is only the prologue to this grand saga.

This ancient battle was a projection of memory crystals. Nearly 700 years have passed since then. Sarcon, Darmatus, and Rabban are long dead, but their empires founded by their followers continue on, each espousing the brothers’ philosophies.

Sarcon is at the pinnacle of military might, while Rabban’s engineering prowess has kept their empire dogging at Sarcon’s heels. Darmatia holds the balance of power in their mercantile empire and serves as the breadbasket for all three.

But this tenuous balance will not last long; history is about to repeat itself. Sarcon is threatening war yet again, and Darmatia seems to be on the verge of throwing in their military lot with Rabban to keep Sarcon from swallowing them both whole. The action – and there is plenty of it! – follows the adventures of one very mixed group of Darmatian military cadets who may just hold the key to peace in their ill-prepared hands.

The world of Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth is an epic, complex, and well-crafted story.

Key characters represent each of the empires, enough to give the reader an understanding of the critical differences between the three kingdoms. The story has a vast cast overall, and keeping track of all the individuals can be challenging for some.

This story moves through multiple casts; the opening prologue has one set of characters long gone by the time the story shifts to its current time frame. Yet another set pushes the story forward until we reach that group of cadets who carry the meat of the narrative. Once the tale gets to Matteo, Vallen, and their cohort, readers won’t be able to set the book down.

The scope and setting of this series opener may invoke fond memories of the Star Wars saga for many readers.

Divinity’ Twilight weaves its tale in operatic (space operatic) fashion, where mighty empires and plucky underdogs clash. In a universe of both space ships and high magic, a place where a chosen hero – or heroine – must rise from obscurity to save their world from an evil that reaches beyond death itself.

Any reader of epic fantasy, fantastic tales of politics run amuck, or epic space battles will find a lot to love in Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth.

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction.