Andrew's Book List
Fantasy Science Fiction - The Pagalan World
The books listed immediately below this section are based on the fantasy world of Pagalan.
About the Pagalan World:
Pagalan is a world of buried histories, wounded skies and forgotten thresholds, a place where the ancient and the human are never truly separate. Across the long ages of The Pagalan Chronicles Origins and into the time of Morganuke Beldere, it becomes more than a setting. It is a living inheritance, shaped by exile, ambition, survival, catastrophe and the slow, dangerous return of memory.
In the earliest age, Pagalan is not chosen as a paradise but reached as a refuge. The Patronese come from Yath Varnel, their dying home world, carrying with them the last fragments of a civilisation that has already seen too much brilliance turn to ruin. They arrive through Nadhrak Sol, the Hollow Stream, borne across impossible distances within vast black Obelisks older than their own understanding. When those ancient vessels rise from the ocean depths, the Patronese first see Pagalan as a place of snow, ice and clean but merciless air. Denesthear, the First Cold, is not welcoming in any gentle sense, yet it offers what Yath Varnel no longer can: breath, water, sky and the possibility of beginning again.
From that frozen shore, the Patronese carve their future downward. Beneath ice and stone they build First Delve, then Tramstell, then the deep foundations of Denesthear. Their civilisation becomes one of light hidden under darkness, of polished stone, resonance conduits, geothermal warmth, and vast chambers where the hum of ancient power moves through the walls like a heartbeat. The Patronese do not merely settle Pagalan; they embed themselves within it. Their cities grow like secret roots beneath the surface, elegant and controlled, filled with archives, councils, technologies half-understood, and symbols inherited from forces far older than themselves.
Yet Pagalan is never empty. Beyond Denesthear lie northern tribes, distant continents, unexplored coasts and lands where other peoples rise according to their own rhythms. The Patronese first try to remain apart, believing isolation to be wisdom. They fear contamination, conflict, and the repetition of the mistakes that destroyed Yath Varnel. But the world presses against their caution. Gates stir beneath the stone. Resonance moves where it should be silent. The Benefactor artefacts, the green gem, the lidless eye and the Obelisks refuse to become dead relics. They are not ornaments of the past. They are instruments still listening.
As the centuries pass, Pagalan becomes a world of widening contradictions. On the surface, tribes grow into powers. Across Denesthear, the Patronese become refined, brilliant and increasingly divided. Their white cities shine with precision, but beneath that brightness class fractures deepen between High Order and Low Order. The same society that once fled extinction in unity begins to build hierarchies of blood, resonance and privilege. The archives preserve truth, but not always openly. Councils speak of order while hiding fear. The gates are sealed, yet their silence feels less like peace and more like a warning held too long in the throat.
By the time of Olivier Martelismore, Pagalan has become a world balanced on the edge of collapse. Tramstell still gleams, but its systems falter. The Low Orders grow restless. The northern horizon answers with strange lights, forbidden signals and the shadow of Verentian influence. Ancient technologies return in distorted form, and the old question deepens: did the Patronese ever truly master the powers they inherited, or did they only delay the moment when those powers would demand payment? Olivier’s age gives Pagalan its tragic grandeur. It is an era of warnings ignored, courage born from loneliness, and a civilisation too proud to hear the cracking of its own foundations.
Then comes the great wound. The Verentian conflict scars Pagalan so deeply that the surface itself becomes a memory of fire, poison and winter. Skies burn, oceans suffer, cities fall, and the Patronese retreat fully beneath the world they once hoped to steward. For two thousand years, the sky belongs only to projection, archive and myth. Tramstell, Sostrem, Captcore and the other hidden cities endure as miracles of survival, sustained by resonance systems, disciplined governance and the silent labour of generations who have never known open wind. Above them, Pagalan freezes, darkens, then slowly heals.
This later age is the age of Mandrake Martelismore, the king beneath the world. Pagalan’s surface has begun to breathe again. Rivers cut through valleys once sealed beneath ice. Ancient coastlines reappear. Radiation fades. The atmosphere steadies. Yet the Patronese remain below, protected and imprisoned by the same caution that saved them. Around Denesthear, the chronometric automatons stand as black sentinels in the sea, twisting currents, confusing navigators and gathering storms against approaching ships. To outsiders, Denesthear is curse, legend or death. To the Patronese, it is homeland, prison and responsibility all at once.
Mandrake’s Pagalan is therefore a world on the threshold of re-emergence. It is not simply recovering from war; it is being asked whether survival without renewal is enough. Beneath Tramstell’s vaulted chambers, politics harden around fear of change. Councillors defend the underground order because it is efficient, controllable and familiar. Yet above them, the world waits with a patience more powerful than command. Pagalan is no longer merely the place that sheltered the Patronese. It has become the judge of what they have become.
By Morganuke’s time, much of that ancient grandeur has fallen into myth. The surface world has moved on in uneven ways. Islands such as Banton live by tide, field, blacksmith, alehouse and fishing sail. Mainland kingdoms and warlike peoples struggle for territory and survival. The Cordinens, Epleons, merchants, sailors, smugglers and soldiers of Morganuke’s age inhabit a harsher, more recognisably mortal Pagalan, where most people know nothing of the buried cities beneath their feet or the vast machinery of history moving around them. To them, Denesthear is rumour, the Nebulee a terror, the Patronese a mystery half-feared and half-forgotten.
And into this age comes Morganuke Beldere, silver-haired, red-eyed, raised far from the truth of his own blood. Through him, Pagalan’s hidden past begins to rise again. The old symbols return: the lidless eye, the green stone, the sword, the gates, the dream of Denesthear. What began with Jentry Camberlain stepping onto a frozen shore becomes, across thousands of years, the burden of a young man standing between worlds. Morganuke’s Pagalan is therefore not a simpler age after the fall of ancient powers. It is the age in which those powers resurface through flesh, choice, friendship and sacrifice.
Across all these eras, Pagalan remains a world where landscapes remember. Its seas hide Obelisks. Its mountains conceal gates. Its tunnels run beneath islands and continents like thoughts the world has not finished thinking. Its cities are not merely places of habitation but vessels of ideology, fear and hope. Its people, Patronese and non-Patronese alike, live in the long shadow of decisions made before they were born.
Pagalan’s great beauty lies in this layered tension. It is a world of farmsteads and star-wounds, of sailing ships and resonance engines, of kings beneath mountains and orphans beneath open skies. It is ancient without being dead, wounded without being defeated, and full of truths that refuse to remain buried. From the Origins age to Morganuke’s time, Pagalan is the story of a world slowly remembering itself, and of those who must decide whether memory is a burden to flee from or a light by which the future can finally be seen.
Recommended book reading order:
- For a chronological time order start with The Pagalan Chronicles Origins series, followed by The King Beneath the World and finally The Pagalan Chronicles series.
- For an immediate appreciation of the Pagalan ancient world legacy, then I would recommend starting with The King Beneath the World, followed by either one of the three book series.
The King Beneath the World
For two thousand years, the Patronese have lived beneath the surface of Pagalan. Hidden in the vast underground city of Tramstell, their civilisation has survived war, ruin and the long silence of a wounded world. Above them, the skies are clearing. Rivers run again. The surface is healing. For Mandrake Martelismore, young King of the Patronese, that fragile renewal brings a question no ruler before him has dared to answer. Should his people remain buried forever, or rise once more beneath the open sky?
But the world beneath the stone is not merely waiting. It is listening. Ancient gates begin to stir. Bloodlines awaken. The mysterious green gem, carried from the dying world of Yath Varnel, pulses once more with forgotten power. Within the guarded systems of Tramstell, something older than the Patronese themselves reaches through memory, records and names, seeking a future it was never meant to claim.
As Mandrake struggles against a divided Council, the ambitions of those who fear change, and the terrifying resurgence of an ancient incursion, his kingship becomes far more than a matter of rule. It becomes a battle for love, freedom and the right of one child to live beyond the reach of history.
Bound to the hidden origins of Morganuke Beldere, the emerald sword, the Wise One and the mysteries that shape The Pagalan Chronicles, The King Beneath the World is both an epic continuation of The Pagalan Chronicles Origins and a powerful entry point into the world of Pagalan.
A buried civilisation.
A king who dares to look upward.
A child hidden from destiny.
And a gate that remembers every name.
Far beneath the world, the past is awakening. And one king must decide what he is willing to lose so the future may survive.
The Pagalan Chronicles – Book 1: Search for Morganuke’s Roots
Morganuke Beldere has always felt different.
When the mysterious Patronese reveal that he is not who he believed himself to be, the ground beneath his life fractures. A forgotten bloodline. A lost high house. A destiny tied to the ancient realm of Denesthear.
But destiny is not a gift. It is a burden.
Haunted by prophetic dreams and torn between loyalty to his friends, his love for Melinor, and the rising war consuming Pagalan, Morganuke must decide whether to chase the truth of his origins or cling to the life he knows. As whispers of the Nebulee and a lost civilization grow louder, so too does the danger surrounding him.
Ancient maps. Hidden caves. A heritage erased from history.
To stop the war, Morganuke must first discover who he truly is.
And some truths were never meant to be found.
Yet The Pagalan Chronicles is not just another science fiction fantasy novel. It is a richly imagined adventure filled with engaging, captivating characters whose friendships, loyalties, conflicts, and personal struggles draw you deeper into the world of Pagalan. From Morganuke’s search for identity to the companions who stand beside him, these are characters you will want to follow long after the journey begins.
The Pagalan Chronicles – Book 2 Finding Denesthear
Denesthear is no longer a legend: It is a destination.
After uncovering the truth of his bloodline, Morganuke Beldere sets his course toward the lost homeland of the great House Martilismore. But knowing where Denesthear once stood is very different from reaching it. The seas are restless. The Nebulee looms. And war still tightens its grip across Pagalan.
Ancient maps point the way into waters no ship dares cross. The Patronese whisper of forgotten power stirring in the deep. Meanwhile, Morganuke’s dreams grow stronger, more urgent, pulling him toward something vast, ancient, and unfinished.
Yet this is not only a journey across dangerous seas and forgotten lands. It is also a journey through the hearts of those who travel beside him.
Melinor’s loyalty is tested by fear, love, and the uncertainty of Morganuke’s destiny. Calarel’s fiery spirit brings conflict, courage, and unexpected emotional depth. Chanterly remains a force of wisdom and strength, while Fraytar, Lengrond, and the wider circle of companions each carry their own burdens, doubts, and loyalties. Together, they make the search for Denesthear far more than a quest for a lost city. It becomes a story of friendship, sacrifice, trust, rivalry, love, and the fragile bonds that hold people together when the world begins to fracture.
As friendships strain and loyalties are tested, Morganuke must face not only the dangers ahead, but the question of who he is becoming. Is he merely a young man searching for his origins, or is he the heir to something far greater, and far more dangerous, than he ever imagined?
Because Denesthear is not just a city lost to time.
It is the key to the balance of an entire world.
The Pagalan Chronicles – Book 3
The Final Quest
The journey has led here.
Denesthear has been found. The truth of Morganuke Beldere’s lineage is no longer in doubt. But knowledge does not end a war. It sharpens it.
As old powers rise and long-buried forces awaken beneath the seas of Pagalan, Morganuke stands at the edge of a choice that will define far more than his name. The Nebulee is no longer a mystery. It is a threshold. And crossing it demands courage, sacrifice, and a willingness to face truths that even the Patronese have tried to bury.
But Morganuke does not stand alone.
Melinor remains bound to him by love, loyalty, and the quiet strength that has carried them through danger before. Calarel’s fierce spirit, pride, and vulnerability bring both tension and fire to the journey, while Chanterly’s wisdom and resolve hold the group together when fear and uncertainty threaten to pull them apart. Fraytar, Lengrond, and the friends who have followed Morganuke across seas, cities, caves, and battlefields each bring their own courage, doubts, humour, and pain to the final stage of the quest.
Their relationships are tested as never before. Friendships strain under the weight of secrets. Loyalties are challenged by fear, ambition, and competing visions of Pagalan’s future. Love becomes both a comfort and a burden. Trust becomes as vital as any weapon.
The Patronese themselves are divided between those who cling to the past and those who fear what Morganuke represents. Meanwhile, the Cordinens push harder, sensing that something world-shifting is unfolding.
Prophetic dreams intensify. Ancient mechanisms stir. Hidden histories return to the surface. The balance of an entire civilisation trembles.
This is no longer a search for roots.
It is the final reckoning between destiny and free will, between the legacy Morganuke has inherited and the man he must choose to become.
And if he is to carry the weight of a fractured world, he must first decide what, and who, he is willing to lose.
The Pagalan Chronicles Origins – Volume 1
The Arrival
Three thousand years before the time of Morganuke (The Pagalan Chronicles Series 1), when a dying world exhales its final breath, only the bold dare to inhale the unknown.
As Yath Varnel collapses beneath poisoned skies and fading suns, Jentry Camberlain leads the Patronese through a wound in the stars, a naturally formed wormhole known as Nadhrak Sol. Guided by ancient obelisks and a mysterious green gem left behind by an even older civilization, thousands cross the void in search of survival. They emerge not into paradise, but into the crushing depths of an alien ocean on a frozen world called Pagalan
On the glacial shores of Denesthear, the Patronese begin again.
Beneath the ice, they carve their first refuge, building the subterranean stronghold of First Delve. Geothermal vents warm their halls. Children laugh again. Hope cautiously returns. But Pagalan is not the empty sanctuary they believed it to be. Strange harmonic signals pulse beneath the crust. Ancient structures lie hidden under snow and stone. And far to the north, something older than their exile waits in silence.
Driven by both duty and intuition, Jentry journeys beyond the frozen wastes, crossing the great land bridge into unknown territory. What he discovers is not merely a relic, but a living remnant of a civilization whose technology dwarfs even the Patronese’s greatest achievements: a vast underground chamber, a dormant portal crowned with the same all-seeing eye that marks the obelisks that carried them here.
The twins, Delthorp and Samir, along with their friend Nigel, grow into their own gifts and the birth of a new high order. Nigel and Samir are then destined to become the start of a long bloodline that leads to Morganuke.
The Arrival is not just the story of survival. It is the story of inheritance.
As the Patronese plant their roots on Pagalan, they begin to realise that they are not pioneers in an untouched land, but latecomers to a world shaped by forgotten hands. The question is no longer whether they can survive.
It is whether they have arrived at the beginning of a new age… or the reawakening of something far older than themselves.
The Pagalan Chronicles Origins – Volume 2
Establishment
Five hundred years after the Patronese first arrived on Pagalan, the desperate struggle for survival has given way to an age of apparent prosperity. Tramstell has become a magnificent city of gleaming towers, resonance-lit avenues and vast archives in which the memories of generations are preserved within stone. Across Denesthear, new settlements flourish, ancient technologies sustain an ordered society, and the descendants of the first exiles look upon their achievements with pride.
Yet beneath that splendour, the foundations are beginning to shift.
Jason Telismore is a solitary young archivist descended from two of the most influential bloodlines in Patronese history. More comfortable among memory stones and forgotten records than among the living, he has spent much of his life listening to voices from the past. When the ancient resonance concealed within Tramstell’s deepest archives begins to awaken, those voices start listening to him in return.
Sealed consoles recognise his blood. Forbidden records reveal that earlier expeditions through the gates did not simply vanish. Some travellers returned changed, their memories fractured and their passage through time no longer certain. As forgotten voices whisper Jason’s name and tell him that blood remembers, he begins to understand that his ancestry is not merely a legacy of honour. It is a key to powers that the ruling Council has concealed for centuries.
Jason finds an unexpected ally in Councillor Veyra Solenne, a courageous and independent member of the High Order who has grown increasingly troubled by the secrets upon which Patronese authority rests. Where others see the gates as instruments to be controlled, Veyra recognises the danger of awakening forces that no one truly understands. Her willingness to listen draws her and Jason into a clandestine alliance, one that carries them into sealed archives, forbidden investigations and direct opposition to some of the most powerful figures in Tramstell.
Among those figures is Jason’s father, Maron Telismore. A formidable councillor and unwavering defender of the High Order, Maron believes that only strict authority can preserve the civilisation his ancestors helped to build. To him, the gates are not mysteries to be feared but vital assets that must remain under the command of those whose blood carries the strongest resonance. His determination to defend Tramstell gradually places him against his own son, forcing Jason to choose between family loyalty and a truth that could transform their entire society.
Far beyond Denesthear’s borders, Commander Gideon Frampton leads a secret expedition into the distant highlands of the mainland. His party travels beneath animal-skin cloaks and relies upon horses and carts to conceal the advanced civilisation from which they came. Their mission is to locate another ancient gate without alarming the native peoples who inhabit the surrounding lands.
Gideon is a disciplined and experienced leader, wary of repeating the mistakes that once brought the Patronese close to war with Pagalan’s tribes. When his expedition discovers the hidden gate beneath a mountain ridge, he senses that it is not dormant. It is watching, waiting and somehow connected to Jason across the great distance separating them.
The expedition soon becomes trapped between several gathering dangers. Highland tribes circle the gate, suspicious of those who have entered their territory. Forces from Tramstell move to seize control of the discovery. Within the cave itself, the resonance grows stronger, carrying voices and warnings through stone as though distance has ceased to matter.
Into this conflict comes Aric Dane, the daring and unpredictable captain of the Raven’s Wing. Smuggler, pilot and reluctant ally, Aric walks beyond the boundaries of Council authority and owes little loyalty to the rigid hierarchies of Tramstell. Accompanied by the resourceful members of his crew, he carries messages between Jason, Veyra and Gideon while navigating the narrowing space between rebellion and survival. His arrival transforms a hidden expedition into a struggle over who will control the gate and what truths will be allowed to return through it.
Behind them all moves Hector, Maron Telismore’s relentless enforcer, charged with restoring the Council’s authority and bringing Gideon and Veyra back in chains. As military forces close upon the highlands, personal loyalties fracture. Fathers turn against sons, councillors challenge the order they once served, and soldiers begin to question whether obedience can still be called honour when it protects a lie.
Meanwhile, the long-standing division between the High and Low Orders grows increasingly dangerous. The privileged High Order claims the right to govern through bloodline and resonance, while the Low Order population, whose labour sustains Tramstell, begins to resist a system that denies them influence over their own future. Councillors such as the calculating Seliora Veynn and the ambitious Daelith Corranor see the awakening gates as a means of strengthening High Order control, while Orric Malvek and others recognise that continued oppression may tear Denesthear apart from within.
Jason is drawn ever deeper into a conflict involving forbidden history, political deception, tribal mistrust and an ancient legacy that refuses to remain silent. The more he uncovers, the more dangerous the truth becomes. The gates are not merely passages between distant places. They carry echoes across bloodlines, alter those who cross their thresholds and disturb the boundaries of time itself.
To save Gideon’s expedition and prevent the Council from claiming a power it cannot safely command, Jason must step beyond the shelter of the archives and become an active part of the history he once studied from afar. Alongside Veyra, Gideon and the crew of the Raven’s Wing, he must decide whether exposing the past will free the Patronese from centuries of secrecy or destroy the civilisation they have spent five hundred years building.
The Pagalan Chronicles Origins Volume 2: Establishment is an epic tale of discovery, inheritance, courage and rebellion, set during the age when the Patronese believed their place on Pagalan was finally secure. It is a story of estranged families, unlikely alliances and explorers standing before gateways that should never have awakened.
In a world where advanced technology has become inseparable from legend, the stones remember those who came before, bloodlines carry voices across the centuries, and every hidden gateway demands a terrible price from those who dare to open it.
The Pagalan Chronicles Origins – Volume 3
The Fall
Nine hundred years after the Patronese first settled on Pagalan, their magnificent civilisation stands at the height of its power. Tramstell’s silver towers gleam above Denesthear, its ancient technologies continue to sustain millions, and the Council maintains the appearance of perfect order. Yet beneath that splendour, the resonance network is failing, the divide between the High and Low Orders is widening, and strange signals are moving south from the forgotten lands of Verenteer.
At the centre of The Fall is Olivier Martelismore, the last bearer of the Telismore-Camberlain bloodline and reluctant custodian of the mysterious green gem. Quiet, isolated and frequently dismissed by the Council, Olivier alone recognises that the disturbances beneath Tramstell and the lights appearing in the northern sky are connected to something far older than Denesthear itself.
Part One: The Fracture in Time. When the Council refuses to act, Olivier leaves Tramstell in search of the truth. Assisted by her loyal friend Jasmine Crelthorp and accompanied by the brilliant engineer Merren Voltren, she ventures beyond the safety of Denesthear aboard the mighty Trine Veil.
Their journey leads them towards an ancient source of resonance buried beneath the frozen north, where they discover that the threat facing Pagalan extends beyond war or political rebellion. Time itself has been fractured. Past, present and countless possible futures have become trapped within a corrupted lattice, allowing an alien influence to reach across realities.
Olivier is forced to make an extraordinary choice. To save the world she knows, she must risk erasing it, trusting that somewhere within the resonance lies an unbroken path through time.
Part Two: The Rewritten Dawn. Olivier awakens in a world that is familiar, yet subtly changed. Events she remembers have never occurred, people have followed different paths, and the catastrophe she witnessed exists only as fragments of dreams and unexplained memories.
Guided by the lingering instincts of the life she sacrificed, Olivier must confront the danger once again before history repeats itself. Merren remains drawn to her, even though their shared past has been rewritten, while Jasmine, Daniel and their son Logan become part of the human heart behind Olivier’s struggle. Their friendship, loyalty and courage help her recognise that the future cannot be preserved by power alone.
In this reshaped timeline, Olivier is given something she never expected: another opportunity to choose. Her actions begin healing the division between the High and Low Orders, transforming both the government of Denesthear and her own understanding of inheritance. What began as a burden of blood becomes a freely chosen legacy of love, renewal and hope.
Part Three: The Inevitable Fall. Eighty years later, the world Olivier helped create has passed into the hands of her descendants.
Tharen Sol Martelismore grows up beneath the weight of a celebrated bloodline, raised by his formidable mother, Siren Valien Martelismore, to regard duty as more important than affection. While studying Olivier’s surviving records, Tharen discovers that the warnings of the past were never truly silenced.
Beyond Denesthear, the Verentians have united under Commander Rendhal and the enigmatic Priestess Kehrana. They have uncovered Benefactor technology, awakened the projected gate and learned to shape powers once thought to belong only to the Patronese. As both civilisations prepare for confrontation, Tharen struggles to prevent fear, secrecy and inherited hatred from becoming weapons of destruction.
Yet history has momentum. Even a rewritten timeline cannot easily escape the choices that created it.
Across its three sweeping parts, The Pagalan Chronicles Origins Volume 3: The Fall follows Olivier, Merren, Jasmine, Daniel, Logan, Tharen, Siren and the leaders of Verenteer as they shape, erase and rebuild the course of history. Their decisions pass from one generation to the next, altering friendships, bloodlines and entire realities before leading Pagalan towards the devastating conflict that will drive the Patronese beneath the surface for two thousand years.
The Fall is an epic story of fractured time, ancient technology, political division and the dangerous illusion that history can be controlled. Above all, it is a story of memory: what a civilisation chooses to preserve, what it allows itself to forget, and the terrible price paid when the past returns to finish what was left undone.
Thrillers
The Ones We Buried
The Ones We Buried is a high-stakes spy thriller about memory, manipulation, and the dangerous cost of knowing too much.
When Elara Veylan and Rhys uncover fragments of a covert intelligence program known only as Meridian, they assume they are chasing a conspiracy. What they slowly realise is far more unsettling. They are not investigating the system. They are already inside it.
Meridian does not simply monitor threats. It predicts them. Shapes them. Occasionally removes them.
As political tensions rise and whispers of an imminent presidential assassination circulate through Washington, Elara and Rhys find themselves caught between rival power blocs, shadow operatives like Arlington, and the chilling precision of an algorithm that seems to understand their next move before they do. Every step they take to expose the truth tightens the net around them. Every act of resistance teaches the machine how to adapt.
Old allies vanish. Confessions surface. Mordane, once untouchable, falls into custody. Yet the deeper Elara digs, the more she suspects that the real architects of the chaos have already retreated into darker corners of influence, waiting for the next moment to strike.
At its heart, this is a story about choice in a world designed to erase it. About two people who refuse to become predictable, even when prediction is the most powerful weapon in the room.
Because sometimes survival is not about winning.
It is about staying just unpredictable enough to remain human.