What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cornerstones Trilogy #1
Zellohar
From Book 1: Zellohar Keep is lost…
Once the ancestral home of a glorious dwarven kingdom—a masterpiece of architecture, secure, secretive, and impregnable—Zellohar is now prison to a dark evil. The dwarves used the might of the cornerstones, conduits to the power of the elemental spheres, to forever seal the keep.
But the minions of the Dark Gods are not so easily imprisoned.
The squires of the Nekdukarr Lord Iveron Darkmist, a paladin of the death god, Mortas, have recovered the cornerstones. The enchantment has been broken. The doors that sealed Zellohar have been opened.
The chaos of the Nine Hells has broken loose.
Iveron Darkmist has resumed his campaign to devastate the surface world in a storm of destruction and death. With Zellohar as his fortress and the cornerstones to fuel his magic, he is invincible.
All that stands in his way are a horse farmer’s daughter, a superstitious tribesman, a defrocked priest, a demented dwarf and an elf curse with lycanthropy. The unwitting companions stumble into the Nekdukarr’s plot, and are thrown into a conflict that threatens to obliterate all they know and love.
Pursued to the corners of the realms, the companions flee the wrath of Iveron Darkmist. But even death is no refuge from the power of the Dark Gods.
Once the ancestral home of a glorious dwarven kingdom—a masterpiece of architecture, secure, secretive, and impregnable—Zellohar is now prison to a dark evil. The dwarves used the might of the cornerstones, conduits to the power of the elemental spheres, to forever seal the keep.
But the minions of the Dark Gods are not so easily imprisoned.
The squires of the Nekdukarr Lord Iveron Darkmist, a paladin of the death god, Mortas, have recovered the cornerstones. The enchantment has been broken. The doors that sealed Zellohar have been opened.
The chaos of the Nine Hells has broken loose.
Iveron Darkmist has resumed his campaign to devastate the surface world in a storm of destruction and death. With Zellohar as his fortress and the cornerstones to fuel his magic, he is invincible.
All that stands in his way are a horse farmer’s daughter, a superstitious tribesman, a defrocked priest, a demented dwarf and an elf curse with lycanthropy. The unwitting companions stumble into the Nekdukarr’s plot, and are thrown into a conflict that threatens to obliterate all they know and love.
Pursued to the corners of the realms, the companions flee the wrath of Iveron Darkmist. But even death is no refuge from the power of the Dark Gods.
- GenresFantasy
348 pages, Paperback
Published March 16, 2009
4 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Chris A. Jackson
89 books189 followersFrom the sea to the stars, Chris A. Jackson’s stories take you to the far reaches of the imagination. Raised on the back deck of a fishing boat and trained as a marine biologist, he became sidetracked by a career in biomedical research, but regained his heart and soul in 2009 when he and his wife Anne left the dock aboard the 45-foot sailboat Mr Mac to cruise the Caribbean and write fulltime.
With his nautical background, writing sea stories seemed inevitable for Chris. His acclaimed Scimitar Seas nautical fantasies won three consecutive Gold Medals in the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards. His Pathfinders Tales from Paizo Publishing combine high-seas combat and romance set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Not to be outdone, Privateer Press released Blood & Iron, a swashbuckling novella set in the Iron Kingdoms.
Chris’ repertoire also includes the award-winning and Kindle best-selling Weapon of Flesh Series, the contemporary urban fantasy Dragon Dreams, as well as additional fantasy novels, the humorous sci fi Cheese Runners trilogy of novellas, and numerous short stories.
To learn more, please visit jaxbooks.com.
With his nautical background, writing sea stories seemed inevitable for Chris. His acclaimed Scimitar Seas nautical fantasies won three consecutive Gold Medals in the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards. His Pathfinders Tales from Paizo Publishing combine high-seas combat and romance set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Not to be outdone, Privateer Press released Blood & Iron, a swashbuckling novella set in the Iron Kingdoms.
Chris’ repertoire also includes the award-winning and Kindle best-selling Weapon of Flesh Series, the contemporary urban fantasy Dragon Dreams, as well as additional fantasy novels, the humorous sci fi Cheese Runners trilogy of novellas, and numerous short stories.
To learn more, please visit jaxbooks.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2022
Easy, upbeat read. A couple typos and not the epic followup to “A Song of Ice and Fire” but I am excited to read the next one for sure. Love the story of how the series came about.
January 22, 2012
A fun read that mixed a good adventure story with a few spots of humor. I'll admit I found the style a bit simple at points. It seemed like a lot of things fell to neatly into place. Things seem to go so poorly for the villain at times you almost feel bad for him. Relationships seemed to develop rather quick to my mind. That is not to say that they were one dimensional. Each character was fleshed out and distinct. The story did not lack for action or adventure. There was never a moment where something was not happening to keep you interested.
Avari is the main character hands down. You watch her go from an innocent girl that has been isolated from the world to a seasoned warrior. For the most part, the author seemed to do a good job of showing her naivete and inexperienced. However, you feel by the end of the book that she has come to grips with many things and is a touch more world wise.
DoHeney the dwarf was easily my favorite character. He was humorous in a mad sort of way. I'm hoping that there is still more to be revealed about him though. I certainly liked the idea of a stealthy dwarf skilled in fineness stalking through an ancient ruin. I think it steps away from some of the traditional portrails.
Avari is the main character hands down. You watch her go from an innocent girl that has been isolated from the world to a seasoned warrior. For the most part, the author seemed to do a good job of showing her naivete and inexperienced. However, you feel by the end of the book that she has come to grips with many things and is a touch more world wise.
DoHeney the dwarf was easily my favorite character. He was humorous in a mad sort of way. I'm hoping that there is still more to be revealed about him though. I certainly liked the idea of a stealthy dwarf skilled in fineness stalking through an ancient ruin. I think it steps away from some of the traditional portrails.
August 14, 2014
I would like to thank Goodreads first-reads and the authors for my free copy of Zellohar in exchange for an honest review.
One sign of a really good story is if the characters continue to roam through your mind long after you have closed the book and are supposed to be asleep.I found this was the case with Zellohar . The characters were very engaging. Avari wasn't the usual reluctant hero/ine ("I have to save the world but I'm just a poor farm boy/girl" scenario) she goes in head-on all guns blazing.
I just loved all the characters,the little messengers,the orcs, the dumb ogres. I even felt a little bit of sympathy for Iveron.
Overall a great adventure laced with little bits of dwarvish humour.Really looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
One sign of a really good story is if the characters continue to roam through your mind long after you have closed the book and are supposed to be asleep.I found this was the case with Zellohar . The characters were very engaging. Avari wasn't the usual reluctant hero/ine ("I have to save the world but I'm just a poor farm boy/girl" scenario) she goes in head-on all guns blazing.
I just loved all the characters,the little messengers,the orcs, the dumb ogres. I even felt a little bit of sympathy for Iveron.
Overall a great adventure laced with little bits of dwarvish humour.Really looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews