Luke Scull Books In Order

Publication Order of Grim Company Books

Luke Scull is a thirty-year-old author of fantasy novels most popular for writing the “Grim Company” series of novels. He lives in Warminster a city that seems perfect for a fantasy author conjuring images of huge battlements endless roar of cannons, and the smell of gunpowder. However, it could not be a more peaceful place and Scull actually finds it dull. He had always been interested in narrative writing of one kind or another since he was never a very sociable child. Scull spent much of his childhood and teenage years with either a gamepad, mouse or book in his hand, which prepared him for a life as a fantasy author and game designer. Among the novels he read as a child include “A Song of Ice and Fire,” “Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms” series “Lord of the Rings” and the “Redwall” novels by Brian Jacques. She credits his mother for grounding him in fantasy as she would bring home tons of fantasy novels from the library every weekend in the 1980s. When he is not writing fantasy novels, you can find him playing fantasy games, reading fantasy novels or lifting weights at the gym.

Scull was inspired to write the Grim Company series out of boredom. He has been laid off from Ossian Studios after he had helped write the scripts for Neverwinter Nights and Witcher games and he did not know what to do. Moreover, his project work on “The Shadow Sun” had stalled and hence he had a lot of time on his hands and he thought he would try his hand at writing fiction. He had learned a lot about dialogue and character development and world-building from writing his award-winning “The Witcher” and the “Neverwinter Nights” modules. He joined a Harper Collins initiative named Authonomy, where aspiring authors could submit their manuscripts that would then be reviewed by other writers. He uploaded several chapters though he could not be bothered with the politicking and networking which usually got one manuscript voted to get in front of an editor. But lucky for him, Robert Dinsdale who frequently trawled the site stumbled on his manuscript which he loved so much that he signed him up with A.M. Heath. That was all the motivation he needed and he finished his debut novel within a year. Just like many fantasy authors of the current generation, he had been influenced by gaming and film though he also claims that he soaks up the best from all manner of media that he then puts on paper. Nonetheless, he touts Joe Abercrombie as his biggest influence that reinvigorated his interest in fantasy fiction.

Luke Scull’s “The Grim Company” is a series of novels that has been called a grimdark fantasy. It reintroduces high fantasy and a lot of tropes including the violent and dark, which are then seasoned with an almost tongue in cheek black sense of humor. It combines the best of the modern fantasy novel with the traditional heroic fantasy to make an irresistible gestalt that stands like an overbearing colossus as compared to its contemporaries. The universe in The Grim Company series is one in a state of decay and ruin in the mold of the traditional fantasy. The immortal tyrants have divvied up the land between them after the death of the gods. The laws of the universe had been violated by the murder of the gods and the universe is getting ruined as demons cross into the mortal realm and magic begins to disappear. The story opens to rebellion in Dorminia, where an alliance of antiheroes and misfits attempt to defeat the tyrannical Magelord Salazar, who rules the real with an iron fist. But then ghosts from the past make a comeback and threaten to take over the entire realm. Every chapter is narrated by one of the major protagonists in a fashion similar to “The First Law” or “A Game of Thrones.”

Scull’s first novel “The Grim Company” asserts that the difference between a killer and a hero is in the ability to justify what may be deemed dark deeds. Five centuries ago, the world had been decimated in the Godswar as a cabal of mages rose up in rebellion against the gods that had created them. They had emerged victorious but it was at a great cost since the resultant cataclysm ushered in the Age of Ruin. Five centuries later, the world has never recovered and is seemingly limping towards a terrible end. Dystopian city-states ruled over by Magelords are all over the new world. The mages are far too powerful, near-immortal and irretrievably corrupt even though they once sought to free the world from tyrannical rule. It is into this world that Davarus Cole, a young man obsessed with adventure and heroism steps in. He gets himself into an altercation with the law when he engaged in a reckless act. He is banished from the city and sent to the outside world where the world is still suffering from the ancient catastrophe. The corpses of the gods are still leaking uncontrolled and wild magic upon the land from deep underneath the bedrock.

The second novel of the Grim Company “Sword of the North” starts out from where the first left off. Brodar Kayne had used his skill and battle prowess to become Sword of the North. Allied with a band of ragtag misfits and Jerek the Wolf his most trusted companion, they had managed to survive the chaos of the change of guard from the tyranny of Salazar to the reign of the White Lady. However, the White Lady turns out to be not who they thought she was. Dissidents are disappearing or getting captured and it seems the administration is rotten. If nothing is done, the state of things in Dorminia is only going to worsen. The grim company is now broken as the characters scatter across the land going on personal journeys. In the mid of the dark tidings about the demon hordes and the Shaman, Jerek and Brodar are journeying back home after they learn some new information about the Brodar family. Injured and weakened by the ordeal in “The Grim Company,” Davarus Cole wakes up to find himself a resident of a forced labor camp. But he is no longer the proud man he was before. Meanwhile, Sasha is grieving as she believes she has lost Cole and in her grief succumbs to drug addiction.

Luke Scull’s “Dead Man’s Steel” opens to the Grim Company having to face a dangerous new enemy that threatens to destroy humanity. Former rebel Sasha has teamed up with Davarus Cole and they attempt to keep peace and order in the City of Towers, where warring mages are vying for control. When Davarus is sent to the South by the White Lady on a quest to build alliances with the fallen kingdoms, he realizes that the battle within may be his hardest battle. He now has a godly essence inside of him that he can use to fight the Fade, but with each death Cole feels that he may be losing himself. An alliance led by a Fade officer decides to elevate Eremul the Halfmage into a position of privilege in the realm. He is the first-hand witness to what awaits humanity but he is unable to do anything given that he only has his wits while the Fade is using highly advanced technology. In the deep-frozen north Broday Kayne the legendary warrior is fighting a losing battle though he does not have much time to save his people. An ancient evil that had been buried under the mountains is threatening to come free and if it gets out, it intends to drown the world in blood.