Veil (Christopher Golden) Books In Order

Publication Order of The Veil Books

Veil series is a series of fantasy and horror fiction novels by the award-winning novelist the American Christopher Golden. Golden published the first novel in the Veil series “The Myth Hunters” in 2006. The novel that made the lead Oliver Bascombe a household character went on to attain much critical acclaim and fan popularity. After the publication of the first novel in the series, Christopher Golden went on to publish two more titles in the series over the following two years that were even more popular than the first. Similar to the Landover series of novels by Terry Brooks the novels introduce an unfulfilled lawyer that lives in an alternate fantasy fiction world. The series of novels is set in the Veil, an alternate reality, the mythic realm of monsters and heroes, where even the most ordinarily looking of people have legends. Through the lead character, Golden takes his readers through his alternate reality of The Veil. In The Veil, lost civilizations such as the Incas, Aztecs, Atlanteans slip through reality and fantasy that has been lost through the ages intertwined between reality and myth. The magic of The Veil series of novels is that Golden returns to the simplest of formulas in telling his story. The author does not explain everything allowing the reader to draw his or her own conclusions about the characters and the story unhindered by boring entails of the world that he creates.

The lead character in the series is Oliver Bascombe, an unfulfilled lawyer with a severe lack of passion and magic in his life who is drawn into another world. When we are first introduced to the character, he is a rich lawyer who is just about to get married to his high school sweetheart. Nonetheless, he has never felt more trapped than he felt and he is glad to encounter Jack Frost who convinces him to run away from the Falconer, in pursuit of more interesting pursuits in lands beyond the Veil. Despite his uninteresting life, Bascombe has always been interested in something beyond the ordinary. The Veil offers just what he has been looking for in the form of ancient human cultures, lost humans, creatures of myth in otherworldly settings. Over the course of the series, he moves from adventurer, to hunted, to hero as his new world merges with the old. Moving between the two worlds, Oliver meets and interacts with legendary companions with the most important being Collete, a shape shifting woman with paranormal powers. Getting themselves embroiled in a war between the two worlds of Borderkind and Atlantic, the characters have to fight winged killers and albino giants and most terrifying of all fight against a death sentence. In his new world and new circumstances, Oliver becomes resigned and accustomed to his new surrounding and increasingly adopts a new character. Through the challenges set before him, he embraces a new warrior persona and learns that the role is more of a fit for him, than the lawyer one he had worn all his life. Nonetheless, he remains the honorable and empathetic character first introduced in the first novel throughout the novels in the series.

The Veil series of novels makes good use of legends and myths from around the world going beyond the typical litany of Western heroes, Norse and Greek gods. Some of the intriguing new characters that have been imbued with some of the powers in mythology include the winter man Jack Frost, a Japanese demon/trickster, a Chinese dragon, and a Native America trickster. Christopher Golden makes use of horror and tension in between the horror of the Sandman and Oliver often running for his life or facing up to a death sentence. The first novel is more of a long setup giving a solid foundation on the nature of the other side of the Veil through the story of the lead character Oliver who experiences it firsthand alongside the reader. The second novel in the series is more purposeful and a little darker than the first. It provides more character development as the struggle between the Sandman and Oliver heats up to offer more answers to the questions thrown up in the first novel. The last novel in the series is the best in the series as it concludes in an epic climactic battle between the Borderkind and the Atlanteans. With non-stop action, it portrays the tender and small moments that show Bascombe’s love for one woman and magic and his sense of justice that fuels his actions.

“The Myth Hunters”, the first novel in the series is the enthralling title that introduces Oliver Bascombe a man thrust into The Veil, an alternate reality where every fairy tale and captivating myth is true, every fear is real, and the vanished are still in existence. Caving in to his father’s demands, Bascombe joined the family law firm giving up his dream of becoming an actor. He is set to get married to his childhood sweetheart but on the eve of his wedding, an icy legend comes in a blizzard to question everything he has ever believed in. The winter man Jack Frost is running from a murderous creature that is not held back by any walls. Jack lives in an alternate reality world and now needs Oliver’s help in saving him and his world from being displaced by Oliver’s. To be of any help to Frost, the attorney at law needs to transform himself from lawyer to adventurer, hero, and then hunted. He is now on an interesting journey that sees him move travel between two realities, where he finds that he is freer than he has ever been despite all the danger and challenges his new realities present.

“The Borderkind”, the second novel in the series is an excellent horror narrative telling the story of the bloodthirsty, angelic, wondrous, and frightful creatures that once lived among us. The legends are now living in an alternate reality where they are fighting for their own survival against hunters more powerful than any they have ever faced. Enter the New England lawyer Oliver Bascombe, a man that once had the dream of becoming a lawyer. Now in a new world, he is in desperate straits as he needs to rescue a sister taken hostage, and fight a longing for his fiancé. Neither warrior nor hero, Oliver Bascombe has two things going for him – a shape-shifting companion that can either be a man made of pure ice or a fox that defeats winged killers and albino giants, and his magical sword. In the Lost Worlds and the alternate realities beyond it, Oliver is coming to the realization that humankind’s myths are hanging by a thread, the dire consequences of losing them, and why he is best suited to prevent their extinction.