Search Worlds Without End

What do you do when you meet a tohunga makutu? You run. When reality dissolves and myths and legends come alive? You run faster. And when the dead come to life and blood debts have to be paid, will you have the courage to do what must be done? Matiu Douglas has a bone tiki he stole from a tangi. His father's important new client wants it. Badly. And he has some very nasty friends. When Mat is forced to flee for his life, an unexpected meeting with a girl called Pania sets his world spinning. Suddenly he's running through the bush with a girl-clown, a dog who is way too human, and a long-dead warrior. Fearful creatures from legend are rising up around him, and Mat faces a terrifying ordeal. And there is nowhere left to hide... not even in another world. A breathtaking adventure set in two parallel New Zealands, from exciting new author David Hair.

Maori and Celtic mythology combine to create Maori Gothic - fast, powerful, violent and compelling David Hair's stunning first book established a new genre we have chosen to call Maori Gothic - weaving together elements of fantasy, horror and Maori and Celtic mythology for young readers who enjoy the imaginative leaps and thrills of speculative fiction. the mix works brilliantly; The Bone Tiki not only appealed to younger readers, but was enjoyed by an adult audience as well. The Taniwha's Tear continues the story, which will be completed in a third novel - The Lost Tohunga.

When Puarata, a tohunga makutu or black magician, seeks to capture and manipulate the soul of Wiri, a young warrior, he fails to account for a threat that will come many years later, when a boy is born who combines the strengths of two ancient mythologies - Maori and Celtic. Matiu Douglas faces and defeats him in the first novel, but the forces unleashed by Puarata survive his destruction and once again Mat and Wiri must battle them across time and between the parallel worlds of modern New Zealand and timeless Aotearoa. Compelling, action-packed fantasy horror with a creepily familiar local setting that will challenge and captivate.

The third in an enthralling award-winning Maori Gothic trilogy set in the parallel worlds of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

It is a year since Matiu Douglas and his friends slew Puarata, the tohunga makutu, and nine months since they rescued the taniwha in Lake Waikaremoana. Life has settled into a normal routine, although Mat is training every school holidays in taupo, with Aethlyn Jones, refining his magical and martial skills. He is also in mental contact with Ngatoro-i-rangi. the legendary tohunga is imprisoned somewhere in Aotearoa, the Ghost World, where war continues among the warlocks who served Puarata. It has become a covert war, of bitter intrigue and chilling murders, as they seek the elusive power Puarata used to gain pre-eminence - te Iho - the Heart. the first of the warlocks to find te Iho will assume Puarata's bloody korowai and dominate Aotearoa.

They are closing in. Mat's next visit to taupo will see him drawn once more into the fray. When Jones is attacked and a fellow protege kidnapped, Mat finds himself once more on the tail of the warlocks, on a path leading to te Iho. Handguns and flintlocks, technology and magic, modern teens and mythological beings, all collide in this thrilling young adult fantasy novel from the writer who defines the new genre of Maori Gothic.

In this fourth book in the Aotearoa series, the magical world of Aotearoa demands justice. Or utu - revenge. With Donna Kyle and Asher Grieve on the run, the forces gather once more to fight for the ultimate power over Aotearoa and New Zealand. Matiu Douglas's father, tama, is a defence lawyer, a job that has cost him the love of his wife. Mat is used to his father's job creating stress, but when tama takes on a high-profile case in magical Aotearoa - the defence of Donna Kyle and her father, Asher Grieve - family tensions run high. then Asher and Donna escape, and Mat and his friends find themselves drawn into a man-hunt, the consequences of which are deadly. In lawless Russell, the 'Hell-hole of the Pacific', strange alliances will be forged, deadly rivalries emerge, and death will stalk the Ghost Worlds.

In the fifth of this thrilling Aotearoa series, Matiu Douglas must travel back to the past once more to help save the future. they say the past is another country. Some people can go there. It hasn't been an easy time for Matiu Douglas, magical adept. One of his friends is now a ghost, his enemies have stolen the treaty of Waitangi, he can't date the girl he really likes and he keeps getting unwanted marriage proposals from a dangerous, centuries-old tohunga's daughter. But when his best friend, Riki, is snatched into the ghost-world of Aotearoa during a school trip, Mat has to put all his other worries aside and act fast. For Riki vanished at Parihaka, scene of one of the darkest acts from New Zealand's colonial past, and in Aotearoa such places are deadly dangerous.

For Matiu Douglas, apprentice tohunga, the ultimate test of his skill, courage and magical prowess awaits. Hine-nui-te-po, Goddess of Death, is calling and from all across Aotearoa, those who dream of power and immortality are gathering for the struggle. Mat and his friends must face old enemies and new as they seek to prevent the destruction of a city and the inexorable rise of evil. To succeed will bring immortality, power and the love of the goddess. To fail is to die, and doom the land. Return to Aotearoa, where past, present, myth and magic dwell together in one timeless, unforgettable place.

The Moontide is coming, and the world stands on the brink of war . . . Every twelve years the tides sink and the Leviathan Bridge rises above the waves, linking the Eastern and Western continents . . . and allowing the Rondian Emperor, overlord of the west, to march his crusading armies across Antiopia. But this time the East is ready. As two civilisations clash, three ordinary people – a failed mage, a jaded mercenary and a lowly market girl – are about to discover that their actions may determine the fate of nations.

The Moontide has come, and a scarlet tide of Rondian legions is flooding into the East, slaughtering and pillaging in the name of Emperor Constant. But the Scytale of Corineus, the source of ultimate magical power, has slipped through the emperor's fingers. His ruthless Inquisitors are desperately seeking the artefact, before it falls into the hands of those who would bring down the Empire. But there are some who have pledged to end the cycle of war and restore peace to Urte. They are the unlikeliest of heroes: a failed mage, a gypsy and a lowly market-girl. As East and West clash more violently than ever before, Urte will discover that love, loyalty and truth can be forged into weapons as deadly as swords and magic.

Shaliyah, birthplace of the Prophet, now has a new name: Mother of Victories. In the wake of the devastating battle before her walls, everything has changed: the East is rising, bringing equal measures of hope and despair to the magical world of Urte.

For Elena Anborn and Kazim Makani, Salim's victory is a call to arms against the renegade spymaster Gurvon Gyle. For Queen Cera Nesti of Javon, it is a beacon as she seeks new ways to overthrow her husband, the usurper king, and reclaim Javon for her brother. For Ramon Sensini, trapped behind enemy lines with the shattered remnants of the Southern Army, it is more evidence of a world gone mad.

And while the armies of east and west clash in ever-more-bloody conflict, emperors, Inquisitors, Souldrinkers and assassins all have their attention turned elsewhere as they hunt the Scytale of Corineus. This artefect is the key to ultimate power, and it's in the hands of the most unlikely of guardians: failed mage Alaron Mercer and market-girl Ramita Ankesharan, pregnant widow of the world's greatest mage. What they choose to do with the Scytale could change the world forever.

LOVE. BETRAY. FIGHT. ASCEND.

The last few months of the moontide - when the bridge connecting East and West rises above the sea - has come, and in the West Emperor Constant prepares the final phase of his plan to conquer the East. For failed mage Alaron and his companion Ramita - widow to the mage who built the Leviathan Bridge - the unthinkable has happened. They have lost the Scytale of Corineus, the key to the Rite of Ascendancy, as well as one of Ramita's infant sons, to the hands of their deadliest enemies. In Javon, Cera Nesti, the imprisoned queen, has been freed, and plots to take on the overwhelming might of the Rondian Empire.

But standing between her and her goal is a band of deadly mercenaries playing a dangerous game of their own. And in the East, Seth Korion's Lost Legions must navigate treacherous roads to gain safety, bearing secrets that could bring down the Emperor. The time has come for the Rite of Ascendancy to be performed. New powers must rise to save or damn Urte, and on the mighty Leviathan Bridge itself, all will be decided.

The Falcons are knights of the Vestal Order, pledged to use their powers to protect the Empire of Talmont from the cruel Vyr and the carnage they have unleashed upon the world.

When the Falcons take a Vyr alive, they go against the protocols of the Vestal Order and interrogate him. They are horrified to learn, if the Vyr speaks truly, that the Empire's worst enemy may not be the Vyr... but the Vestal Order itself.

Led by the charismatic Romara Challys, the Falcons go rogue, their quest for the truth taking them through burning forests, lost ruins and the uncanny traces of a dying race, desperate to find answers... before it's too late.

But the Vestal Order has no plans to let Challys and her knights succeed in their mission. With the greatest knight in history and an army of fanatics at their heels, the Falcons must evade capture and discover the truth as soon as possible. Because time is running out... for everyone.

Mandore, Rajasthan, 769 AD: Ravindra-Raj, the evil sorcerer-king, devises a deadly secret ritual, where he and his seven queens will burn on his pyre, and he will rise again with the powers of Ravana, demon-king of the epic Ramayana. But things go wrong when one queen, the beautiful, spirited Darya, escapes with the help of Aram Dhoop, the court poet. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 2010: At the site of ancient Mandore, teenagers Vikram, Amanjit, Deepika and Rasita meet and realise that the deathless king and his ghostly brides are hunting them down. As vicious forces from the past come alive, they need to unlock truths that have been hidden for centuries, and fight an ancient battle ...one more time.

Mumbai, October 2010: Bollywood actress Sunita Ashoka will marry the man who wins her hand in Swayamvara Live, a reality show on television. Vikram Khandavani decides to participate, for he needs to draw out his nemesis, Ravindra. It's a deadly gamble, one that could cost him everything and everyone he loves.

North India, 1175: King Prithviraj Chauhan is about to storm the swayamvara of the beautiful Sanyogita. But Ravindra is coming, riding at the side of a fierce invader. Only Vikram, in his life as Chand Bardai, stands between Ravindra and all the thrones of India.

In the second book of the engrossing The Return of Ravana series, the action oscillates from the floodlit studios of Mumbai to the glittering Rajput courts, while Vikram-Chand and his friends battle an age-old adversary whose power is growing like never before.

Bollywood actress Sunita Ashoka's reality show Swayamvara Live has ended in bloodshed and disaster. Vikram, Amanjit and Rasita are on the run, accused of the actress' murder. Exiled like the heroes of the Ramayana, they are seemingly beset by the same perils, especially when Vikram encounters an unlikely temptress. Then another tragedy, also foretold in the Ramayana, forces Vikram into the open. But there is hope: Amanjit's skills as a warrior are returning, Rasita is beginning to remember her own past lives, and Deepika is awakening to powers undreamt. But the Enemy, Ravindra, has also found allies-the nightmarish Rakshasa army. Memories and legends are coming alive all over India, from the bloodied sands of Ullal and the fortress of Jhansi to secret places in Mumbai, Pushkar and Varanasi. The fight to the finish has begun...

For four teenagers, the Ramayana is not just a tale. It is their fate!
In every life they have ever lived, Vikram, Amanjit, Rasita and Deepika have been persecuted and killed by Ravindra, who aspires to the throne of Ravana the Demon-King.

Now Rasita is a captive of Ravindra, and demonic beings thought to be mythical are rallying to him. His triumph seems inevitable. Vikram and Amanjit must rescue her. This time, failure is not an option. This time, if Ravindra wins, it will be forever.

But slowly, pieces are falling into place. Why are they reliving the Ramayana? Who was Ravana? Where is the real Lanka? Age-old mysteries are uncovered and forgotten powers regained, as the quest to end the tyranny of Ravindra moves towards a finale that is as startling as it is electrifying.

The Emperor is dead - long live the Empress!

Emperor Constant is dead and his rivals are scrabbling for power - but any misstep could plunge the land, already devastated by the shocking outcome of the Third Crusade, into a calamitous civil war.

The Imperial throne is not the only one in jeopardy. Two brothers, imprisoned veterans of the Crusades, finally return home to find their father's kingdom being plundered - but the price of regaining their birthright will have far-reaching implications for the entire empire.

In the East, Sultan Salim, peacemaker and visionary ruler, faces his greatest challenge as his people demand an invasion of the West in retribution for the Rondian Crusades.

And lurking in the darkness, orchestrating both the power struggles and the inevitable conflicts, is a shadowy group threatening to destroy civilisation itself.

Once more, Urte stands on the brink of cataclysm

The unthinkable has happened. With the Leviathan Bridge critically damaged and its towers unable to control the skies between Yuros and Antiopia, the East has invaded the West. A vast windfleet, constructed in secret, is winging across the Pontic Sea.

The holy Shihad has begun.

The Rondian Empire is divided and weak. Empress Lyra has barely survived a coup, triggered by a masked cabal whose members still remain concealed in the highest echelons of her court. Only Lyra's secret affinity to the heretical power of dwyma saved her - but that affinity is also her most dangerous weakness.

As empires clash, lives are torn apart and long-held beliefs are overthrown by circumstance and desperation. A young queen whose court is riddled with traitors turns to the wrong people in her hour of need. Two princes clash in the skies, the fate of two nations riding on their skill. Two brothers must reconcile disparate cultures to regain their kingdom. An idealistic rabble-rouser sees a chance to strike. And a small group of dwymancers grope blindly for knowledge in a race against time before the masked Cabal strike again.

Summer is gone, and the world is turning to ice.

The Rondian Empress Lyra has lost her husband, her army is defeated and the deadly Masked Cabal have seized the Holy City. Her allies have abandoned her and her empire is spiralling into chaos - and her only weapon is a forbidden magic she dare not use. She can't survive alone - but who can she still trust?

She's the Empress of the Fall... and her empire is falling apart.

Lyra, Queen of Rondelmar, has fought enemies without and within, dealt with grief and loss, embraced forbidden magic, found her father and borne a child - and still it isn't enough. Her enemies are on the march and the Rondian Empire is collapsing.

But a more dangerous adversary is out there... and he is winning.

Ervyn Naxius, amoral genius, has unleashed war on two continents and is now laughing as the world of Urte tears itself apart. Kings and priests dance to his tune and his daemonic followers are spreading through the lands, but still he isn't satisfied. His ultimate goal - absolute control of all life - is finally within his reach...

Are these the Last Days, when the daemons rise up to claim the world?

From snowbound Mollachia to the beleaguered walls of Norostein, from the poisonous court of the new sultan to the deadly intrigues of Pallas, the omens are clear. Only Lyra and a handful of other heretical dwymancers have grasped the true danger - and they won't give up until every last hope is buried...