Available now · A new series by Nick Blade

The Path of Madness: Book One of the Crown of Ruin

He’s finally found people he wants to protect.
They’re the ones standing closest when he loses control.

Enter the Rift with Isaac in a dark LitRPG fantasy of brutal combat, dangerous progression, and found family.

Buy on Amazon Limited Edition Hardcover

Hardcover also available on Amazon · Limited edition through Lulu

Discover the story

Original artwork by Bastien Boulai

The Path of Madness limited edition: full-color illustrated dust jacket beside the navy linen hardcover with gold foil lettering

For the first 100 buyers

A new universe.
A special first edition.

To commemorate the first book in The Crown of Ruin, I’m offering The Path of Madness in a limited edition linen hardcover with gold foil lettering and a full-color dust jacket featuring Bastien Boulai’s cover art.

Linen hardcover
Gold foil lettering
Full-color dust jacket

Limited to the first 100 buyers. Available through Lulu.

Limited Edition Hardcover

Looking for the standard edition? Buy on Amazon

From Amazon readers

Don’t take my word for it.

The Rift and the Reckoning is a mind-expanding, jaw-dropping, “NO WAY!”-inducing thrill-ride.

T. Lavon LawrenceThe Rift and the Reckoning · Amazon review

From scenes of furious battle to stunning landscapes and vistas every page of this book is filled with descriptions that help to pull the reader deep into Jerrick and Theron’s world and keep you there.

VPThe Rift and the Reckoning · Amazon review

Blade has a great sense of prose. Descriptive without being overly wordy. Quite nice.

Martin Hernandez Jr.The Butcher’s Lament · Amazon review

The first book blew me away, and this one did too. The worldbuilding, the prose, the story itself. Amazing.

CJThe Butcher’s Lament · Amazon review

This book kept going and never stopped. He surprised me more than once and it continued until the very end.

DanThe Weight of Oblivion · Amazon review

A story of becoming the villain while trying desperately to be a hero.

Martin Hernandez Jr.Shadows of Fate · Amazon review

The last ~five chapters will be living rent-free in my head for quite some time!

CJShadows of Fate · Amazon review

Nick Blade does something rare and intentional: he turns back to the children and offers them something pure. Something brave. Something earned.

T. Lavon LawrenceAbby and the Stone Heart · Amazon review

Fantasy worlds

Two worlds. Six books. Choose where to begin.

Six books are available now across Aargaranth and The Crown of Ruin.

Aargaranth · Epic fantasy

Start with a complete trilogy.

The Land of Nowhere begins with a broken boy, a dying world, and a lie that has survived much longer than it should have.

Enter Aargaranth

Book One · Available now

The Crown of Ruin · Progression fantasy

The Path of Madness begins here.

Isaac leaves St. Mary’s after seventeen years. Outside, hunters fight monsters under rules everyone expects him to understand.

Discover The Crown of Ruin

My recommended starting point

A broken boy. A dying world. One terrible lie.

If this is your first Nick Blade book, this is where I’d send you. The Rift and the Reckoning opens a complete three-book arc, so you won’t be left waiting for the ending.

Complete trilogy3 books · one finished arc

Start with Book One See the trilogy

For the writers

Author as System

How to Finish More Books, Survive Bad Days, and Build a Writing Life That Lasts.

This is my practical guide to finishing more books without treating every difficult draft—or every broken week—as proof that you were never meant to write one.

Explore Author as System

Find your next fantasy read