Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lure of the Basilisk | 1980 | Lawrence Watt-Evans | Buy |
| 2 | The Seven Altars of Dûsarra | 1981 | Lawrence Watt-Evans | Buy |
| 3 | The Sword of Bheleu | 1982 | Lawrence Watt-Evans | Buy |
| 4 | The Book of Silence | 1983 | Lawrence Watt-Evans | Buy |
The Lords of Dus is Lawrence Watt-Evans’s debut series, published between 1980 and 1983. It follows Garth, an overman warrior sent on a series of quests by the mysterious Forgotten King in the crumbling city of Skelleth. Each novel sends Garth in search of a different powerful object, from a basilisk to ancient altars to a magical sword, and the stakes grow with each mission.
The series is set in a world where the gods are real but largely absent, and where humans and overmen coexist uneasily. As Garth completes each quest, he becomes more entangled in a cosmic conflict between the Lords of Dus, the gods who once ruled the world. The final book, The Book of Silence, brings everything to a conclusion as Garth confronts the true nature of the Forgotten King’s plan.
These were Watt-Evans’s first published novels, and they show the sword-and-sorcery sensibility that would carry through much of his later work. Fans of classic quest-based fantasy will find a lot to like here, especially in the way Watt-Evans handles Garth as a protagonist who is not quite human and not always heroic.