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Even Immortality Has it’s Down Side
Of Hunters and Magi follows a battle-worn soldier and a fallen god as they hunt a lost artifact across a wounded world, forcing both to confront who they are when faith, duty, and identity begin to crumble. What first sparked the idea of pairing a disciplined soldier with a god who has lost his divinity?
Defurge’s inclusion was always a given from the very beginning of the story. He is based on a Dungeons and Dragons character I once played, someone whose powers, abilities, and personality weren’t inherently their own but were conferred upon them by a cursed artifact. The original D&D character was not as playful or manipulative as the former god of destruction and madness turned out to be, and that evolution was organic to the story. Many character-building moments needed tension, and he brought it through his manipulation of others for his own amusement.
How did you approach writing gods as flawed, tired beings rather than distant or omnipotent figures?
I’ve always enjoyed the myths of the Greek and Norse deities who were flawed. I also enjoy characters who grapple with immortality, such as the vampire Lestat, Wolverine, and Deadpool. Those characters all have something we think we would want: immortality, but each of their stories discusses the significant downside of the affliction. When I was writing my deities, I brought that mentality into their being. At some point, the interactions would cease to be novel, and everything would become mundane, especially if there was never any danger in their life.
Bronwyn’s inner doubts play a big role in the story. How much of her emotional arc was planned versus discovered while writing?
About fifty percent. I knew before I started that I wanted her character to come from a hard, militaristic life, where she had to struggle for acceptance and to show how she isolated herself as a buffer against it. I wanted her to join a group that accepted her leadership and skills without question, and to show how her character changed when she no longer had to struggle every day for the validation she was seeking. As I wrote and spent time with all the characters, they became more real, and I think that is when Bronwyn’s doubts began to surface. I always wanted her to reevaluate the beliefs she was raised with, but I didn’t expect how that would lead her to question everything around her.
The world feels shaped by long-past choices. How did you decide what history to reveal and what to leave buried?
I’m a big believer in the iceberg theory of world-building, 90% of it is invisible and serves to support the visible 10%. I decided to give the reader as little information as possible to get them from point A to point B to maintain pacing, unless of course, the bit of history was interesting or added flavor to the world. It was a balancing act, and information was added, cut, re-added, re-cut, and moved around a lot throughout the many revisions.
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But first things first, Emestria still needs saving. Bronwyn searches for the Horn of Garanhir, another legendary artifact capable of creating food. With Miro and Clara still angry at Bronwyn for her actions while fighting Defurge, she finds the current incarnation a strange ally. Even with a clear target and set goals, something is still unsettling. Surely, it can’t be the Library of Laevin and the peculiar denizens.
Of Hunters and Magi is the second installment in the Legendary Artifacts series. This epic fantasy picks up two weeks after the first book ended. Captain Bronwyn Amyna, Clara, Miro, and Issaroh are searching for an artifact to help Emestria weather the war with Rouke. But in the back of their minds, they know they will soon have to start searching for the artifact to destroy the Soul Gem that grants Defurge his power.
This is a multi-POV novel. Bronwyn, Clara, and Defurge are the primary points of view. The prologue includes a POV from a character far in the past: Cassandra, the first Void Walker. Mysteries unfold as the adventuring group discovers more about their abilities, the Ywaigwai, and the extent of Defurge’s power. Each character harbors secrets, and no one is candid with each other.
Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss fans will enjoy this mythic story crafted in a unique world where gods and goddesses once lived side-by-side with mortals. Christopher J. Harris combines his love for fantasy, video games, comedy, and old-school claymation movies like Jason and the Argonauts in this series.
Of Hunters and Magi
Of Hunters and Magi opens on a world shaped by old gods, buried truths, and people trying to live with the ruins the divine left behind. The story follows Bronwyn Amynta, a soldier carrying the weight of her homeland’s survival, and her uneasy partnership with Defurge, a once mad god now stripped back to something like a man. Their hunt for a lost artifact leads them through empty towns, strange magic, a deadly cassolisk, and the lingering shadow of a demigoddess whose marble remains hint at a frightening past. The world feels wide and lived in, and the early chapters mix danger, mystery, and emotion in a way that pulled me in right away.
I found myself hooked by the writing’s steady rhythm. The prose sits in that sweet spot between clean and vivid. It gives you enough detail to picture the scene without dragging you through it. I liked how the story takes its time letting Bronwyn think. Her doubts, her loyalties, and the fears she won’t admit come through in small moments that feel honest. The book plays with tension in clever ways. Quiet scenes hum with unease, and loud scenes carry a kind of messy panic that feels real. Sometimes the pacing slows a bit, especially when characters get lost in their own heads, but even then I never felt pushed out of the story.
The ideas running underneath the action kept surprising me. I didn’t expect the gods to feel so flawed or so tired, and I didn’t expect the world to feel so wounded by them. The theme of identity shows up again and again. Defurge is trying to understand who he is without his divine madness. Bronwyn is trying to decide who she wants to be when duty keeps shifting under her feet. Even the creatures and ruins around them feel like echoes of choices made long before they were born. I liked that. It gave the adventure weight. At the same time, I sometimes wished the book would loosen its grip on lore. There are moments when the explanations pile up and interrupt the natural flow of things. Still, the heart of the story stays clear and strong.
By the end, I felt fully invested in these characters and the deep strangeness of the world they’re walking through. I’d recommend this book to readers who enjoy fantasy that leans into emotion as much as action, folks who like stories about broken gods and stubborn heroes, and anyone who appreciates a world that feels old and full of secrets. If you like journeys that test trust, push people to their limits, and stir up complicated feelings along the way, this one will sit nicely on your shelf.
Pages: 370 | ASIN: B0FBJP74BP
