Where do I start?

Short Answer:

The Prologue

Long Answer:

This story is a chronicle of a place and time, spanning nearly twenty years in the lives of its characters, and containing over two million words. (For comparison, the English translation of the infamous War and Peace contains around 560,000 words.)

Some have found it addictive enough that they have read the entire thing twice over and check back every day in the hope of finding a new chapter.

Others take one look at the scope of the thing and never get started.

Quick Start

If you are in the latter group and just want to taste a sample, I recommend you start in the Storylines Section. There, I have pulled together chapters from some of the individual storylines that run through the larger work.

Each storyline is self-​​contained and can be read without any prior background. I have provided brief notes wherever you would be lacking information about events happening in other chapters.

In some cases, storylines are still ongoing, and I have noted this in their description on the storyline page. If you must have closure, be aware. ;-)

The author’s suggestions:

  • If you’re looking for something quick, romantic, and fun, and with a happy ending, I recommend “Red Boots”.
  • If you want something darker and not involving romance, try “A Girl Called Crow”, the story of a 12-​​year-​​old orphan. (Still ongoing.)
  • “A Tangled Braid” is in itself novel-​​length, but is one of the premiere long-​​running storylines of Lothere, featuring the kingdom’s thorniest human/​elf/​elf love triangle. (Still ongoing.)

Chronological Start

If you think you’re in it for the long haul, you can start at the beginning and read in chronological order.

The Historical Context

If you are interested in the historical context of the story, you can begin by reading “The History of the Hwalas”, which summarizes (on one page, don’t worry) the previous seventy years’ history of England as well as some background on the Anglo-​​Saxon noble families involved in the story. It is not required reading, however. 

The condensed version, for those who haven’t studied English history, is as follows:

In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel and defeated King Harold II of England at the Battle of Hastings. The Anglo-​​Saxon nobility all but vanished, either into exile in foreign countries, or into poverty or prison, or death.

Sigefrith Hwala and his friends, the “founding families” of this story, are members of that nobility. The story begins about six months after the battle.

The Story

If you want to read the story chronologically, start at the first chapter and use the links at the top and bottom of each post to travel forward chronologically.

Note to long-​​time readers

If you’ve read the story before, you may not have seen some “prologue chapters” that I recently added to the beginning of the story. These include the following: