Tears of the Moon [Part 1: Nest of Vipers] by Jackson Simiana is the second novel in The Fables of Chaos, a grimdark, epic fantasy series.

BETRAYAL.

The Final Ruin is coming. The bleeding star approaches, breaking down the barriers between the natural world and monstrous dimensions. Yet, the war-torn land of Alyria is swept up in its own state of affairs. The kingdoms of Ashen and Caldaea are locked in a bloody war, the Broken Coast is kingless, and an exodus of refugees fuels plague, hunger, and crime. The royal courts have been infested by assassination, violence, and nests of vipers.

WAR.

Katryna Bower, the "vagabond princess," leads a royal mission, seeking aid for her family's kingdom, deep into the deserts of Ember. However, Katryna stumbles into a kingdom on the brink of collapse as she is swept up into a world of religious zealots, treason, and murder. The desperate King Emery Blacktree has succumbed to the twisted will of his newest advisor, so it is left up to his crippled son Petir to lead a war effort he is not prepared for. Ciana Blacktree, imprisoned by the sadistic new king, Wesley Seynard, mounts an escape plan with the woman who abandoned her and a new, secretive ally. The fires of war are no stranger to young Tomas, yet the inferno burning within may all but consume him as he pushes through his grief to find a cure for his Blight-stricken associate, Lynn. Tomas and Lynn must work with a mysterious companion as they are hunted across kingdoms, for they may hold the answers to the coming devastation.

CHAOS.

Bolder, broader, and bloodier than ever before, Tears of the Moon [Part 1: Nest of Vipers] follows multiple, complex characters through twisted narratives in a grimdark world on the brink of destruction. The Final Ruin is coming, and no one, not peasant nor king, will be safe from the horrors that await.