Asmodeus: The Legend of Margret and the Dragon

...Here again, his natural figure crouched beside her in the dank darkness of the cave, watching her in silence as she slept, struggling with cravings which were new to him, both tender and violent, and which he could only really compare to hunger... (from ASMODEUS) On the cusp of the Great War, an even more pitched battle is waged in the furthest corner of the Nordic highlands, the final chapter of a centuries-old rivalry, pitting a troubled bloodline of thieves, journeyman, and politicians against the last and greatest dragon of the hemisphere, Asmodeus. Until now, the source of this antagonism has been a single gemstone, the fabled shamir, whose history traces to the coffers of King Solomon. The present clash, however, has been sparked by the emergence of an even more desirable, more defiant, and more powerful force than that. Inspired by the golden legend of St. Margaret, Brooks Hansen's Asmodeus is a masterfully woven tapestry of history, myth, and fantasy, in the tradition of J.R.R.Tolkien, Bram Stoker, and C.S. Lewis. By turns a romance, an adventure, and the darkest imaginable Gothic, his tale is also, as seen through the eyes of the maiden Margrét, an unflinching exploration of our divided nature - what makes us beasts, what makes us human, and what makes us divine. "Hansen writes with a poet's eye for image, building a novel as one might build a cathedral, stone by stone, sentence by sentence...comparisons to Nabokov and Calvino are doubtless in order - The New York Times Book Review "...the most imaginative and talented novelist of his generation." -Hugh Nissenson, author of The Days of Awe "Like Garcia Marquez, Borges, even Poe, Hansen creates a dangerous, enlightening new world...He is a true inventor of fiction, and a protean, generous one at that." -Village Voice Literary Supplement