The King's Heir By Johan Pihl

Croilin IV, Aetha's King, decides in his late years to take a stand against Aetha's problems, but his actions lead to civil war.

The focus of the story is Aeth, a young man who struggles to maintain a pure heart in a cruel world that seems to prefer him dead. He finds himself inexplicably victimised over and over by pirates, criminal organisations and eventually Aetha's government. Without understanding why, he becomes the most wanted man on Grinorea Trok. Only when he learns the cause of these events is he able to take charge of his own fate, which quickly turns into a daring adventure.

We also meet: Yankris Paedlo, a retired harbourmaster with a shady record, who like Aeth is targeted by Croilin, though all he desires is to avoid problems and live a quiet and peaceful life; Adarion, a criminal who tries to change his ways, but struggles with drug problems and what seems to be an impossible love; and Giakatai, a capilis smuggler who loses all she knows for reasons she cannot comprehend. As Aeth learns more of who is to blame for his own situation and the ongoing war, he discovers that the truth is more complicated than he at first had thought.

Book Description
The King's Heir is a classic adventure in an unusual setting. Aetha, a kingdom that spans an archipelago of tropical islands called 'the Paleyans', is renowned for its strong maritime traditions, but raged by pirates, deprived by smuggling and plagued by a drug known as capilis. Unsurprisingly the waters surrounding these islands are known as 'Grinorea Trok', which is Paleyan for Pirates' Sea. Croilin IV, Aetha's King, decides in his late years to take a stand against Aetha's problems, but his actions lead to civil war. The focus of the story is Aeth, a young man who struggles to maintain a pure heart in a cruel world that seems to prefer him dead. He finds himself inexplicably victimised over and over by pirates, criminal organisations and eventually Aetha's government.

Without understanding why, he becomes the most wanted man on Grinorea Trok. Only when he learns the cause of these events is he able to take charge of his own fate, which quickly turns into a daring adventure. We also meet: Yankris Paedlo, a retired harbourmaster with a shady record, who like Aeth is targeted by Croilin, though all he desires is to avoid problems and live a quiet and peaceful life; Adarion, a criminal who tries to change his ways, but struggles with drug problems and what seems to be an impossible love; and Giakatai, a capilis smuggler who loses all she knows for reasons she cannot comprehend. As Aeth learns more of who is to blame for his own situation and the ongoing war, he discovers that the truth is more complicated than he at first had thought.

'The King's Heir' is the first novel set in Adellion, a world in many ways similar to our own, but whose cultures and geography stretch our imagination into something far more exotic.

• This book tells a story from an actual MMORPG currently in development: adellion.com
• "To find out more about the Aethan lands in which the book is set, visit aetha.net
• Available at Amazon.com both in paperback and download The King's Heir
• The Beginning of Chapter 13 (Teaser with SPOILER WARNING)
• Adellion Journal, February 2006 ( pdf With a featured article called "The King's Heir: The Making of an Aethan Tale")