…in fact, they’ve been a lot better than that. They’ve all been five-star reviews so far.

We’ll take those, and we expect there will be more like them as more and more folks finish Part One.

And Part Two was submitted for pre-order this morning, so it’ll be available over the weekend, and downloadable on May 4.

The first book in the series, Animus, is available both as an e-book and also in paperback. Better than 90 percent of the reviews for that one are five-stars as well.

What’s more, we have signed copies of Animus available. You can get one for $25, which includes the cost of shipping and handling, by clicking here.

So what are you getting yourself into reading Animus and Perdition? From a previous Hayride post describing the Tales of Ardenia story…

Animus is the introduction of a story about two countries which have lived side-by-side in mortal hatred of each other for centuries. Ardenia, the larger country to the north, is an early Industrial-age Western democracy; in Ardenia they’re in the process of invention which characterized the late 19th century and early 20th century in America and Europe, though not necessarily in the same order things happened in our experience.

Their southern neighbors the Udar are…less civilized. The Udar are a depraved, warlike people with customs and culture the Ardenians rightly regard as savage – Udar men are hunters and warriors and little else, leaving their women to handle all the other occupations, and the Udar don’t believe in representative government, private property or even the nuclear family. They exist mostly as a collection of mobile warrior villages, owing complete fealty to an absolute ruler who isn’t just the king but the high priest of their religion.

And for hundreds of years the Udar have raided into Ardenia, and for hundreds of years the Ardenians have held them off after taking losses. The Ardenians being general peaceful and industrious people, they’ve largely been content to play defense against their savage neighbors.

But as Animus opens, the Udar are coming across the border again, pillaging settlements and carting off Ardenian captives to be enslaved. One such raid sets in motion a rescue attempt which is the main story of the novel, but it’s only a small part of a massive invasion the villains have planned.

In Perdition, we see the full scope of the conflict – and how poorly prepared the Ardenians are for what’s to come.

There’s a lot of politics in it, some of which relates a little to current events, there’s espionage, there’s some fun experimentation with Industrial Age technology and the interplay between innovation and government, there’s a little romance, a good bit of military strategy and even some humor.

The “full scope” of the war comes into play in a major way in Part Two of Perdition, which we’ve serialized because (1) it’s a big book and (2) we’re experimenting with a new way of delivering a novel that other authors are increasingly trying. There’s high drama, and it’s a lot more relatable to current real-life events than you’d think.

So if you’re looking for something to do after having plowed through everything Netflix and Hulu have to offer on TV, might we suggest the best new series of books you’ve never heard of?