The son of shadow warrior Erevis Cale prepares to seek out his destiny in this compelling second installment of the Sundering series
 
The shadow legacy of Erevis Cale lives on even as his old foe Mephistopheles seeks to stamp it out at any cost. Cale’s son, Vasen—unmoored in time by the god Mask—has thus far been shielded from the archdevil’s dark schemes, alone among the servants of the Lord of Light who have raised him since birth.

Living in a remote abbey nestled among the Thunder Peaks of Sembia, Vasen is haunted by dreams of his father, trapped in the frozen hell of Cania. He knows the day will come when he must assume his role in the divine drama unfolding across Faerûn. But Vasen does not know what that role should be or whether he is ready to take it on. He only knows what his father tells him in dreams—that he must not fail.
 
Enter Drasek Riven, a former compatriot of Erevis Cale, now near divine and haunted by dreams of his own. He, too, knows the time to act is near. Shar, the great goddess of darkness, looks to cast her shadow on the world forever. Riven has glimpsed the cycle of night she hopes to complete, and he knows she must be stopped.
 
At the crossroads of divine intrigue and mortal destiny, unlikely heroes unite to thwart the powers of shadow and hell, and the sundering of worlds is set on its course.

For readers of Brent Weeks, Joe Abercrombie, Peter V. Brett, and Scott Lynch comes the first book in a fantastic, hilarious new sword-and-sorcery series that puts a clever new twist on the golden age of epic fantasy.

Robbing tombs for fun and profit might not be a stable career, but Egil and Nix aren’t in it for the long-term prospects. Egil is the hammer-wielding warrior-priest of a discredited god. Nix is a roguish thief with just enough knowledge of magic to conjure up trouble. Together, they seek riches and renown, yet often find themselves enlisted in lost causes—generally against their will.

So why should their big score be any different? The trouble starts when Nix and Egil kill the demonic guardian of a long-lost crypt, nullifying an ancient pact made by the ancestors of an obscenely powerful wizard. Now the wizard will stop at nothing to keep that power from slipping away, even if it means freeing a rapacious beast from its centuries-old prison. And who better than Egil and Nix—the ones responsible for his current predicament—to perform this thankless task?

Praise for The Hammer and the Blade and Paul S. Kemp

“A gripping tale [with] the feeling of a classic Dungeons & Dragons campaign.”—Publishers Weekly

“Most heroes work up to killing demons. Egil and Nix start there and pick up the pace.”—Elaine Cunningham, author of the Thorn Trilogy

“Kemp delivers sword and sorcery at its rollicking best, after the fashion of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.”—Library Journal