Silent Watcher is officially out now in all three formats: Kindle, paperback and audiobook.
This is the first novel in my new Ravenglass Guardians series, and although it takes place in the same world as my other Ravenglass books, Silent Watcher has been designed to work completely as a standalone.
So, if you’ve never read one of my fantasy novels before, you can start here.
And if you’re already familiar with the Ravenglass Universe, this book takes you somewhere rather different.
A century has passed since the events of Ravenglass Legends.
The Guardians have become an established institution. They were founded to watch without shaping, protect without ruling, and preserve the truth.
But institutions change.
And sometimes the people tasked with protecting the truth become very good at controlling it.
A Fantasy Spy Thriller
Silent Watcher follows Anselma Versen, a Watcher sent to the isolated town of Halborg under a false name.
Her mission appears straightforward.
A fellow Guardian is dead.
The official report says it was an accident.
Anselma quickly becomes convinced it was murder.
But Halborg is a town where everything feels slightly wrong.
The streets have been scrubbed clean. Witnesses give suspiciously similar answers. Records disappear. People seem to know more than they are willing to say.
Then Anselma discovers reports carrying her own signature.
Reports authorising operations she never witnessed.
Some are dated to days she cannot remember.
Someone knew she was coming.
Someone has already decided what she is supposed to discover.
And the last Watcher who asked these questions is already dead.
Espionage in a Fantasy World
With Silent Watcher, I wanted to write something that felt closer to an espionage novel than a traditional quest fantasy.
There are no armies marching across continents here. No chosen one setting out to defeat an ancient evil.
Instead, the danger lies in reports, testimony, missing documents and carefully constructed lies.
Anselma is trained to observe.
Her job is to establish what happened and report the truth.
The problem is that she works for an organisation that may have its own definition of what the truth is allowed to be.
That made Silent Watcher a chance for me to focus on questions of institutional loyalty, secrecy, surveillance and the ways organisations protect themselves.
What happens when the system you trust tells you that the evidence in front of you cannot possibly be true?
And what do you do when telling the truth could make you the next problem the institution needs to remove?
The Beginning of Ravenglass Guardians
Silent Watcher is also the first book in Ravenglass Guardians.
The series will consist of seven standalone novels, each following a different branch of the Guardian Order during a growing internal schism.
Each book will tell its own complete story with its own protagonist, setting and central conflict.
At the same time, the novels will gradually reveal a much larger struggle over what the Guardians are supposed to be.
Protectors.
Observers.
Judges.
Or rulers.
Silent Watcher approaches that conflict through espionage and psychological suspense. Other books in the series will take on very different styles, including military fantasy, ethical and medical dilemmas, legal conflict and other corners of the Ravenglass world.
You won’t need to read every book to understand an individual novel, but readers who follow the whole series will see the larger crisis developing from several different perspectives.
The Audiobook, Narrated by Claire Aston
I’m especially pleased that the audiobook edition is launching alongside the Kindle and paperback editions.
Silent Watcher is narrated by Claire Aston, who has done a fantastic job bringing Anselma and the inhabitants of Halborg to life.
This is a story built around suspicion, uncertainty and the things people leave unsaid, so the performance matters enormously.
Claire captured that atmosphere beautifully.
If you prefer to experience your fantasy through audio, the complete audiobook is available now.
What to Expect from Silent Watcher
If you pick up Silent Watcher, expect a slow-burning mystery built around secrets, deception and institutional betrayal.
At its heart, it’s a fantasy spy thriller.
It’s about a professional investigator entering a place where everyone appears to be lying, only to realise that the conspiracy may extend far beyond the town she was sent to investigate.
If you enjoy the political and institutional tension of Seth Dickinson, the espionage of John le Carré, or the morally complicated fantasy of K. J. Parker, Silent Watcher should be right up your street.
A Dead Agent. A Silent Town. A Conspiracy Written in Her Own Hand.
Watcher Anselma Versen arrives in Halborg under a false name to investigate a colleague’s death.
The official report calls it an accident.
The evidence says murder.
The streets have been scrubbed clean. Witnesses repeat the same rehearsed answers. Records vanish overnight. Then Anselma finds reports bearing her signature, authorising operations she never witnessed and dated to days she cannot remember.
Someone knew she was coming.
Someone has already decided what she will find.
The last Watcher who asked these questions is already dead.
As Anselma pulls at the threads, she uncovers a truth buried at the heart of the Guardian Order itself. The rebellion she was sent to document may never have been real.
And if her role in the conspiracy was written before she arrived, she may not be meant to leave Halborg alive.
Silent Watcher is available now in Kindle, paperback and audiobook.
I hope you enjoy your visit to Halborg.
Just don’t believe everything you’re told.
