Tag: Fiddleback Trilogy

[Review] Evil Triumphant – A Dark Conspiracy Novel

“I knew then why he had acquiesced and why I had been able to prevent the Empress of Diamonds from fleeing this proto-dimension. I was not a synthesizer nor builder. The proto-dimension had lost the Dark Lord that had defined it and shaped it. He had died here, killing the proto-dimension and giving it the same aspect that Fiddleback had given me…Death.” 

Evil Triumphant is the third and final book in Michael Stackpole’s Fiddleback Trilogy – the only official series of novels to be set in the world of Dark Conspiracy. Following on from the dramatic events of Evil Ascending, we return to find our protagonist Tycho Caine – and his eclectic collection of erstwhile companions – drawn into the next phase of their battle against the ever-present Dark Lords. Now facing new and unexpected threats, the Minion Hunters will be driven to forge new alliances with old foes in a battle that will stretch their resources, willpower and determination to breaking point. But will such rash decisions prove to be humanity’s salvation or will they offer nothing but doom for beleague Earth? Let’s read on and find out in this climactic finale of the Fiddleback Trilogy!

Be warned spoilers are to follow!

[Review] Evil Ascending – A Dark Conspiracy Novel

… “Fiddleback is but one of many. Pygmalion, DeadTongue, Baron Someday and a dozen others all operate here on Earth. Fiddleback has been the most ambitious to date, but all are effective in their spheres of influence” … 

Evil Ascending is the sequel to Michael Stackpole’s A Gathering Evil and the second novel in Dark Conspiracy’s Fiddleback trilogy. Be warned spoilers follow!

Plot Summary

Set in the immediate aftermath of the events detailed in A Gathering Evil, Evil Ascending continues the adventures of Tycho Caine (now known by many names, including Michael Loring and Coyote) in the fight against his old master, the Dark Lord Fiddleback. Having successfully thwarted the Dark One’s plan to use the Phoenix Transport Loop as a dimensional doorway into Earth’s reality, Caine and his allies now look to strike back at Fiddleback in any way they can. To achieve this goal, new allies will be discovered, and new enemies revealed, in a mixing pot of stories that sees the novel span the world – from Arizona to Tibet, and finally to Tokyo, Japan.

[Review] A Gathering Evil – A Dark Conspiracy Novel

Awakening in a speeding ambulance, with the scream of its undulating siren ripping your brain apart, is not a pleasant experience. It becomes even less so when you realize you’re in a body bag zipped up tight and you can’t move. Trapped in suffocating darkness, with the rubberized canvas pulling at your flesh, you realize that if this is death, eternity in a grave will be hell itself.

And so begins A Gathering Evil, Michael Stackpole’s first novel in what was to become the Fiddleback trilogy. Be warned spoilers follow!

Plot Summary

As quoted from above, A Gathering Evil starts in the most dire of circumstances, but then moves into a classic romp through a vibrant post-depression world. It is through the eyes of the protagonist, Tycho Caine (a man who knows nothing of his past, not even if Tycho is his real name), that we learn about this alternate 2010s; from the depths of the Eclipse (the name given to the massive solar panel array that now covers most of downtown Pheonix) all the way to the top of the most prestigious of corporate towers. Much like Dark Conspiracy itself, the story is one of fighting back against an unknowable enemy, a universe where it seems it is always left to a collection of misfits and social outcasts to make right when others can, or will, not.

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