Title: The Wraith Returns: Revenge of The Wraith Paladin #1
Author: Paul G. Zareith
Genre: Sci-fi/ Dark Fantasy
Summary: Alien vampires, trapped in a time warp, find themselves being hunted by an immortal assassin of their own creation.
Guided by the will of the erased tree god, a warrior who should have never existed emerges in a world he no longer recognizes.
A Centurion races against time to save her brother from a dying world, but the only man who could unlock the cosmic prison was buried alive two hundred years ago.
An exiled alien prince plots to reclaim his throne, but in his path stands an enemy whose actions threaten the future of the entire Sultenate.
An ambitious researcher is willing to stake the lives of millions to become the next great power.
A celestial reconciler is ready to wipe out entire civilizations to restore space-time continuity.
Who will survive? And at what cost…
Discover in this grimdark epic saga.
Publisher: Independently Published
Publication Date: March 2, 2026
Page Count: 656
General Review
- Description & Imagery: The author’s prose does an excellent job of painting the scene and placing the audience into a grimdark atmosphere. The prose also allows the story to unfold at a quick, yet natural pace that builds suspense and releases it with a worthy payoff. Each character’s introduction begins this way and that consistency is what keeps readers turning the blood stained pages of this work.
- Relatability of the MC: This is a bit tricky as the story consists of multiple characters whose perspectives take up considerable portions of the novel. However, each character seems to tell their story as best they can and strives to fill in the gaps of their own understanding to the extent of achieving their own ends. In terms of raw honesty, no character is ever one hundred percent truthful with themselves, let alone the audience reading the story.
- Pacing: The story develops quickly and the short chapters add to the thrill the pace provides. Each chapter gives you just enough to keep up with what’s happening but not enough to fully satisfy you as a reader which is irritating in a pleasurable way that coincides with human nature.
- Perspective: Given the many perspectives in the story it’s difficult to pick out a favorite. Each character’s story is a thread within a deeper web of events designed to converge upon one another in a catastrophic way which makes it not only difficult to analyze fully since it’s the first installment but deeply engaging and entertaining.
- Vibe Check: This story is classic grimdark mixed with a sort of literary complexity that makes the work almost poetic in a way (as all good fiction is at some point). Definitely worth the read if you want to stay up all night and give your anxious brain something to focus on other than reality.
Personal Review
Twists and turns, dark places, deranged minds, nefarious purposes. Whatever you want this story has got and the beautiful complexity of it all just reveals how much this author understands the audience and cares for the craft of dark speculative fiction itself.
We at Seven Story Publishing wish we could’ve published this story ourselves (and that’s saying something)!
Our personal favorite character was Rana, waking up in a desolate place with no memory of how he got there but is stack with years of training and able to extraordinary but terrifying things to the monsters that lurk in the shadows.
Sorry, no spoilers. . .
Among other things, the world-building was on par with J.R.R Tolkien given the believability, the lore and the history embedded in the storytelling. It really did feel like we were on another planet with its own set of rules and life forms and customs.
All in all, a great work by an author who has a promising career. We can’t wait for the next part of this grimdark saga!
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