Steel Gods

the Sunday Times bestselling epic fantasy series of gunpowder, arcane powers and dark prophecy (Book Two of The Great Silence)

By: Richard Swan

Narrated by: Nathaniel Priestley, Zoe Mills

***The Sunday Times bestselling Great Silence series continues***

THE EMPIRE OF THE WOLF TEETERS ON THE BRINK

The true horror of the Great Silence has been revealed. As nation after nation succumbs to the mind-plague and Sova scrambles to enlist help from across the globe, Ambassador Renata Rainer has been given a simple task: save the world.

While she travels to the Principality of Casimir to enlist the help of the Empire's oldest enemy, Lieutenant Peter Kleist returns to the haunted forests of the New East to search for ancient answers - and finally confront the terrible fate that awaits him. In their wake, a task force of engineers, soldiers, and arcane experts will try and unpick the final secrets of the Great Silence - on both sides of the mortal plane.

But time is running out. Count Lamprecht von Oldenburg has returned to the capital, armed with a terrible vision and enough madness to see it through. Those who stand in his way face a simple choice: join the revolution, or die.

As the world tips towards chaos, all paths converge on the Eye of the Sea, where the fabric of reality wears thin - and where the Empire of the Wolf must confront the most terrible enemy it has ever known.

Steel Gods is the second novel in the Great Silence trilogy from Sunday Times bestselling author Richard Swan - a dark flintlock fantasy filled with epic adventure, arcane mysteries and creeping dread

Praise for the series

'Dazzling and immersive epic fantasy' Publishers Weekly (starred review)

'This is one wild, intricate ride: grim, grotesque, vivid, thrilling' Kirkus (starred review)

'An absolute treat . . . crammed with imagination, horror, epic scale, and characters I simply could not put down' Grimdark Magazine

'A truly remarkable page-turning, flintlock fantasy horror' Fantasy Hive

The Great Silence
Grave Empire
Steel Gods

The Empire of the Wolf
The Justice of Kings
The Tyranny of Faith
The Trials of Empire©2026 Richard Swan

Critic reviews

This is one wild, intricate ride: grim, grotesque, vivid, thrilling, and with spot-on insights about our mundane reality