The Citadel of Lies

The Chronicles of Llad

By: Randall Weber

Narrated by: J.Y. Song

The citadel breathes destructive lies—and war erupts. When the Dark Lord Barshahor was defeated in The Witching Hand, he retreated to his castle to wreak havoc with the evil Voidstone. The people of Llad learned of his plans and gathered together to create a sacred orb made from relics of the five factions of the kingdom: witches, wizards, elves, dwarfs, and prairie dogs. A young, half-elven wizard volunteered to save the people if he could.

The Citadel of Lies is a tale of truth vs. falsehood, light vs. darkness, treachery vs. loyalty, and hatred vs. love.

Will good or black magic prevail?

©2025 Randall Weber (P)2026 Randall Weber

What happens after "The Murders Began"

Being a sequal, I never know what to expect. Some series become episodic, some get bigger in scale, and some just drag on an odd filler until you get to the climax of the series. Many of us avid fantasy readers spend endless hours complaining about the middle books of Robert Jordan or George R. R. Martin. If I remember right, Martin had 2 in a row that rehashed exactly the same time period. That was crazy.

The Citadel of Lies actually has a very different plot structure than the Witching Hand, which is invitingly refreshing. Since the Witching Hand is centered on the mass murder and destruction that prowls through the countryside, I expected something similar from the magic system. Instead I got to dive into the lives, history, and motivations of supporting characters from the 1st book. Those kind of perspectives really make a series come alive. Many authors are famous for focusing on their main character or 2 and forgetting that in the normal world, one individual person usually doesn't have that much influence on society. It's part of the old English Humor of the characters of Rosencrantz and Guildentern from Hamlet. Those 2 were minor side characters, so a philosopher wrote a play about how Shakespeare gave them so little back story that they don't know even their own story.

If I was to give a criticism, I'd say the performance makes it difficult to imagine the space and time that happens between scenes. Not sure how to do that better, I thought it was a good performance. In my mind, I kept picturing a character leaving one city then showing up in moments in another city. Maybe that's a writing thing too, or maybe the kingdom really was that small. That happened in one of Brandon Sanderson's secret projects, he created a world that really wasn't that big.

Anyways, if you want to take a delightful glimpse into the backstories that really do exist for the characters in Llad, do read this sequal, this middle book of 3. At first you'll find some normal fantasy plot lines of quests espionage, but then find the extraordinary delight of seeing into the heart of supporting characters that get thrust into center of a fast moving plot.