The Keeper of the Veil

Book One of the Veil Saga

By: Jack Calder

Narrated by: Glenn Boychuk

What if the world you know is protected only by a thin veil separating us from creatures born of myth?

James Crable has lived through centuries of war, betrayal, and faith twisted into fear. An immortal who has spent nearly a thousand years facing the things that slip through the boundary between worlds, he’s watched empires rise and fall and survived horrors most humans never knew existed. But when the Veil begins to unravel in a quiet Ohio town, the dangers that emerge are unlike anything he’s ever seen. And to stop them, Crable must face a past he thought he’d left behind.

The Keeper of the Veil blends urban fantasy with the sweep of historical epic, shifting from storm-soaked medieval battlefields to modern-day supernatural warfare. It’s a story of loyalty tested across lifetimes, a legacy broken and fought for again, and the impossible line between protecting humanity and losing what’s left of your own. With sharp humor, vivid characters marked by centuries of scars, and a world where the past never stays buried, Jack Calder’s debut introduces a warrior who’s lived too long to believe in easy answers.

Calder writes with the grit of historical fiction and the imagination of urban fantasy, grounding supernatural conflict in real places and real consequences. If you’ve burned through Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files or devoured Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles, The Keeper of the Veil offers the next step, an immortal protagonist whose wounds run deeper than his enemies, action that leaves marks, and a world where magic doesn’t fix problems, it creates new ones.

The Veil is lifting. What comes through will change everything.

©2025 John Kenkel (P)2025 John Kenkel

Compelling story with roots in history and real world mythos.

At first, I was afraid this book was going to be heavily Christian or Catholic in nature. It wasn't. This story pulls from several beliefs, gives them all validation, and a place in the world. The way the writer presented events centuries before the present was elegant and thoughtful, culminating in a well written final battle and setup for much more story. He has built a world and a compelling story for, hopefully, many more books to come.

There were some immersion breaks, but it was not from the writing! A couple audio cuts and, for me at least, some interesting pronunciations. Iron as eye-run etc.

Hoping this series keeps a solid release pace. It's officially in my audiobook rotation!

Fabulous story and great narration

I am blown away to find out this is a debut novel! This reads like an experienced author!

I love how the use of language changes over time, slowly adding in contraction and idioms as the MC moves into more modern times. Yes, the more formal speech sounds a bit stilted to our modern ears, but it really makes a point.

The flashbacks to bygone eras are clear and well reasoned. We are able to clearly see not just the MC character development, but that of the Vatican and the Watch, both organizations acting as full characters themselves.

The journey through time to protect the veil, encountering other cultures and creatures doing the same is a very cool spin. I enjoyed this enough that I actually ordered the paperback, something I rarely do anymore!
Do yourself a favor and carve out a day to just relax and read. You won’t want to put this one down.