It’s our absolute pleasure to host Tim Hardie today in the Asylum. Tim is an old friend of ours and today we are celebrating with him as he recently released Broken Brotherhood, the last book in The Brotherhood of the Eagle series. Tim in this guest post talks about his journey with The Brotherhood of the Eagle and also the production of the audiobook of Hall of Bones, his SPFBO finalist first book in the series. As a bonus, there is a playlist too!



Tim Hardie is the author of The Brotherhood of the Eagle series (Hall of Bones, Sundered Souls, Lost Gods, Broken Brotherhood), the related short story collection A Roll of the Dice and the political fantasy standalone novel A Quiet Vengeance. The Hall of Bones audiobook will go on general release in early 2025. If you want an idea of how that’s going to sound RJ Bayley’s narration of A Roll of the Dice is out now, available on Audible, Spotify, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and many other retailers too.
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The final conflict between the Brotherhood of the Eagle and King Adalrikr Kinslayer approaches. Johan Jokellsward’s forces lay siege to Adalrikr’s stronghold, preparing to launch a deadly and decisive assault.
Far to the north, Rothgar returns to freshly liberated Norlhast, following his own adventures on the Fire Isle. Rothgar is reunited with his sister Nuna, and they prepare to sail with her husband, the Norlhast chief, to aid the Brotherhood and honour a broken oath.
Rothgar carries weapons forged by the gods, fashioned to defeat Adalrikr and undo his dark magic. Yet prophecies of ruin and failure follow Rothgar, and if those come to pass the Brotherhood’s efforts will end in tragic defeat. Is his destiny to defy those predictions, or will Rothgar lead everyone he loves to their doom?
In Broken Brotherhood, The Brotherhood of the Eagle series reaches its epic conclusion. Who will prevail, and at what cost?

In this guest blog post for Queen’s Book Asylum I’m celebrating reaching a major milestone in my writing journey and reflecting on where it all started. My latest novel, Broken Brotherhood, doesn’t just represent the completion of another book. It’s the conclusion of the Viking-inspired The Brotherhood of the Eagle fantasy series as well.
I’ll be honest, I’ve been so focussed on getting the final book finished it’s been a bit of a struggle to make the mental switch to head out on the promotional trail and start shouting about this one. “This is a big deal,” some of my friends have reminded me. “It’s not every day you finish writing an epic fantasy series.”
This is true and now Christmas is over and we’re into 2025 the scale of this has sunk in a little bit more, since it represents the end of a thirteen year long project writing four books totalling 600,000 words. In the style of Game of Thrones there are around 200 named characters involved during the course of this saga, operating within a web of shifting allegiances, divided loyalties and their own personal motivations. Keeping track of all this has not been easy. There have been in-depth character lists, clan histories were written, maps were drawn, chapter by chapter plot summaries created, tables recorded who carried which magical weapon and when those changed hands, blow by blow tactical overviews detailed the shifting fortunes of opposing forces as they clashed on the battlefield – and that’s all before we get to writing the book.
Characters I thought would die had other ideas and emerged from the saga… well, not quite unscathed but they were alive and that’s something to be grateful for! For others, I found their path led to Navan’s Halls, sometimes against my expectations. What started out as a series purely intended to entertain – this was really my love letter to epic fantasy – slowly became more reflective as the story progressed. Works of fiction, especially speculative fiction, provide an incredible canvas to explore complex concepts and ideas when you’re writing in a world one step removed from reality.
The story is certainly action-packed but other themes began to weave their way through the narrative as the series progressed. The experiences of the characters and how they responded to those challenges and hardships needed to be explored. What does it mean to face physical disability in a world which lionises the cult of the warrior? How do you deal with the fact you won’t get better and recover from life-changing injuries? How do you respond when you find you’re fighting on the wrong side of the conflict? Is there such a thing as too high a price to defeat evil?
It’s interesting to think about all of that whilst working on the release of the audiobook for Hall of Bones, which means I’m going back to the very beginning of the series at the same time as promoting its conclusion. Hall of Bones has been out there since 2020. Being able to look at that book afresh now I know how the whole epic saga ends has provided a new perspective on that first novel.

Part of the audiobook recording process is communicating to my narrator, RJ Bayley, the nature of the story, the feel of the setting and the essence of the characters. Cue more tables and a thirty page pronunciation guide (I’m sure RJ has absolutely no regrets about taking on this project). However, we also approached this using music and the thoughts and feelings evoked by particular songs. Through this process a playlist emerged, one which follows the broad story beats of Hall of Bones. Some of these musical pieces also feel more thematic, reflecting the tone of the series as a whole. I think tracks like West and Permafrost capture the indefinable nature of the magic in this fantasy world, and the fact the saga takes us on a journey of personal discovery. The Celts and Boadicea hark back to an earlier age, lost in the mists of time. Together We reflects on the importance of clan, found family and friendship.
As I write this piece RJ has now finished recording the audiobook. In the coming weeks we’ll be proofing those audio files to remove any errors. Having listened to the first cut I’ve loved this fresh interpretation of Hall of Bones. Much as I’m enjoying the fact the series has been completed, it’s been much more rewarding than I expected to return to where it all began. This project has helped me reappraise my early work and in some ways it was like reading it afresh. I was worried the book wouldn’t hold up against my later writing, as I think I’ve developed and grown as an author in the last five years. However, I really enjoyed rediscovering Hall of Bones with the benefit of distance and the experience was, to a degree, like reading it for the first time. I love this book, which will always hold a special place in my heart, and through RJ’s narration I think he’s added further depth to the work.
The Hall of Bones audiobook wouldn’t exist at all without my Kickstarter supporters. At the time, I thought I was creating something for them and my wider fanbase. However, it turned out this worldwide creative community gifted something back to me as well. Thank you.
You can find the Hall of Bones Spotify Playlist here and I’ve also set out a full list of the song titles together with the YouTube links below:
Dancing With A Ghost – St. Vincent
Together We – Clannad
The Celts – Enya
Battles – Clannad
Boadicea – Enya
Immigrant Song – Led Zepplin
First It Giveth – Queens of the Stone Age
Destroy Everything You Touch – Ladytron
Where’s Your Head At – Basement Jaxx
Permafrost – Marconi Union
West – Hammock
Heads Will Roll – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

If you liked what you read, please consider picking up a copy of Tim Hardie‘s new book, Broken Brotherhood!

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