The Chronicles of Aethelgard Prime. The Shadow of the Crown - Jonathan Eberle

Aethelgard Prime is a world of shattered kingdoms and stolen stars. For centuries, the hybrid Fuhrer dynasty and their extraterrestrial masters, the Star-Lords, have crushed humanity under the weight of alien technology and medieval tyranny.

Kaelen Vesper is a nobody-a soot-stained slave in the hellish Obsidian Mines. But when he unearths the Star-Key, a dormant alien artifact that awakens only for him, he becomes the spark that sets the world on fire. From the subterranean depths to the city-sized wreckage of the Void-Stalker, Kaelen must lead a desperate band of rebels, including the disgraced knight Sir Alaric and the cunning scavenger Lyra.

Their mission: secure the planet's remaining Aether-Lead and seize the World-Engine before the atmosphere is permanently poisoned. As plasma-fired battlefields give way to brutal trench warfare in the Frozen Spires, Kaelen realizes the cost of freedom is higher than he ever imagined.

In a race against time and an impending interstellar invasion, can a group of fallen heroes unite a divided world? The Shadow of the Crown is the gripping first chapter in a saga of rebellion, sacrifice, and the struggle for planetary autonomy. The era of the Star-Lords is ending, but the war for Aethelgard has only just begun.