The Malice
core novel 2016 The Vagrant Trilogy
Record
| First published | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.96 (2,500 ratings, collected 2026-08-27) |
| Page count | 451 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780007593170 |
| Internal chronology | 2 |
Synopsis
The Malice, published in 2016, is the second novel in Peter Newman's Vagrant Trilogy. Years have passed since the first book, and the infant girl the Vagrant once carried has grown into a young woman named Vesper, who now wields her father's sword and travels with her own small band of companions, including a taciturn soldier named Duet and a goat descended from the original. As Vesper journeys south through the demon-ravaged world she inherited, the novel interweaves her present-day story with a second timeline set a thousand years earlier, following a character called Massassi growing up before the Breach ever opened. Central to both threads is the Malice, the sentient sword carrying a fragment of the fallen champion Gamma, whose own will and judgment do not always align with Vesper's, complicating her fight against the forces still loyal to the Usurper.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Vagrant Trilogy
- Series: The Vagrant Trilogy core; position 2 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Peter Newman
Notes
- From the series record (The Vagrant Trilogy): Post-apocalyptic dark fantasy trilogy; winner of the 2016 Morningstar Award.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Vagrant Trilogy: position 2 of 3: previous The Vagrant (2015) · next The Seven (2017)
Sources
- Peter Newman official site -- The Vagrant Trilogy
- Wikipedia -- Peter Newman (author)
- David Gemmell Awards -- 2016 Morningstar Award winners
- https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2017/12/malice-peter-newman/
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