A Readers Guide By A. H. Lewis
An invitation into the Awakened World, its people, and the stories they leave behind.
If you're new to the Durajan Series, the best place to begin is The Chronicles of Durajan, Book One of the Durajan Series. The novels tell one continuous story and are intended to be read in order.
But before you begin, I'd like to share a little about the world you're entering, what kind of story I've set out to tell, and the many ways you can explore it beyond the pages of the books.
I've always been drawn to sweeping stories. Stories of kingdoms and empires, gods and belief, courage and sacrifice. Worlds that feel as though they existed long before we arrived and will continue long after we've gone.
But I've also carried questions about the people who live within those worlds. The ones whose names never find their way into the histories. Those who endure the consequences of decisions made by people far more powerful than themselves.
What happens to them? What becomes of their beliefs, their histories, their families, and their sense of who they are when everything is taken from them?
And what might happen if they are given the chance to begin again?Those questions became the foundation of the Durajan Series.
The Awakened World is a land of Nine Nations, each shaped by its own histories, cultures, languages, and faiths. Between them lies the Durajan, a vast territory established as a place of banishment. A land where the condemned, the unwanted, and the forgotten are sent to disappear.
It is here that the story begins.Not with the rise of a great empire, but with two people who have lost nearly everything, and the possibility that something extraordinary might grow from what remains.
I describe the Durajan Series as literary epic ancestral fantasy.
It has the scale of an epic: nations, wars, political struggles, ancient faiths, myth, mystery, and the rise of powers that reshape the world around them.But it also has the intimacy of a journal.
I've always believed that the most compelling part of heroism often takes place before the sword is drawn, or after it has been put away. The decision to act. The doubt that precedes it. The consequences that follow. I wanted to explore those moments with the same care given to great battles and extraordinary events.
So while the books contain conflict, adventure, love, violence, and moments of the fantastical, much of their heart lies in the relationships between people. Their conversations, their beliefs, the ways they misunderstand one another, the bonds they form, and the choices they make when tested.
There are characters of extraordinary strength and ability, certainly. But there are also ordinary people whose smallest decisions may leave the greatest marks upon the world. I wanted the Durajan to feel lived in. A place of people, not simply a setting for heroes.
One of the more distinctive aspects of the series is the way the story is told. The Durajan Series is not exclusively a collection of journal entries, nor is it a conventional single-perspective narrative. It is a continuous story told through a chorus.
The novels unfold through scenes, dialogue, and narrative, alongside signed journals, personal recollections, records, and testimony. Together, these voices allow the reader to experience events as they happen and understand how those events are remembered by the people who lived through them. That distinction matters to me.
Two people may stand beside one another through the same experience and carry very different memories of it. A victory for one may be a tragedy for another. A choice made with love may be remembered with sorrow.
There is something profoundly human in that.
Within the story, Dothemides encourages the people of Dothemia to keep journals. To record their experiences, their hopes, their fears, and their lives. To leave something behind that cannot so easily be taken from them. And in many ways, that became the guiding principle of the books themselves. Not every life will become legend. Not every person will be remembered by a nation. But every life has a story worth telling.
The Chronicles of Durajan introduces Dothemides, a veteran of war and servitude, and Samike, a determined woman escaping her past. Both have been banished to the Durajan, a land where the forgotten are sent to disappear.
Their unlikely partnership becomes the foundation of Dothemia, a sanctuary for those cast aside by the Nine Nations.
Spanning seventeen years, the story follows the growth of a community, the bonds that give it strength, and the rising threats that challenge everything its people have built.This is where I would begin.
Explore The Chronicles of Durajan — Read a Sample, Watch the Trailer, or Find Your Edition
Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook.
If The Chronicles of Durajan asks what it takes to build a home, The Empires of Durajan asks what it takes to protect one, and what may be lost in the process.
In the south, Dothemia has grown into a power shaped by remembrance and hard-won mercy. In the north, Stormraven rises under the leadership of Svirva, a warrior determined to unite a people long divided.
Over seven years, alliances are tested, beliefs challenged, and the consequences of yesterday's choices begin to shape the future.
The question is no longer whether the Durajan will endure, but what it will become.
Explore The Empires of Durajan — Read a Sample, Watch the Trailer, or Find Your Edition
Available in hardcover and ebook.
The Song of Durajan carries the saga deeper into questions of inheritance, memory, faith, and the mysteries of the Awakened World.
As old powers struggle with the consequences of their rise, new voices emerge, and the stories of the past begin to reshape the future.
The fourth planned novel, The Legacy of Durajan, will continue the story.
Discover The Song of Durajan
The novels are the heart of Durajan, but the world extends well beyond their pages. Through original illustrations, maps, calendars, languages, and lore, I've been building a place readers can explore for themselves. Each is another way of understanding the people, cultures, and beliefs that shape the story.
You can trace the bonds of family, ancestry, and legacy through Bloodlines of the Remembered, a living record of the relationships that shape the Durajan across generations.
You can wander through the Map of the Awakened World, discover the rhythms of the Calendar, explore the Faiths of the Last Gods, or uncover the languages and ancient script of the Duravela.
There's also the Book of Nosnah Velasura, an illustrated journal of the world and its people, alongside The Art of Durajan.
None of these are required before reading. They're simply invitations to linger a little longer in the world.
The Chronicles of Durajan is also available as an audiobook, narrated by A'rese Emokpae.
Hearing the journals, conversations, and memories of the Awakened World given voice has been a remarkable experience for me. A'rese brings a depth and humanity to the characters that offers another way to experience their stories.
Explore the Audiobook and Listen to a Sample
One of the unexpected rewards of sharing Durajan has been discovering what others find within its pages. Readers have spoken to me about their family histories, cultural memories, faith, identity, and the ways these stories have reflected something of their own lives.
Professional recognition has been equally encouraging. The Chronicles of Durajan was named a BookLife Editor's Pick by Publishers Weekly, received praise from Kirkus Reviews, and was described by BookTrib as a triumphant debut that feels both classic and fresh.
The Empires of Durajan has continued that recognition, including a GET IT verdict from Kirkus Reviews.
I'm grateful for every review. But it's often the conversations with readers that stay with me longest. Someone recognizing a part of themselves in a character, or carrying a question from the story into their own life. That's the kind of connection I hoped these books might create.
You can find the complete reviews on the individual book pages, or explore my creative philosophy in A. H. Lewis on Building the World of Durajan.
The series is intended to be read in order, beginning with The Chronicles of Durajan. Everything you need to enter the Awakened World is there within its pages.
If you're curious about the journals, the lore, the author, or what lies ahead, I've gathered more answers in the Alania Press FAQ.
The Durajan Series began in scattered notes, quiet moments, and questions I've carried for much of my life. I didn't know how expansive the world would become, or whether anyone beyond my closest circle would ever want to explore it. I only knew that I wanted to try.
Over time, what began as an effort to tell a story became something much more personal. A way to explore what I believe, what I question, and what I hope might endure long after we are gone. And now, with readers finding their way into this world, it has become something more again.There is still so much I want to tell, so much of the Awakened World left to discover, and so many voices waiting to be heard.
If you've found your way here, thank you for taking an interest in the world I've been building. I hope you'll come to know its people, find something of yourself in their experiences, and perhaps carry a little of their stories with you when you've finished reading. That would mean a great deal to me.
A. H. Lewis
Author, Illustrator, and Creator of the Durajan Series
All ambitious worlds have their languages. Constructed languages—or conlangs—are what make worlds feel truly alive. From Tolkien’s Quenya and Sindarin, to Star Trek’s Klingon, to Game of Thrones’ Dothraki and Valyrian, these lend their worlds texture, rhythm, and truth.
I wanted to do the same here and try to build a system where meaning shifts across borders and faiths. The dialects of the Nine Nations and the Alltongue, all exist in dialogue, each shaped by history, geography, and belief.
When I began, I wanted them to be more than scattered names or aesthetic flourishes. Language, to me, is one of the deepest vessels of culture. It carries memory, faith, power, and fracture. To give each nation a voice meant treating language with a kind of near-scientific discipline: not just inventing words, but exploring how meaning evolves, diverges, and collapses.
I started with proto-roots: small, essential sounds tied to universal ideas like strength, flame, memory, hollow, wolf, dawn. These are the bedrock of every dialect. Nations bend them into their own forms, attaching endings or syllables that reflect their worldview. For example, DUR becomes “Duramhan” in Carnoth but “Duratus” in Tharios. The concept is shared, but the voice is not.
The next layer was adjectives, like pale, silent, burning, forgotten. These are not random; they are the kinds of qualities cultures mark as sacred or cursed. They give texture and emotion. Calling someone “Pale Dura” or “Silent Ashra” already feels like a fragment of myth or epithet.
To give these fragments structure, I added prepositions, such as of, with, through, against, beyond, without. These are simple in form but profound in meaning: the way a culture links ideas reflects the way it sees the world. Skarn might privilege “with” (the wolf pack), while Tharios leans on “of” (possession, order). The connectors turn loose words into relationships.
The language of the Creed. Where nations build, the Creed erases. Their tongue cuts away lineage, strips adjectives, and collapses gods into the void. What remains are bare syllables without memory. To the nations, this is desecration. To the Creed, it is salvation.
Every phrase generated here follows the same ritual structure:
Subject + Verb + Preposition + Adjective + Root
The result is not meant to be everyday speech, but rather fragments of inscription, chant, or war cry.
This is a 4.0 version of the system. Like a real language, it will evolve. Future iterations may add dialect-specific endings, archaic vs modern shifts, idioms, or even grammatical quirks that break the current structure.
Don't think of it as a dictionary, but a framework that aims to show how words can be born, bent, and stripped of heritage.
Update History
1.0. Base language tool
2.0 Deeper phrase structure
3.0 Designed base Dura font Dura 1.0 26 letters
4.0 Updated base Dura font Dura 2.0 refined letters and addition of numeric glyphs
Next Update
Deeper exploration of dialect distinctions among the Nine Nations, including unique prefix and suffix variations to word roots.
BEGIN THE JOURNEY
BOOK ONE OF THE DURAJAN SERIES
Or learn more about the author and creative journey through The Making of Meaning.
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BEGIN THE JOURNEY
BOOK ONE OF THE DURAJAN SERIES
Or learn more about the author and creative journey through The Making of Meaning.
