[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/series_d9b_triad.png]]

A series of HighFantasy novels by Robert Newcomb, notable for a) a ''literal'' gender war, with women as the baddies, and b) an amazingly vehement {{Hatedom}}, partly because of the gender war and partly because of rampant cliches.

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[[folder: The order of the books is: ]]

* ''The Fifth Sorceress'' (2002)
* ''The Gates of Dawn'' (2003)
* ''The Scrolls of the Ancients'' (2004)

The sequel trilogy is known as ''Literature/DestiniesOfBloodAndStone''. There were plans for a third trilogy, ''Victories of Blood and Stone'', but publisher Del Rey cancelled Newcomb's contract after the second trilogy was released.

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!!This series of books provides examples of:

* ActionGirl: By the third book, Shailiha is one of these, having apparently been practicing her swordsmanship off-page. Also in the third book is [[PirateGirl Tyranny]].
* AerithAndBob: We have Tristan, Nicholas, Morganna, and Shailiha all coming from the same family. In the same world, we also have Failee, Succiu, Wigg, Shannon the Small, etc.
* AirportFantasy: Is it ever. The books range between 400 to 700 pages, filled with sex and graphic violence, and the plots largely consist of standard action-packed epic fantasy quests.
* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Pilgrim the horse. It even plays fetch.
* {{Anticlimax}}: Conflicts have a tendency to be resolved suddenly and without much build-up. [[spoiler: For example, Failee doesn't even get a special death scene, she is killed off along with most other sorceresses while unable to fight back. Even more obviously, in ''The Gates of Dawn'' [[TheAntichrist Nicholas]] accidentally kills himself while trying to activate the titular gates for reasons that have been barely foreshadowed and which don't require any of the protagonists to so much as lift a finger to cause it]].
* ArcVillain: The series has a ''very'' high turnover rate in its villain cast, with most of them not surviving the book where they were introduced. Though the Heretics are the overall big bads of the entire series, each book therefore has its own specific antagonists:
** ''The Fifth Sorceress'' has the Coven sorceresses, with Failee as TheLeader and Succiu as the NumberTwo getting the most attention.
** ''The Gates of Dawn'' has [[EnfantTerrible Nicholas II]].
** ''The Scrolls of the Ancients'' has [[EvilSorcerer Krassus]] for most of the book, with [[EvilCounterpart Wulfgar]] taking over for the climax after he dies.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Apparently, Succiu can [[spoiler: go through a full-term pregnancy in about a day]] without suffering any ill-effects. Considering some of the other stuff she's done, [[spoiler:accelerating her pregnancy through black magic]] is par for the course.
* AsYouKnow: Happens a bit, especially whenever [[MrExposition Wigg]] is around. The wizards in general are prone to massive infodumps, which often contain things that their audience either already knows or could figure out on their own. The villains, especially the sorceresses, are also liable to infodump to each other any time they're not distracted by [[ForTheEvulz gratuitous depravity]].
* AuthorAppeal: Newcomb seems to be really into nudism, although only villains are nudists. Succiu has a particular tendency to walk around naked.
* AWizardDidIt: A common {{handwave}} in the series. If something unusual isn't the direct result of a wizard or sorceress's actions, it's often the result of the prophcies/someone's endowed blood/the craft itself jerking things around on its own initiative.
* TheBaroness: Succiu. She's definitely of the Sexpot variety, depicted as an attractive but cold, sadistic and arrogant dominitrix who loves combining sex and torture.
* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Taken to pretty ridiculous levels with the wizards, who basically ''allow'' the sorceresses to invade the kingdom, steal a magical artifact, capture/kill the royal family and let Tristan save everyone because it was prophesied it would happen. Instead of, y'know, taking steps to try and avoid this happening in the first place.
* BlackAndGrayMorality: Tristan sleeps with many women and is spoiled, while Wigg is a sexist who banned women from practicing magic without having to. The only reason they are not the bad guys in the first book is that the Sorceresses and the Minions are all serial rapists and murderers that can make almost anyone else look heroic compared to them.
* CartwrightCurse: Tristan. Evelyn, a [[FriendsWithBenefits woman he sleeps with early on]], is killed in the coronation massacre, Lilith [[spoiler: turns out to be Natasha in disguise]] and Narissa [[spoiler: is killed towards the end of the story]]. All in the first book, we might add. In later books, he falls in love with another woman, Celeste, who sticks around for several books [[spoiler: before she dies too]], giving Tristan a grand total of ''four''' dead lovers across across as many novels.
* ChosenOne: Tristan. He and his sister are literally called the "Chosen Ones" because of the abnormally high quality of their magical blood.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The Vagaries. In particular, the combining of the Vigors and the Vagaries for anyone who isn't the Chosen One.
* DepravedBisexual: All the sorceresses automatically become this when they start using dark magic, except for their leader Failee who claims to have grown out of it and isn't much interested in sex at all.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: The sorceresses, who are all killed off at the end of the first book, with five more (counting the SequelSeries) to go which introduce different villains.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Succiu rapes Geldon in her introduction because he laughed at her.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Tristan attention is ''constantly'' wandering to any attractive woman in the vicinity, especially in the first book. Wigg, in contrast, is [[NotDistractedByTheSexy never bothered]].
* DoorStopper: The first book has close to 700 pages. The sequels tone it down it a bit, having somewhere between 400 and 500 pages.
* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted. The sorceresses are reviled for the "rape and torture of both sexes", and [[spoiler: Tristan is nearly raped by Natasha, whom he kills, and later is horrifically raped by Succiu.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Why ''not'' to use the Vagaries. It starts with becoming a DepravedBisexual, and goes from there.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: When the sorceresses invade the kingdom. While the coven's ultimate plan is to TakeOverTheWorld, because their leader doesn't actually know what she's doing, the actual result of the spell she's trying to cast would destroy the world instead.
* EvilFeelsGood: "Hugely sexual longings" commence when using the Vagaries. This is [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness mostly ignored in later books]].
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Newcomb has a tendency to give things very blunt names that describe exactly what they are - Tristan and Shailiha are "the Chosen One," the MagicalSociety Wigg belongs to is "the Directorate of Wizards," the sorceresses' mooks are "the Minions", the sorceresses themselves are called "The Coven of Sorceresses" and so on. Some of these later get more "fantasy-ish" names; others are left as they are.
* ExtremeOmnisexual: A common result of sorcery, but Succiu deserves special mention, as her appetites include men, women, slave boys, dwarves, genetically mutated minions, other sorceresses, and [[spoiler: both the main character and his twin sister.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Shailiha joins the sorceresses, thanks to brainwashing. She gets better.]]
* FantasticArousal: The minions have a sensitive area on their wings. Succiu often [[{{Squick}} licks this area while sexing up minions]].
* ForTheEvulz: The motive of the sorceresses. Apparently, their overuse of the Vagaries drives them to engage in acts of rape, torture and other depravity just because.
* FunctionalMagic: The Vigors and the Vagaries are the good and evil aspects of "the craft" respectively, and are only usable by people that are born with endowed blood.
* GenreShift: Happens reasonably early in the first book. It starts out as fairly lighthearted or typical HighFantasy, complete with pony rides through the woods and following giant butterflies into a magic cave...then goes headlong into grimdark territory with lots of [[{{Gorn}} graphic violence]] and [[RapeAsDrama sexual assault]].
* GoodIsDumb: Yes, very dumb. Tristan has a tendency to charge into any situation without thinking it through whatsoever, while Wigg and the wizards are so beholden to their ObstructiveCodeOfConduct that they make easily avoidable mistakes for no discernable gain; sparing the Pentangle sorceresses is just the tip of the iceberg.
* HalfHumanHybrid: The Minions are magically-created hybrids of humans with Parthalon's local fauna, most obviously resulting in their [[WingedHumanoid wings]].
* HellBentForLeather: The sorceresses, Succiu in particular, seem fond of leather (when they actually bother to wear clothes).
* HonorBeforeReason: The wizards tend to follow this to the point of insanity. [[spoiler: It gets all but one of them killed very early on.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: Tristan is said to dislike [[LadyOfBlackMagic Lady Natasha]] (before he finds out she’s evil) because she allegedly [[ReallyGetsAround sleeps around]]. As he doesn't even bring up her husband, it makes it seem as though his problem with her is solely that she’s promiscuous, ''not'' that she’s ''married and promiscuous''. However, Tristan himself is notorious for being a womanizer, though apparently it’s okay if he does it because he’s “the hero” (and [[DoubleStandard a man]]).
* InformedAbility: The reader is repeatedly and emphatically told that [[BigBad Failee]], the leader of the sorceresses, is an unparalleled magical genius; even her enemies treat this as true. What we're actually shown is that she's an overconfident SmugSnake who ''thinks'' she's smarter than everyone else but doesn't really know what she's doing most of the time.
* KickTheDog: Newcomb wants to make sure we know that [[strike: all women]] the sorceresses are evil; if a scene featuring the sorceresses doesn't involve them expositing at each other at length, it will probably involve plenty of gratuitous torture and/or rape instead.
* LegoGenetics: Minions are humans who are given bat-like wings [[AWizardDidIt by magic]].
* LongLostRelative:
** Wulfgar, who is [[spoiler: Tristan and Shaihila's half-brother.]]
** Also Celeste, who is [[spoiler: Wigg's daughter.]]
* LoveAtFirstSight: Tristan towards ''three'' different girls. First Lilith, [[spoiler: who is a sorceress in disguise and tries to kill him]], then Narrissa, [[spoiler: who dies.]] And in the second book it happens again with Celeste.
* LukeIAmYourFather: {{Inverted}}. It's more of a [[spoiler: 'Luke I Am Your Son' moment, between Tristan and Nicholas II in the second book.]]
* MagicAIsMagicA: Downplayed. Despite being [[InfoDump excruciatingly explained]], the magic system is nonetheless vague and [[ContinuitySnarl sometimes contradictory]].
* MistakenAge: Meta-example. It's not unheard of for first-time readers of ''The Fifth Sorceress'' to initially believe Tristan is in his late teens due to his general behavior and attitude; he's a bit of a rebel and a womaniser who's LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces and is regularly DistractedByTheSexy, is rather naive about the history and lore of his kingdom (including his status as TheChosenOne) and is very reluctant about having to become king. This comes off as AgeAppropriateAngst and typical teen rebellion/life uncertainty stuff...until the reader finds out in the first act that Tristan is actually ''nearly thirty years old''.
* MookFaceTurn: Once [[spoiler:Tristan kills [[MookLiutenant Kluge]], all the other Minions stop being sadistic rapists and become Tristan's loyal guards instead.]]
* MsFanservice: Succiu walks around naked as much as possible. Overlaps with FanDisservice because of the fact that she's usually involved in some act of horrific evil at the time.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Succiu, who really acts like the worst incarnations of the succubi in media.
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Tristan is untrained, but as TheChosenOne can periodically pull new powers out of the aether as he needs them, most obviously at the climax of the first book when his powers still work when everyone else's are shut off because reasons.
* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: The source of the wizards' very foolish decision sparing the last sorceresses-they all swore an oath "to take no life except in urgent defense of self or others, or without fair warning." Of course, one might think capital punishment could be justified under either or both clauses... In spite of this too, stranding them with no supplies is fine, rather than tantamount to killing itself.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Tristan's general description and characterization leads a lot of readers to assume he's in his late teens...he's actually almost ''thirty''.
* OldMaster: Wigg, as head of the Directorate of Wizards, is a centuries old [[TheArchmage Archmage]] and Tristan's mentor, in theory. In practice he's rather ineffectual.
* PlotHole: Many, often due to bad editing.
* RapeAsDrama: This happens ''[[GratuitousRape constantly]]''. Particularly following the coronation massacre, the story feels the need to point out that the queen and several other women were all raped before they were murdered, even though it has zero effect on the plot and them being violently killed was already bad enough.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Most of the wizards and sorceresses are around 300-400 years old, but don't look their age, since the "Time Enchantments" that grant immortality freeze a person at the age they were when the enchantments were put on them.
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Narissa’s sole purpose to the plot is being Tristan’s LoveInterest, [[spoiler: then [[StuffedInTheFridge dying horribly to show how EVIL the villains are and to cause some more angst for Tristan]]]].
* SequelHook: Tristan's father appears to him in a dream ''for the sole purpose'' of giving a SequelHook. Gee, dad, thanks for confirming that my life will continue to suck even if I survive this book.
* SingleTear: "Single tears" are very common. At one point, a character cries two tears, and the author manages to write it out as two single tears.
* SkewedPriorities: When Tristan gets with Lilith [[spoiler:and she turns to be Natasha in disguise]], he is more bothered by the fact [[spoiler:that it will be hard ot find a perfect woman like Lilith pretended to be]] than by [[spoiler:being raped by someone who also planned to kill him afterwards.]]
* SmugSnake: Failee. She considers herself enlightened beyond compare, but her plans involve making her troops kill each other during training, sending [[MonsterOfTheWeek one monster at the time]] and needlessly complicated brainwashing that can be lethal. Even InUniverse, Succiu, who usually only thinks about rape, questions her plans.
* StupidGood / TooDumbToLive: 327 years ago, after defeating the sorceresses in war, the wizards decided to exile them instead of executing them, despite the leader's warning that they would return. It gets better. Despite it being prophesied that the sorceresses would return and steal the [[MacGuffin magic stone]] during Tristan's coronation, due to the wizards being temporarily {{depower}}ed, the wizards still insist on having a public coronation in the castle. Guess what happens.
* TheUnfavourite: A downplayed example, as it has little effect on the story, but Morganna privately admits to herself that Tristan has always been her favorite over Shailiha…for some reason.
* UnstablePoweredWoman: {{Exaggerated|trope}}. ''Every'' sorceress is an AxCrazy, sadistic, sexually-aggressive CardCarryingVillain, with no exceptions (the same does not apply to wizards). After Princess Shailiha loses her memory and is brought over to the sorceresses' side, she supports them unquestioningly [[spoiler:and even makes creepy advances upon her own twin brother, though luckily she gets brought back to the side of good before she does anything too drastic]].
* VillainousIncest: [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn Shailiha]] makes some less-than-sisterly comments about her captive [[{{Twincest}} twin]] [[BrotherSisterIncest brother]]]], though fortunately she doesn't get a chance to do more than that. Because of brainwashing, [[spoiler: she]] didn't know he was her brother at the time.
* YouKilledMyFather: Well, actually, Tristan kills his own dad - at the orders of a villain - and then attacks them, screaming "You made me kill my father!"
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