The first book that I wrote in the Pantheon universe was the Baal Cycle. Drama? Political intrigue? Reckless violence? Fuck yeah.
Ugarit is being squeezed between two powerful pantheons, the Kemet pantheon and the Hatti pantheon. The latter, run by the self-assured storm god Tarhunt and his temperamental son, expects Baal to be king. But as much as Kemet’s smug envoy Sutekh would enjoy a new vassal storm god to hassle, Yam, Baal’s elder brother, would be far easier to intimidate and simple to control.
El chooses Yam as his successor, subtly allying Ugarit with Kemet. But Baal refuses to tolerate his kingship being ripped out of his hands and challenges Yam for the throne. He never expected that murdering his brother will upend his pantheon’s stability and force god against god into a civil war. Nor does he know that his actions will ultimately drive him into a violent confrontation with Ugarit’s death god, Mot - a confrontation Baal doesn’t realize he will lose until it’s too late.
Art commissioned from Igurumi