Lion of Farside Books in Order

This is Dalmas in portal-fantasy mode, though he never leaves strategy and war far behind. The series begins with Curtis Macurdy, a farmer who would be happy with a quiet life, and his wife Varia, who is not originally from Earth at all but from the magical world of Yuulith.

That private setup does not stay private for long. In The Lion of Farside, Varia is taken back across the dimensional barrier by the Sisterhood she once left behind. Curtis follows to rescue her and quickly learns that Yuulith does not care much about his plans. Guns fail, magic works, slavery is real, and survival depends on learning a new world fast.

The rescue story grows teeth.

What makes the series fun is the double setting. Earth is familiar, rural, and historically grounded. Yuulith is stranger, harsher, and shaped by old powers, rival peoples, and hidden gates. Curtis belongs to both places just enough to keep being pulled between them, but never enough to stay comfortable in either.

That split becomes even more important in The Bavarian Gate, where twentieth-century Earth history crashes into the fantasy side of the story. Nazi occult ambitions and another gate to Yuulith raise the danger from personal loss to world-scale disaster. By The Lion Returns, Curtis is trying to find peace after war, only to discover that old enemies, old secrets, and unfinished business in Yuulith are still waiting for him.

Across the books, Curtis changes from determined husband into a war leader others read almost as a legend. Dalmas keeps him grounded, though. However large the battles get, Curtis still feels like a man measuring choices against home, marriage, loyalty, and the cost of power.

The tone is adventurous, earnest, and full of movement. There are mystic gifts, strange allies, big campaigns, and a satisfying amount of practical thinking. Curtis wins as much by judgment and stubbornness as by force.

If you like portal fantasy that takes war and responsibility seriously, this is the shape of the series. Two worlds are always in play, and the real tension comes from trying to defend both without losing the ordinary life that made either of them worth saving in the first place.