The Barbarians Books in Order

The Barbarians opens up a different corner of Nathan Lowell's imagination, trading starships for caravans and corporate planets for a kingdom built on salt. Set in the same broader universe as the Tanyth Fairport books but focused on new characters and cultures, it has the feel of epic fantasy filtered through his interest in trade and logistics.

The first book, Salt, follows two young men on intersecting paths. Prince Tanan is pushed by his parents into a whirlpool of palace intrigue and expectations. To understand why the kingdom's salt production is faltering, he is sent upriver among the common laborers who mine and move the mineral that underpins the realm's wealth. Away from court, he has to learn what his people actually do all day and what the economy looks like from the ground.

Out on the grasslands, First Rider Sukhetai steps into a role normally held by his father, leading the annual caravan across the plains to trade for salt. His people are horseborn, used to open horizons and their own codes of honor, and he is driven by both ambition and the fear of failing the riders who trust him. The journey is long and dangerous, with weather, terrain, and human scheming all waiting to trip him.

Between the salt kingdom and the grass people lies the Great Caravanserai of Gujarat, where a prayer carved into stone hints at older obligations that neither side fully remembers. As Tanan and Sukhetai move toward the same destination from opposite directions, they are each forced to weigh justice against mercy and tradition against change.

Like Lowell's spacefaring stories, The Barbarians spends as much time on camp chores, trade negotiations, and quiet conversations as it does on confrontations. The stakes are large, involving nations and succession, but the narrative keeps pulling back to how individuals choose to act when nobody is watching.

For readers who enjoy the grounded feel of his other work but want swords, horses, and wide grass seas instead of reaction mass and cargo pods, this series offers a rich new landscape to explore.