Forging Paradise — E.A. Rappaport

After a supposedly mythical race of desert warriors invades the human territories and destroys every city in its path, five former enemies must travel together into the netherworld and harness the unpredictable power of demons to defeat the seemingly invincible army.

An unrelenting army of Ferfolk, a supposedly mythical race of desert warriors, sweeps in from the badlands and wipes out every human city in its path. Hermod, a long-retired military commander, escapes the destruction and gathers emissaries from neighboring kingdoms, all of them recent enemies. Together, they must find a way to defeat the Ferfolk's overwhelming numbers, superior swordsmanship, and monstrous desert beasts. Legendary wizard Ogma sends the brave heroes into a demon-filled netherworld on a desperate quest to create a set of magical weapons powerful enough to stop the invasion. But enchanted weapons sometimes have agendas of their own.

Forging Paradise is Book Two in Legends of the Four Races, a series of nine high fantasy novels that form an Interlocking Matrix of six separate trilogies. Forging Paradise may be read on its own, as the second book of The Weapons Trilogy, or as the first book of The War Trilogy.