The Host Ladder

By Peter Okafor

The jar is open. The thing inside Daniel Mercer has learned how to organize the living.

Ashur-Namra no longer wants merely to hide inside a stolen body. It is building the Host Ladder: a hierarchy of hosts, institutions, cults, military assets, and ancient artifacts capable of turning human civilization into the nervous system of a new empire.

As museums awaken and governments race to weaponize what they do not understand, Mara Mercer stops running. With Lily, Noah, archaeologist Samir al-Khatib, and a handful of compromised allies, she begins striking at the Ladder one rung at a time.

But every victory exposes a larger battlefield. Alien scavengers hunt the same relics. The dead whisper through Noah. Intelligence agencies mistake apocalypse for opportunity. And Daniel-trapped behind his own eyes-learns that resistance may require using his own body against the king inside him.

The war is no longer about possession.

It is about infrastructure.

And if the Ladder is completed, humanity may discover too late that it built the throne itself.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HDG19P7R
• ISBN13: 9798191357188
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 358 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"