Kearney made his name with the stand-alone novels "The Way to Babylon" (1992), "A Different Kingdom" (1993) and "Riding the Unicorn" (1994). All these novels had some common threads, most notably the use of a hero from our world who journeys into a fantastical one. Despite strong reviews, these books had commercially disappointing sales, and Kearney was asked to consider a more traditional fantasy epic. The outcome was the "Monarchies of God", which brought him a measure of success, and ran to five volumes.