Sunday, October 04, 2009

Books in the Mail (W/E 10/04/2009)

Only one book this week, which isn’t such a bad thing since there are plenty of weeks when I receive far more books than I can read…


Noonshade (Chronicles of the Raven #2) by James Barclay (Pyr Trade Paperback 10/22/2009) – Second in The Chronicles of the Raven continuing the terrific “series” design for these books. Barclay is a great Sword & Sorcery writer and it’s great to finally see his books so readily available in the US.


The story in Noonshade picks up right where Barclay left readers at the conclusion of Dawnthief The super-spell Dawnthief was cast, eradicating the Wytch Lords, but leaving open a gate, or rather a tear in the sky of Balaia to neighboring dimensions. The most relevant and fascinating is the Dragon dimension. This could mean devastation for the land of Balaia considering how powerful the dragons in Barclay’s world truly are..

Barclay has improved his skill with this volume, which was already impressive. His crafting of the Dragon dimension is full of life and their history resonates with believability. He does an excellent job of imbuing the Dragons with a sense of intelligence, awe-inspiring power, and great character. In other words, James Barclay has take what many people expect of a fantasy dragon and given it his own spark of imagination.

Noonshade doesn’t miss a beat in terms of the action and continuing build of the Raven as a wonderful, memorable team of characters. Barclay masterfully weaves the differing storylines together, revealing a great story that comes to a satisfying conclusion, while knowing there is more in store for the Raven.
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