Shadowfall (The Godslayer Chronicles, Book 1) - Hardcover

Clemens, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0451459946 ISBN 13: 9780451459947

Publisher: Roc Hardcover, 2005

Synopsis

Four millennia have passed since the gods came to Myrillia, creating the nine lands of peace as a haven from the nightmarish, accursed Hinterlands.

In all this time nothing has disturbed the harmony of the nine lands.But now the goddess of the Summering Isles has been murdered. The only witness is Tylar de Noche, a crippled and disgraced former Shadowknight. As he holds the dying goddess, her last breath bestows a powerful blessing on him-a mark that heals his broken body. A mark that many see as proof that he killed a god. A mark that unleashes a powerful force of darkness within him.

Chased across Myrillia by enemies both human and ethereal, Tylar must uncover and face down a being powerful enough to kill an immortal-the true godslayer. For if he fails, all of Myrillia will fall into shadow.

About this title

About the Author

James Clemens [Aka James Rollins] was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1961. With his three brothers and three sisters, he was raised in the Midwest and rural Canada. He attended the University of Missouri and graduated with a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1985. The lure of ocean, sun, and new horizons eventually drew him to the West Coast, where he established his veterinary practice in Sacramento, California, eventually settling for good in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

He is the author of The Banned and the Banished series (The Wit'ch War Saga) and The Godslayer Chronicles.

From the Back Cover

Praise for the Enthralling Fantasy of JAMES CLEMENS

"Grabs at your heart and tears a little hole, then tears another, and another—a brutal and beautiful ride." — R. A. Salvatore

"I loved every page. Clemens has constructed a world of magic that's never been seen before, with a cast of beings who are so engaging and entrancing that you never want the story to end" — John Saul

"Clemens demonstrates considerable skill at combining swift pacing with character development." — Library Journal

"Fresh, sparky details and enough plot convolutions to keep fans coming back for more." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Inside Flap

From James Clemens, whose Wit'ch novels have been compared to the fantasies of Guy Gavriel Kay and George R.R. Martin, comes the first novel in a new series—about a world where mysterious gods hold powerful secrets, knights walk in the shadows, and daemons claw up from the darkness....

Four millennia have passed since the hundred immortal gods came to Myrillia. Out of chaos they created the Nine Lands, blessed with their Graces and protected from the nightmarish Hinterlands, where rogue gods stalked across a barbarous wilderness. In all this time nothing has disturbed the peace of the Nine Lands.

Until now. For the impossible...the unthinkable...has happened. Meeryn, goddess of the Summering Isles, has been murdered.

The only witness was Tylar de Noche, a crippled and disgraced former Shadowknight who lives in agonizing shame of his past. He saw the dark entity that killed Meeryn. And as he held the dying goddess, her last breath bestowed a powerful blessing on him—a mark that healed his broken body. A mark that many see as proof that he killed a god. A mark that unleashed a powerful force of darkness within him.

Chased across Myrillia by enemies both human and ethereal, aided only by outcasts like himself, Tylar must uncover and face down a being powerful enought to kill an immortal—the true godslayer. If he fails, all of Myrillia will fall into shadow....

Reviews

For 4,000 years, the people of the Nine Lands have lived peacefully under the guidance of their hundred gods. When the goddess Meeryn is murdered, the peace is shattered, and Tylar de Noche, a defrocked knight who as sole witness is now sole suspect, must, rather predictably, find the killer and prove himself innocent. Tylar isn't too bright, but fortunately he can turn to Delia, a priestess who conveniently doubles as love interest, and to Rogger, a thief wise to the ways of the criminal underworld. Slogging hither and yon for scraps of clues, the three begin to suspect that the supposedly pacific gods are in fact engaged in an ongoing struggle for power and control. The self-absorption of the gods and the apathetic ignorance of the people form stumbling blocks on Tylar's quest, forcing a slow pace that makes sense in context but is frustrating. Once Clemens (Wit'ch Fire, etc.) understands that what characters do with their knowledge is more interesting than how they get it, things should pick up in future installments.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Nine Lands were created by, and still have, 100 gods. So one would think that the death of a single god wouldn't be all that momentous. But the death of Meeryn, goddess of the Sundering Isles, implies that a dark force that can destroy anything and everything is on the loose. Tylar de Noche, a crippled former Shadowknight, can identify the killer and also has received superhuman powers from the dying goddess. That makes him a marked man in the eyes of humans and dark entities, both certain that he is their enemy. This is one of those fantasy novels that could not have been written without the adjective dark, but Clemens, a seasoned fantasist, has broken darkness down into its various aspects and developed at great, possibly excessive, length how those aspects affect the world and the characters he creates. If hardly original in conception, the first volume of the Godslayer Chronicles is well above average in execution. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Roc Hardcover
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451459946
• ISBN 13: 9780451459947
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480