Dawnthief by James Barclay (First UK Edition) File Copy

James Barclay

ISBN 10: 185798594X / ISBN 13: 9781857985948

Published by Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1999

About this Item

Dawnthief by James Barclay (First UK Edition) File Copy A sharp tight copy. Publisher's archive copy. Trade paperback. First published in Great Britain in 1999 by Victor Gollancz, stated. Book One: Chronicles of the Raven.

Seller Inventory # SCX2159-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Dawnthief by James Barclay (First UK Edition) File Copy
• Publisher: Victor Gollancz Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 185798594X
• ISBN 13: 9781857985948
• Binding: Softcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Book Type: BOOK
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fantasy

About this title

Synopsis

"Enthralling...gritty, down-to-earth. The best new fantasy I've read in years."-Maggie Furey

"Action fantasy at its best"-SFX

"Barclay...has a great eye for action....A scorching debut."-Time Out

"Full of magic and adventure and immensely enjoyable from start to finish."-John Marco

Six men and an elf make up The Raven, swords for hire in the wars that have torn apart the land of Balaia. For years, they have remained loyal only to themselves and their code. But a secret mission has changed that, and drawn them into a new world of politics and ancient mysteries. Now the band has chosen to fight for the Dark College of Magic. They want the location of Dawnthief, a spell to end the world-a spell The Raven intends to cast...

Reviews

Blood, sex and magic dance (sort of awkwardly) to a Terry Brooks tune in the pages of James Barclay's sprawling epic Dawnthief, the first book in his Chronicles of the Raven series. When members of the mercenary gang The Raven (motto: "Kill But Never Murder") agree to accompany a Xeteskian mage on his journey, little do they know that he will hold their destinies and the fate of the world in his hands, as he struggles to destroy the Wytch Lords, command the Dawnthief spell and live long enough to be a father to his unborn child.

Barclay's hefty novel launches the Chronicles of the Raven, but be of good cheer, for it injects some originality into the traditional fantasy saga recipe. The Raven is a band of six humans and one elf in the war-torn kingdom of Balaia, which Barclay fills with the fruits of his considerable knowledge of military history and folklore. The comrades are no nicer than fellows loyal to one another and no one else need be, and their latest commission is a poser for them. They are to escort a Xeteskian mage, who is working for only the gods know whom, on a mission to find Dawnthief, a ring, or more precisely, a spell connected to a ring, that in the wrong hands could end the world. The mission is backed and supervised by the Dark College, which is even more untrustworthy than the mage. So matters rapidly deteriorate, to a cliffhanger ending. The narrative may be jumbled, but Barclay builds a world and peoples it intelligently. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved