Dawnthief by James Barclay (First UK Edition) File Copy

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
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