Customer Reviews

Dawnthief (Chronicles of the Raven 1)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dawnthief is likely to appeal to the reader who wants a military fantasy with an emphasis on the bonds of teaming. There is a great deal of action, reasonably complex military thinking, and a focus on brotherhood.

The basic idea behind the notion of the books of the Raven is that there is a mercenary group which has become the best in the land by virtue of the fact that it puts the group above (almost) all other things. In this introductory book, the surviving members of the Raven give up the notion of retirement in order to fight a desperate battle for the higher good of the entire nation.

I am a fantasy reader who enjoys complex politics, detailed descriptions and a great deal of individual character development. (Think George R.R. Martin or Tad Williams as writers). If you are a reader like myself, there is a reasonably good chance that Dawnthief is not going to be your cup of tea. If you are a more Marion Zimmer Bradley or Sheri S. Tepper kind of fantasy reader (priestesses, universal bonds of understanding, etc.) then this is *definitely* not going to be the book for you.

I suspect that the ideal reader of this book is someone who gets bored with all the talkative bits of some of the more drawn out fantasies, and would like more action and military bonding.

The system of magic is well-created and as noted before, Barclay is a skilled writer of action scenes. I found some of the character development truly awful (most notably Erienne, the only significant female character), but then the individual character is not really the point of the reading experience. If you are the right reader for this book, then the minor quarrels should not bother you. If you are the wrong reader, best to give it a miss.

No spoilers, as always.

Pyr SF&F has been doing the US some favors over the past year by publishing novels that were previously only available in the UK. One of Pyr's most recent acquisitions is James Barclay's DAWNTHIEF. By bringing us this novel, we are treated to an honest-to-goodness adventure.

It seems like every Heroic Fantasy novel that is released is inevitably compared to the work of the late David Gemmell. Rarely do they deserve any comparison. Barclay's DAWNTHIEF, however, is truly worthy of the comparison to the works of Gemmell. In fact, Gemmell was a close friend of Barclay's, and I'm sure he would be more than proud of the reception Barclay's work has received thus far here in the US.

Now, there are a few things to make note of when reading this novel. DAWNTHIEF was originally published back in 1999 in the UK. In the fantasy industry, that is ages ago, and the state of the genre has changed. The novel feels very much in the tradition of 90's Heroic Fantasy based in role-playing games. Also, to my initial dismay, it has elves in it. I don't exactly like elves in novels anymore... Lastly, there are some rough transitions from scene to scene--especially in the beginning of the novel--likely due to this being Barclay's first novel.

Alright, now that those small things are out of the way, here is the good news (and there is a lot of it). I want you to picture a collaborative dream in which Gemmell and George R.R. Martin worked together. You have the intense, fast-paced, heroic action of Gemmell mixed with the brutal tone that Martin is famous for. Sound awesome? It should, and that is exactly the type of novel Barclay gives us with DAWNTHIEF. It is definitely much more brutal than Gemmell's novels, but not quite as harsh as Abercrombie's. Let's just say the body count is...high. Just how I like it.

Elves. Even the mention of them bothers me. It especially bothers me when authors try to fool us by using elves, but calling them by different names (read: WINTERBIRTH by Brian Ruckley--a truly boring novel unworthy of its Gemmell comparisons). So, I was shocked when I realized I was enjoying the elves in Barclay's novel. What made it good? Barclay didn't force it down my throat. He essentially just said, "Hey, this guy is an elf. Nifty huh?" If he hadn't mentioned that there were elves, I might not have noticed. It was just a character trait. In DAWNTHIEF, it worked surprisingly well. It gets more prevalent in later novels, but he still handles it exceptionally well.

The characters are enjoyable, witty, and extremely skilled in the art of killing you dead. The world is surprisingly deep for what many will erroneously consider a hack-n-slash generic fantasy. To me, it was obvious that Barclay extensively built the back-story of his world. There are few times where he "tells" rather than "shows," but we get a good sense of a world deceptively rich in history and detail.

Remember, this is Barclay's first novel. He has published eight other novels since (and 2 novellas). With a first novel that holds so much promise, DAWNTHIEF made me quite excited to read further in the series. Barclay himself said his books got better and better with each novel under his belt.

Further reviews of Barclay's novels will come, and since I originally put this review on my blog, Elitist Book Reviews, I have chatted with Barclay extensively. Simply put, he is one of the nicest authors I have even met. Read his books. Now.

Recommended Age: 17 and up for content (see below).
Language: Every now-and-again you get some strong language. Nothing close to what you see in Abercrombie, but notable all the same.
Violence: Hello? Love child of Gemmell and Martin...of course there is violence. The main characters are all mercenaries. They kill for a living.
Sex: Two scenes, both fairly graphic, but not overly long.

I came accross this novel while browsing through amazon.co.uk, and after reading the synopsis and positive reviews of it, and the sequels, I decided to get all of them. And what a treat!

The first novel, Dawnthief, introduces the reader to The Raven, a ledendary mercenary group, and their struggles to rid West Balaia of a great predicament. I will not spoil the book by giving any details, but let me just say that The Raven go through many mis/adventures before they accomplish their mission. Or do they? :) Anyway, this is one of the fastest paced and action packed fantasy novels I have recently read, and the characters and dialog come accross as real world, not contrived theater drama. The conversations and behaviors are so real, that at first it might be hard to follow, and might lead to some believing there is little character development in the book. I disagree however, because first of all the characters come into the story grown and skilled, so there isn't much for them to discover about themselves or new skills they can acquire while we cheer them on. And second the characters don't spend pages and pages in thought or monologue revealing themselves to the reader. Instead, Barclay lets the reader see through the actions of the characters, and through dialog, what the characters see as right or wrong, and how they do develop throughout the novel.

Another strong point that the book has, and which many these days don't, is that the people are not immortal. People actually die in this book! And not just the "bad guys". All, and I mean ALL the protagonists are susceptible, and this gives the reader quite a rollercoaster ride in heart beat rate throughout the book and especially during the battle scenes.

I hope this book and the rest in the series become more popular in the US, and get printed here. Don't miss out on this great read even if it is a little hard to get a copy of it now. This is truly a classic in the making.

This review is not aimed at the content of the book; rather at the utter lack of care for formatting the Kindle edition.

Not only do I find hyphenated words in the middle of the page, chapters are not page dependent and may occur anywhere on the page, and now line spacing has gone to heck in a handbasket as well.

That's what prompted me to write the review. I literally have a g and a d that are overlapping!

That said, it's readable; but I tell you when the formatting is so bad that it effects the flow of the writing - it need re-done.

Hopefully an anomaly.

I didn't enjoy this book. It had a tendency to abruptly switch scenes without much in the way of transition. I didn't get involved with any of the characters--the book was a bit aloof. Too many of the main characters were killed too easily, especially for a fighting group that had gone 10 years with only 3 casualties. But the main problem was that it took effort to read. For me, well-written fiction books typically don't require much effort.

I'm rather amazed that this books got some so-so reviews... it's great fun. If you enjoy David Gemmel or Steven Erickson, this is a rousing adventure tale you'll enjoy. It's a shame these books don't have a US publisher. I almost put this book down about 1/3 of the way into it, but I stuck with it and was pulled in by it's action and charm. Very satisfying and am ordering more by this author.

I love nitty-gritty military fantasy and I truly enjoyed this book. Barclay is not afraid to let his characters explore the qualms of life and self:devotion, love, suffering, sacrifice, and death. Though the book does end well, not everyone gets away with a happy ending

The Raven is perhaps the premier mercenary band, and their services are much sought after. However, their latest job is perhaps their most important - the Wesman barbarians are preparing to invade eastern Balaia again, and this time they are supported by the nearly omnipotent Wytch Lords. It's the Raven's job to help a dark wizard gather what he needs to cast the ultimate doomsday spell, and direct it at the Wytch Lords. It's more than just another job for the Raven, and they are going to have to work to their utmost if they are going to even survive this one!

OK, where do I start with this one? This book had all of the makings of a great work of Fantasy, but somehow it just never comes together. The book follows the Raven on a series of adventures, but the characters seem to move along without a sense of hurry, giving the story the feeling of a D&D game, rather than an apocalyptic race to save the world. Another, albeit minor, complaint is that one character is described as "an elf" but what that means in this world is never explained, nor does it seem to make him any different from any other character. (I mean, what does an elf look like? Do they have any special powers or abilities? Do they live in forests or in cities? Are they larger or smaller than humans? Etc.)

Admittedly, towards the end, the story does develop some suspense, as the characters move to the finale of the book, and the story becomes quite gripping at that point. But, nonetheless, the book is missing some vital energy that keeps it from being the great book it should have been. I am forced to give this book a guarded recommendation.

The Raven, a small but renowned band of mercenaries, is on a mission when it encounters a troublesome mage. Denser is a Dark Mage, from one of the four very separate and competitive colleges of magic, and he wants to hire the Raven at a price they can't refuse (even if they wish to, since none of them have a liking for dark mages). Denser is on a mission to find the Dawnthief, a spell so dangerous that it may cause the end of the world as they know it. Old enemies--the Wesmen of the lands beyond the mountain pass and the Wytch Lords, sorcerers who were banished from the world long ago, are on the move once again and the land of Balaia is vulnerable. The only thing that might have a chance of defeating the Wytch Lords is the Dawnthief spell, and Denser is the only one knowledgeable in how to cast it.

Battles and raids and killing and death ensue. Those who like character-driven fiction or political fantasy might not enjoy this as much as those who just enjoy a good adventure with lots of action and some bad guys to overcome. There is a reason why members of the Raven are not mentioned in the cover blurbs: they are important as components of the Raven, but not really as separate characters to build a story around--which is just as well as any of them could be killed and replaced as things go along! It's realistic, but definitely not for those who really want to bind themselves to a character in order to follow them through their adventures.

As I'm rather more of a fan of character-driven stories with complex world-building and detailed cultures and societies, I wasn't that taken by this book, even though it was well-enough written and excitingly paced, hence my "OK" rating. It was also somewhat standard for a fantasy adventure, plot-wise (small group of guys against overwhelming force and magic), and the Raven consisted of a barbarian (what kind of barbarian and why his people are thought barbaric was not explained), a magic-user elf (what kind of elf and how they differ from humans aside from the pointy ears, also not detailed), a big fighter-guy, several others who seemed very much like they should be wearing red shirts, and the popular guy who got all the women; which is enough said if you love to role-play and just want to read an adventure... but I obviously wanted a little more. Still a good adventure, though.

I bought this book based solely on the front cover endorsement of the late great David Gemmell whose Drenai books have captured my imagination for years - I enjoy reading nothing more than heroic fantasy - fast paced, action packed with a believable world and characters I can relate to. I was not disappointed.

The genius of this entry into the genre is you cannot trust that the characters that start a chapter will be still be alive at the end of the chapter - they don't die in huge heroic set pieces - but because they fight for a living they do die - it's refreshing if somewhat alarming.

If you are looking for the fantasy equivalent of Tolstoy please look elsewhere - but if you want to switch off and read some classic heroic fantasy buy this book today - but when you're still up at 3:00am unable to put the book down, please don't blame me - it's all James Barclay's doing.