Nightchild: Chronicles of the Raven [Paperback]

James Barclay (Author)

Book Description

Series: Chronicles of the Raven 3 | Publication Date: September 28, 2002

A new saga from one of the most successful fantasy authors ever!

It all began with a tidal wave...A new power is coming that will sweep aside the four colleges of magic-a power manifested in four-year-old Lyanna. If, unknowing, she unleashes her full force, she will destroy the land of Balaia. With freak storms already battering the continent, it's clear she is already wreaking havoc on the mana flows holding the fabric of the world together. Must she be stopped? Should she be helped? Once again, five years after they saved Balaia by sealing the rip in the dragon dimension, the Raven must gather to face an agonizing, heartbreaking mission. Can they kill a child? Can they afford not to? Their dilemma will pit friend against friend, father against mother, Raven against Raven.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Having repaired a dimensional rip and stopped a barbarian invasion in 2009's Noonshade, the Raven, a cohort of world-saving mercenaries, face a homegrown threat when Lyanna, the five-year-old daughter of two Raven members, manifests power that triggers natural disasters, devastating entire towns and swallowing castles whole. Navigating among somewhat random plot elements—four competing colleges of magic, witch hunters, guardians of elven lore and three stranded dragons—the Raven find their personal loyalties pitted against their team unity as they debate whether to save or sacrifice Lyanna. Barclay's characters have matured and aged since their first adventure, and while the cinematic and violent battle scenes will likely be the primary draw, readers will also get a few lessons about how would-be heroes handle obligations to family and friends. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

James Barclay was born in 1965. Having trained as an actor he now works as an advertising manager for a leading City Investment House.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (September 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575072156
• ISBN-13: 978-0575072152
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,679,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NightChild, January 28, 2007

By 

Edward L. Bialer "bialercom" (Dushore, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nightchild (Chronicles of the Raven 3) (Paperback)

Book 3 of the Raven Chronicals. A very touching and sad tale but written well. The action never ceases nor does the story suffer from being part of a series. Barclay is a clever and interesting writer and he leads you into one crisis after another and keeps your interest piqued.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Wrap Up, October 4, 2010

By 

SoCalMom (Lakewood, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nightchild (Chronicles of the Raven 3) (Paperback)

It was a nail biter! A page turner packed full of action from cover to cover. And while swords were rarely sheathed, blood flew like water, and magic whizzed about, the story ran much deeper than just another action fairy-tale. It was such a sad and touching ending to the Chronicles of the Raven trilogy: Heartbreaking really.

But it's not really over, not yet anyways. I can't wait to hunker down with the next quadrilogy:Legends of the Raven, Yea!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite of the series..., February 3, 2011

By 

A. Turrall - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nightchild (Chronicles of the Raven 3) (Paperback)

Unfortunately unlike the other reviewers I just did not enjoy this book anywhere near as much as I have the others. One possible issue is that the story revolves greatly around Erienne who I always found to be a poorly explained and as a result unlikeable character. Perhaps if I understood her actions in book one I would feel a bit better about her, but she was depicted as a fairly base and dare I say heartless woman who I just could not relate to and I've never gotten over that.

It is difficult to be pulled into a story when you simply can't feel sympathy for what the main character is going though, namely Erienne and even Lyanna who is frankly an annoying little girl, though i don't think that is intentional. I do feel that Barclay has some major issues fleshing out his female characters, which is in stark contract to his excellent work on everyone else; even the brief glimpses of Sol's wife seem to depict her as clingy and fickle and the El Drecher (sp) also are totally unlikeable from the get go. That said I would like to see more of Ren in the future as she's seems the lone female character I enjoy reading about, though she is a relatively 'masculine' character which is perhaps why she's not so badly written.


The story itself seems rushed and unfinished, the ending almost a cliffhanger... What of the Kaan for example? Or Thraun? The release of the Protectors which they go on about so frequently in the first few chapters? The end battle seems to just fizzle out and all is relatively forgiven in the space of a paragraph after 500 pages of raging hatred and war, leaving a feeling of things being unexplained.

While this is my least favorite, I do still enjoy the series and look forward to reading the rest. I do recommend reading this as I think there's some important scenes and background information in it while will add to the next books, but it's by far the weakest in the link.