Customer Reviews

Nightchild: Chronicles of the Raven

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

 

 

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.

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!

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.

The seven mercenaries that made up the Raven split up in retirement five years ago after the harrowing events in which they and the Dragons saved the world (see DAWNTHIEF and NOONSHADE). However, the Dragons cannot go home and are dying due to the air of the Kingdom of Balaria where they reside and people hunting them as beasts rather than saviors who were critical in shutting down the rift.

Two of the magnificent seven Erienne the Dordovan mage and Denser the Xeteskian mage had a relationship that led to the birth of Lyanna. The Colleges of Magic want Lyanna at all costs as the Lord Mages recognize who she is and what she will do to their positions of power. They believe she is the prophesized NIGHTCHILD, who will unite the four magics currently, divided amongst the colleges and kill thousands in the process. They are coming for the five years old leading to the reunion of the Raven who though they argue, fuss and fight with one another; also unite to protect one another even if the one they keep safe apparently is ripping asunder from within the kingdom leaving thousands dead.

This is a brilliant climax to the trilogy as the "threat" to the existing order comes from within, a five year old magical hybrid. The story line is fast-paced from the onset as fans of the saga catch up with retired friends who gave up swashbuckling and magic to tend bar, raise a child, etc. However, the only thing that could bring together a five year reunion is the threat to one of them. Filled with moral issues big and small, NIGHTCHILD is a fitting end to a strong saga.

Harriet Klausner

Magic users should consider adoption.


The two members of the current Raven that can do the spellcasting thing have had a kid. Given they come from two different schools of magic, apparently this could possibly have some not so good consequences, more in a blow up your planet sort of way, than lack of political power for one group or other whingeing.

So, a lot more about the various magic organisations in this book, and the dilemma at the heart of it is, to save everyone, do you slaughter your own kid, or a friend's kid, if it ocmes to that?

NIGHTCHILD. So here we are, the third and final novel of The Chronicles of the Raven series by my friend James Barclay. So does it stay true to the prior novels? Does it elevate the series to new heights?

Easily. This is by far the best of the trilogy.

If you've been reading this series, you know what makes this series work. Fast-paced, bloody action. Battles and journeys of epic proportions. Grim tones amidst witty banter from the stars of the series, the mercenary group The Raven. Saving the world. With NIGHTCHILD, Barclay had some heavy expectations to fill. How do you go bigger than the Dawnthief spell from the first novel, DAWNTHIEF? How do you go bigger than a rift to another dimension full of dragons like we saw in NOONSHADE? This is the trap that many authors could fall into.

With NIGHTCHILD, Barclay perfectly avoids the pitfall. Instead of going bigger, he goes personal. The result is a much more character-driven novel, and in my opinion, a much more powerful reading experience.

The Raven have changed. They are older. They have families. They have responsibilities. Do they need to save the world again? Well yeah, it wouldn't be a Barclay novel without our heroes saving the world. But NIGHTCHILD is so much more than that cliché. The world saving bit is almost a secondary issue. The real plot of the story for The Raven is racing to prevent Denser and Erienne's daughter, Lyanna from being killed. In theme with the more personal nature of the novel, the huge-scale battles of the prior novels have been condensed and focused on The Raven to wonderful effect.

Why is NIGHTCHILD so powerful? In this novel we get to see that our "Heroes" are not "Super Heroes." We see how strained their relationships can become, and how vulnerable they really are. We witness the tough personal and moral choices that they have to make that will inevitably have serious consequences. We, as readers, get to experience the benefits and drawbacks that loyalty brings...and demands. By the end of the novel, you will be satisfied and thrilled. However, in true James Barclay fashion, you will also feel saddened at what The Raven had to sacrifice.

It's not a common occurrence to have every book in a trilogy be completely awesome. The Chronicles of the Raven should be on the shelves of every reader of Heroic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery. Heck, it should be on the shelves of every reader of the Fantasy genre in general. NIGHTCHILD brilliantly concludes the trilogy, and it makes me positively giddy with excitement for the US release of the four-book series, The Legends of the Raven. Barclay's writing and story telling improved tremendously, and made NIGHTCHILD a true treat to read.

Just imagine how his other books will be.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: As usual in Barclay's novels, there is a little. When it happens, it is strong, but it doesn't come close to saturating the novel.
Violence: Uh, yeah. The great thing about it? It is so CLEAR. I could see exactly what was going on. Love it.
Sex: Two small scenes, fairly graphic, but very short. You could probably skip over them if you were inclined.

Look forward to an interview with James Barclay later on at Elitist Book Reviews. The guy is a complete class-act.

Marginally interesting massive plot in what is clearly a game world (square landmass with a line of mountains down the middle - Really?). Writing is oddly stilted and jarring but at least it's consistent. However, I keep reading them so there must be something. I just don't know what.

I have to seriously question if Barclay has any children or if he likes children at all. The book suffers from the same problem the first two books of the series suffer from - too much magical description. Barclay drones on and on about the mana this and the mana that which becomes boring. His dislike of children is apparent not only in this book but in his previous work. While this book was only four hundred pages, I found myself being hard pressed to finish it. I still don't completely understand the ending of the book due the the magical nuances of the story.