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Summary | Reviews
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 | Elfsorrow
Legends of the Raven 1
James Barclay
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430 pp
ISBN: 978-1-61614-248-3
Trade Paperback
$17.00
November 2010
Cover Illustration: ©Raymond Swanland
http://www.raymondswanland.com/
Another action-packed adventure from the new master of fantasy. The Raven travel to a new continent in search of mages to help the ruined college of Julatsa rebuild and find themselves in the midst of an ancient curse—a curse that has unleashed a plague that threatens to wipe out the elven race. Barclay excels with another tale that pitches The Raven against the clock and unseen foes. Full of desperate fights and secret betrayals, the story also fills in more of Balaia's history and delves deeper into the ancient emnities between the colleges. Barclay has created a wonderfully appealing group of heroes, and with every book their history grows and the land they live in becomes wider and richer. This is landmark fantasy in the making.
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Reviews:
"With The Raven, Barclay has created one of the more memorable casts of heroes in recent memory, supporting them within a world of magic based upon constructs entirely his own. While action may dominate the pages of his narratives, this has not taken place in the absence of increasingly strong characterization or a secondary world imaginatively and freshly developed. If his stories may lack the more serious and grander intentions of authors such as Matthew Stover or Steven Erikson, they nonetheless represent the best among his less ambitious contemporaries in providing simpler and more straightforward heroic entertainment. And, with the inclusion in Elfsorrow of an underlying, if relatively simple, environmental statement, the author may well be showing an emerging interest in using his narratives for purposes other than mere entertainment. As his writing talents have continued to evolve and improve, this is certainly a writer to watch, for immediate enjoyment as well as for future development." —SF Site
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