khelrauko's review
5.0
Superb. Sharp, darkly witty and well written.
Fresh fantasy, that's not the stock confused dark ages is hard to come by. This feels more like gothic/renaissance and actually understands it's setting. (I'm sick of fantasy writers using modernisms in their pseudo medieval world).
First person writing is also quite uncommon in fantasy, I find. This gave me a real chance to get to know our protagonist, Edric Saran, and more to the point actually experience how the terrifying events in Shadow of the Raven change him. There are a number of other characters I liked throughout the book (no spoilers coming!) but the cold, wickedly dark god, Malgayn I found utterly compelling. When he walks on to the page, the prose sizzles. I love a good baddie. Not mindless evil, but a character driven by a goal which they will kill for (even if they might enjoy it a bit too).
This is good solid fantasy but with plenty of originality and verve. Great debut for this author. I'll be looking forward to more (there's a trailer for the next at the end!). A treat for the new year. Hope this comes out in physical form sometime.
Fresh fantasy, that's not the stock confused dark ages is hard to come by. This feels more like gothic/renaissance and actually understands it's setting. (I'm sick of fantasy writers using modernisms in their pseudo medieval world).
First person writing is also quite uncommon in fantasy, I find. This gave me a real chance to get to know our protagonist, Edric Saran, and more to the point actually experience how the terrifying events in Shadow of the Raven change him. There are a number of other characters I liked throughout the book (no spoilers coming!) but the cold, wickedly dark god, Malgayn I found utterly compelling. When he walks on to the page, the prose sizzles. I love a good baddie. Not mindless evil, but a character driven by a goal which they will kill for (even if they might enjoy it a bit too).
This is good solid fantasy but with plenty of originality and verve. Great debut for this author. I'll be looking forward to more (there's a trailer for the next at the end!). A treat for the new year. Hope this comes out in physical form sometime.
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