James Barclay (1) (1965–)

Not a bad read, but there are some very over-used tropes in this book, as well as one scene that felt a bit over done to prove the "bad guy" was "really bad." Honestly, it wasn't the main characters that I ended up loving, but the Exchequer. There were some moments where the plot really slogged, but that was peronsal preference. I'm not a fan of detailed, drawn out war scenes and tactics, more character driven. Over all, not a bad way to have spent two days, but not quite good enough for it to be on my re-read shelves.… (meer)

I was first drawn to this novel by the original cover design. It looked like it would fit right in with my taste of fantasy novels. However, I was soon proved wrong. I hate to put spoilers in reviews but I absolutely can't avoid mentioning some major ones that happen in the first couple of chapters.

The beginning of the book was promising enough, starting us in the middle of a battle to defend a keep. We're introduced to a band of mercenaries: The Raven. Your classic set of warriors, and mage. The Unknown Warrior is the leader of this merry band.

Fast-forward a couple of chapters and a loss on the Raven's side, and one of the most charismatic characters, Sirendor, is killed by an assassin's poisoned blade. I immediately thought, "Well there goes my favourite character, I guess I'll just have to make The Unknown my favourite. He's mysterious and cool. Yeah, that'll work." Then BOOM! a few chapters later the Unknown has his throat ripped out by a pack of demon hounds! This is not an okay thing to do to a reader. The rest of the characters were boring and rather flat. My favourite characters were killed off right at the beginning, and most of the story is simply filled with exposition so that the reader can even try to understand what is going on.

Definitely not one of my favourite books. I hardly ever walk away from a book half finished, but I just couldn't handle it any more. Of course, it's always up to the individual to make a final decision.… (meer)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Dawnthief Series: Chronicles of the Raven Author: James Barclay Rating: 0 of 5 Battle Axes Genre: Fantasy Pages: DNF Format: Kindle My Thoughts: I was sick with the flu when trying to read this and it just couldn't hold my attention. Plus, for whatever reason, the edition I had had all the quote marks removed. It was like someone had converted a pdf to azw3 and done some "auto" cleanup, which never goes well. No interest in re-trying this or other works by Barclay however. "… (meer)