Dawnthief - James Barclay

The tone of Dawnthief is set early on, as the opening battle draws to an end and one foe is bravely running away. Hirad Coldheart, one of our heroes, isn't about to let him get away and gives chase. Running hard, he's through a doorway and halfway across a large room before his brain registers what he's just run into: a rather large and unfriendly-looking dragon. Unlike most fantasy heroes, but very much like the rest of us, Hirad has only one thing ...
...an epic from the start. Dawnthief is left in the rather awkward position of having to introduce the world, the logics of it, and a lot of characters - not all of whom seem to have a great significance, yet. Barclay's style is to cut away to other threads of the story for entire chapters, and I confess it felt a little baffling as to why Lord Tessya of the Wesmen, or General Darrick of the Lysternan army, were getting so much 'airtime'. The threads ... more

The tone of Dawnthief is set early on, as the opening battle draws to an end and one foe is bravely running away. Hirad Coldheart, one of our heroes, isn't about to let him get away and gives chase. Running hard, he's through a doorway and halfway across a large room before his brain registers what he's just run into: a rather large and unfriendly-looking dragon. Unlike most fantasy heroes, but very much like the rest of us, Hirad has only one thing to say. "*$!@!".

And so we are introduced to the Raven. Seven mercenaries - six warriors and one mage - and one code: basically, "Do not murder". Legendary through ten years of being damn good at what they do, and because that unique code of honour makes them a trustworthy hire. And for the reader, an unusually human bunch of characters to find in a novel filled with fighting, magic and the occasional dragon.

Those characters are what makes this story stand out for me. The story itself isn't anything spectacularly original: bunch of 'heroes' go on a quest, this time to find the component parts of a spell powerful enough to destroy the great evil threatening the land. But James Barclay has managed to take a small step to the side, to differentiate himself ever-so-slightly from the crop of books in this genre. It's not a huge leap, by any means, but it's still there. Barclay has a refreshing irreverence towards keeping his characters alive, for instance - in this book, our core group can and occasionally do die.

The world in which the Raven's adventures are set is fairly well drawn. Again, there's nothing spectacular nor, I suspect, desperately original, but it works for me. Balaia's main features include four colleges of magic; a western half ruled by, appropriately, tribal 'Wesmen', who provide one ongoing peril; and the usual mix of ruling Barons and the we're-not-really-interested-in-them commoners.

One review I read before starting this series talks about the books being like a role-play adventure in text. It's an image that came back to me when I was reading, and I have to say it feels pretty true, especially at the beginning - starting with the cast list! Elf-mage, Barbarian, broadsword-wielding Warrior - I've never really tried 'RP', but those sound like classic descriptions. Further, Barclay doesn't really pick one main character but instead allows each their strengths and trials. I'm not sure I'd describe the characters as well-rounded, exactly, and certainly in the later instalments of the series there's a danger of creeping into stereotypes, but here I warmed quickly to the rough'n'ready bunch. They've travelled and fought together over many years, and the interaction between them - and the banter! - is refreshingly *honest* for this kind of book.

In a similar vein, the magic - a core part of the action, naturally - has its limits, and also reinforces the 'RP' concept. Spells seem to come in a limited range, and are activated by shouting a silly word - "DeathHail!", "ForceCone!". It's a testament to how well I got into the story that I wasn't sniggering *every* time I read one of those! :)

In Dawnthief, the Wesmen have resurrected an ancient evil, the Witch Kings, and in the centuries since they last threatened the land the fragmentation of the colleges leaves the fear that no one on Balaia is strong enough to stand against them. Enter Denser, mage from the dark college of Xetesk, tasked with collecting the components needed to cast the 'Dawnthief' spell - one of terribly destructive ability, and probably the only thing powerful enough to stop the Witch Kings. It's not just a case of will Denser succeed, but should he be allowed to try? Will the Raven aid or stop the attempt - especially when Denser's attempts to recruit them result in tragic circumstances...

Thus starts a chain of events with the Raven pulled along for the ride. Battles with foe both human and otherwise, an excursion into enemy lands, supposed allies causing problems... Through it all, the main characters have the advantage of not just going along with everything regardless, but debating motives, and dealing with defeats and consequences. In books in this genre, success is pretty much always guaranteed - but here, it's just that little less certain, and the price is definitely going to need to be paid.

There are a total of six novels following the adventures of the Raven. The Chronicles (Dawnthief, Noonshade, Nightchild) and the Legends (Elfsorrow, Shadowheart, Demonstorm) are such a straight follow-on from each other that I'm not sure why they were split. Apart from the stupid names, my one complaint here is that Barclay does seem to have seen this as an epic from the start. Dawnthief is left in the rather awkward position of having to introduce the world, the logics of it, and a lot of characters - not all of whom seem to have a great significance, yet. Barclay's style is to cut away to other threads of the story for entire chapters, and I confess it felt a little baffling as to why Lord Tessya of the Wesmen, or General Darrick of the Lysternan army, were getting so much 'airtime'. The threads do pull together, but it's not until you've read a least a book or two further in the series that you see these two are such significant characters. Until then, the chapters devoted to them are slightly puzzling asides.

Likewise on a smaller scale, some events in the earlier chapters seemed somewhat melodramatic to me. Read on and they start to make perfect sense, but those first impressions aren't necessarily wonderful. I think this is definitely a series for rereading!

My advice on this point is to go with it: see the series as a whole, rather than taking Dawnthief on its own. For all it seems a bit off-pace here, in the first instalment, I confess I liked this 'bigger picture' approach. Too often I find series are written as one book, with subsequent adventures tacked on when sales are good. Barclay avoids this admirably: each new 'peril' in subsequent novels follows logically from events in the previous. That is, the bad guy might be defeated (I said might!) at the end of one book, but there will be consequences!

In conclusion, I do recommend the series, and thus Dawnthief as its opening part. Disappointingly, I don't feel I can rate any of the books above three/three and a half stars, and yet somehow the six books together were more satisfying than that mid-rating suggests. I don't think it ever manages to become a 'brilliant' body of work, but there's a charm and pace that kept me reading and enjoying following these mercenaries around. While not overwhelmed by the work, I do look forward to going back to them for a re-read one day, like returning to a particularly comfy pair of slippers.

¤ Boring bits:

Paperback 508 pages (not including the prologue to book 2!) (Gollancz 2003)
First released 1999
ISBN: 0575075341
RRP: £6.99 

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