I first picked this book
up after a failed attempt to read 'Lord of the Rings', I went
into my local bookstore and decided to start something new.
Something fantasy. Something not so heavy(both weight and
going). After being told about it by the woman on the till
I decided to go for it. What could I lose. A couple of quid
most probably.
On commencing the book I was a little disappointed,
it felt like fantasy out of the mold of Xena or Hercules.
Then came mana shapes, it was going a little Dungeons and
Dragons now. I perserviered and, to my suprise, I really got
into it. It seemed to have the making of an old school fantasy
story but didnt take itself too seriously. Characters swore
and joked with one another. And, even better, main characters
died. Suddenly it seemed to be edging more and more away from
standard fantasy and the story got less and less predictable.
I found myself hoping certain characters
would die and others could live in their place. The lack of
the 'happily ever after' effect made the book refreshing.
In places characters would have survived in traditional fantasy,
but here they would die making the book much more realistic.
Then came dimensional travel, I would have thought that I
would find this confusing and out of place, but it worked
so well. A testament to this is Noonshade.
Another place that Barclay has made a significant
achievement is with the end of the book. He gives enough information
to allow the read to put the book down and leave it finishing
off the story as they see fit, not that you would want to.
But then again he gives that little bit of extra info which
leads into the second book. Personally I had to wait for a
month to get the second book as my local bookstore had run
out and they had problems restoking. I gave up and used amazon
and it was here in 2 days. That to me was a month too long
and Im making sure I get Nightchild well before I finish Noonshade.
