Well, well. On the last
Raven book and far too soon. It must be said that the second,
legends, series far surpassed the first, chronicles. And DemonStorm
really was a fitting end. It starts with a big battle, ends
with big battles and surprisingly the middle is full of big
battles. It is the fastest paced of all the Raven books and
by far one of the best.
Barclay still brings in the emotion but
a lot is gone due to the nature of war. In the Demons, he
finds a real threat to Balaia and its nice to see the Colleges,
Wesman, Elves and Dragons all pull together for one purpose.
When, at one point, the Lord of the Mount admits he is wrong
you know times are desperate. But the best thing here is that
it’s not a sudden oh now we are friends. Although a
lot less than previously, there are still hostilities. Not
actually fighting against each other but more thought and
worry if someone will try to gain domination. You really start
to feel for characters that were bad or immoral as they are
put in a hard situation. And for once, I didn't want the bad
guys to win.
So then, the action. Well it is face paced
and pretty much non stop. The death toll reaches a new all
time high and it all feels futile for Balaia. The fighting
is on an epic scale even if most of it is hemmed in to small
spaces. The numbers are warriors and demons are staggering.
So, as usual, on to the problems. Well there’s
not much here. I was a little confused at first when, a couple
of chapters in, the story jumps two years without much explanation.
Subsequent chapters explain this but there were one or two
confusing ones until I got my head sorted. Other than that,
they was what I see as some self indulging on Barclays part.
At one point Hirad rattles off the names of former Raven members,
but I didn’t mind that. Well, actually, it brought a
smile to my face.
DemonStorm is quite frankly a fitting end
to the saga and a wonderful read. But still the question begs
to be answered , is it as good as ElfSorrow? well, I really
don't know. I think they may well be on a par.
So, the saddest thing about the book. Its
the end of the Raven and Balaia, as Barclay has no intention
of writing more. Maybe that’s a good thing, as all the
memories I have from the series are good ones. Now its time
to look to a new author while I wait for the Ascendants books.
But then again, my copy of Light Stealer just arrived in the
post.
