Nightchild is, to all intents
and purposes, a book that resolves or adds to the issues raised
in both Dawnthief and Noonshade. The Wesman invasion is over
and it is a time of rebuilding for the population of Balaia,
all set to the background of Lyanna the daughter of Erienne
and Denser. Her magical awakening is causing havock on Balaia.
The book triumps at making Barclays work
more personnal. The humanity of the Raven is brought into
question and they feel less and less like super humans. Conflick
about personnal feelings and duty is really brought home here
and it makes you think on many, quite deep, levels. At every
twist and turn it feels as thought the Raven could brake.
Barclay really works the break the Raven have had as fighters.
I did, however, feel that this book moved
far too slowly in points and in many ways felt a little disjointed
compaired to the other books in the series. A month break
due to other commitments didnt help. At times the book doesnt
have that cant stop reading power of the others.
Saying that I got increasingly frustrated
by Lyanna, the thing that really got me into the book were
the alliances and ways other parties went about thier tasks
to get rid of her. I started feeling for characters more and
more, and again I wanted certain people to die and others
to stand tall. For me the best of these feelings was for Selik,
so evil and against everything I stand for in real life. In
a fantasy book however I can escape, and I was willing him
to complete his sadistic schemes.
All in all Nightchild is a great book. The
problems I felt with pacing made it slightly less enjoyable
then the previous two books. Saying that, it brought in a
personnal side which may have been lacking a bit in earlier
books. Its good for diplomacy and feeling but lacks some of
the action that makes Raven books so enthralling. The end,
however, does put the whole book in perspective and I feel
a re-read understanding that little bit more may help the
feel of the book.
