Fantasy Book Review: Nightchild by James Barclay

Nightchild by James Barclay book cover One thing that is always tinged with a measure of trepidation is the treatment of children in a fantasy world. A measure of reality must always be held in one hand while you attempt to watch over them. For as much as you would love to see them always come through unharmed, happy, and well, it is just not how it would have played back in the middle ages and before.

Read the full Nightchild review

You don’t have to love what is happening to your favourite characters to enjoy a story. In fact, tragedy is part of humanity and to deprive the reader of it verges on the insane; like trying to remove the shadow from sunlight.

This book had me in tears by the end, weeping for the realism in which Barclay enthralled me, but never hating him for doing so. Possibly the best he has ever written, Nightchild must soon make it onto your bookshelf, if it isn’t there already.

James Barclay is the author of the two Raven trilogies: Chronicles of The Raven and Legends of The Raven, and the epic fantasy duology, The Ascendants of Estorea. He has written two novellas, Light Stealer and Vault of Deeds. His latest work is the seventh and last Raven novel, Ravensoul.

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Posted: January 1st, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Fantasy Book Review, James Barclay

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