Books in the Mail (W/E 08/29/2009)

Only two books this week. Or rather, one plus a left over from last week...

One book I neglected to mention in last week’s weekly round-up:

The Golden City (Book 3 of The Fourth Realm trilogy) by John Twelve Hawks (Knopf Hardcover 09/08/2009) – I was lucky enough to be one of (maybe even the) first person to conduct and interview (which is cited multiple times on the author’s Wikipedia page) with the reclusive and mysterious author. I also reviewed the first two books The Traveler and The Dark River, so I’ll definitely be reading this one.

John Twelve Hawks's previous novels about the mystical Travelers and the Brethren, their ruthless enemies, generated an extraordinary following around the world. The Washington Post wrote that The Traveler “portrays a Big Brother with powers far beyond anything Orwell could imagine . . .” and Publishers Weekly hailed the series as “a saga that's part A Wrinkle in Time, part The Matrix and part Kurosawa epic.” Internet chat rooms and blogs have overflowed with speculation about the final destiny of the richly imagined characters fighting an epic battle beneath the surface of our modern world.

In The Golden City, Twelve Hawks delivers the climax to his spellbinding epic. Struggling to protect the legacy of his Traveler father, Gabriel faces troubling new questions and relentless threats. His brother Michael, now firmly allied with the enemy, pursues his ambition to wrest power from Nathan Boone, the calculating leader of the Brethren. And Maya, the Harlequin warrior pledged to protect Gabriel at all costs, is forced to make a choice that will change her life forever.

A riveting blend of high-tech thriller and fast-paced adventure, The Golden City will delight Twelve Hawks's many fans and attract a new audience to the entire trilogy.

Dawntheif (Chronicles of the Raven #1) by James Barclay (Pyr Trade Paperback 09/22/2009) – Finally! A U.S. publisher picked up the great work of James Barclay. I read his Raven novels back in 2001 under the UK Gollancz imprint and reviewed them for SFFWorld and thoroughly enjoyed them at the time. What I couldn’t figure out was why a U.S. publisher never picked up the series. Well, little to my surprise Pyr comes along and decides to do the immediate shelf-presence thing by releasing the first three books in successive months.


The Raven have fought together for years, six men carving out a living as swords for hire in the war that has torn Balaia apart, loyal only to themselves and their code. But when they agree to escort a Xesteskian mage on a secret mission they are pulled into a world of politics and ancients secrets. For the first time The Raven cannot trust even their own strength and prowess, for the first time their code is in doubt. How is it that they are fighting for one of the most evil colleges of magic known? Searching for the secret location of Dawnthief; a spell that could end the world? Aiming not to destroy it but to cast it . . . DAWNTHIEF is a fast paced epic about a band of all-too-human heroes.

SPOTLIGHT: Dawnthief by James Barclay out in the US!

A book I read almost ten years ago, a writer about whom I heard/saw great things on the intarwebs almost ten years ago reaches US bookshelves this week - James Barclay. The book is Dawnthief, the first of Barclay's Chronicles of the Raven. James was kind enough to send me the first three books after seeing me prattle on in the SFFWorld forums about how frustrating it was for such well received books not be be available in the US. He subsequently sent me additional Raven books and even name-checked me in one.

The review below the book cover is one of my earliest reviews posted at SFFWorld (back in 2001), but the folks at Pyr were kind enough to borrow parts of it for a blurb on the back cover.

Also, my interview (from 2005) with reclusive and best-selling writer John Twelve Hawks (The Traveler) is quoted and linked in Tuesday's (8/25/2009) LA Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/08/john-twelve-hawks-will-not-exactly-appear.html.




Dawnthief begins with gripping action: the abduction of a mage and a siege of a castle. This sets the tone for the rest of the book, and indeed the series. The cast of characters is believable, the magic is handled with thought and you can barely turn the pages fast enough to keep up with the story.

The story tells the tale of the Raven, a mercenary group known for the perfection and 100% success rate on all of their jobs. They are so successful because they ultimately believe and trust in each other, the ultimate team. The Raven have been taking jobs for years and are on the brink of retirement, just finishing what was to be their last job. They have made loads of money and are looking forward to settling down and living a relaxed life before the harsh life of the mercenary catches up with them.

It turns out the close of this “last job” (which opens the book) sends them on their toughest, most important job ever—that of saving the world. The Raven never much thought of anything other than their money as an end to the job. Upon finishing this last job they run into a thief mage by the name of Denser, who steals an amulet from a Dragon, which sets the spiraling of this story. This amulet is a key component of the spell Dawnthief a super-spell which is the world of Balaia’s only salvation from the returning Wytch Lords, demi-god mages who have been imprisoned for years.

Barclay expertly draws his characters in this opening novel. As the story unfolds we learn about these characters, like the mage Illkar, the strong willed barbarian warrior Hirad and the strong mysterious Unknown Warrior. What marks these characters the most is that they are Raven, which they constantly tell themselves in order to get through each difficulty.

I like the way the magic was handled, broken up into four colleges. These colleges are centers of the land of Balaia and help to give life to the world Barclay has created.

Overall, this is not only an excellent opening series book, but an excellent book, period. What is most surprising is that it’s Barclay’s first book. Unfortunately, these books aren’t available in the United States yet. So if you want to read the book, contact publishers like TOR and DelRey and BantamSpectra!

By the time you finish reading the book, you’ll be following the words RAVEN WITH ME! In anticipation of the next volume.

JTH-The Dark River

A couple of days ago, I posted my review of The Dark River by John Twelve Hawks. I liked it almost as much as The Traveler, the first book in the sequence, and on the whole, the novel did a great job of continuing the story, further developing the plot/world, and gearing me up for the final volume.

I finally finished Memories of Ice over the weekend. I really enjoyed it, but the book was like running a marathon. I felt tired and exhausted, but found it rewarding. I will be jumping back into House of Chains, but need a break from Malazan so I don’t over exhaust myself.

The Traveler & Batman Begins

I posted my review of The Traveler last night. A gripping, frightening novel that eerily mirrors our own society. This book is going to be big. The Web sites associated with the book are receiving continual updates, too:
http://www.evergreen-foundation.com
http://www.geocities.com/judithstrand
http://www.resurrectionautoparts.com
http://www.hollismartialarts.com
http://judithstrand.blogspot.com/

I saw Batman Begins yesterday and the movie lived up to the hype. At the time, I thought Michael Keaton was a pretty good Batman, but Christian Bale IS Bruce Wayne/Batman. A lot has been said of how well the character of Bruce Wayne was built up before he donned the cape and cowl and it's true. I really think the little early scenes with Bruce and Thomas (Bruce's dad) Wayne were great and showed how good a relationship there was between father and son, which lent greater impact to Bruce's loss. Bruce's frustration with where his life was or wasn't going and his world travels and training in the League of Shadows all helped to build up Bruce Wayne as he grew into the role of Batman. This film did a lot of things right in capturing what makes Batman such a mythic icon.

The early instances of Batman on screen are handled superbly well, he is in the shadows and you don't get a complete image of him. As the film moves on, the image of Batman becomes more clear, a nice parallel between Bruce's vision of himself and what the audience sees. The strongest influence on this story, from the comics, is without a doubt, Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's definitive origin story, Batman: Year One. Nolan and screenwriter Goyer lifted scenes directly from the pages and as in BYO, Batman is not perfect, he bounces around walls and gets banged up. The scene with the bats in Arkham was just about lifted from BYO as well, it was effective on the comic page and even more so on the screen. The feel of parts of the story of this movie also had a lot in common with Loeb/Sale's The Long Halloween.

The animated series did much to capture the essence of Batman, and in the series, Kevin Conroy voiced Wayne/Batman for many years, and still does on Justice League Unlimited. Before seeing Batman Begins, his was the voice I heard in my head when reading the comics, now it will be Bale's voice. Bale was delightfully insane in American Psycho, and the intensity he showed in that role carried through here, though there were no scenes of him runing nude with a chainsaw.

The remaining cast members were absolutely perfect and like a lot have already said, Gary Oldman is Comissioner Gordon. Morgan Freeman seemed like he had a lot of fun playing Lucius Fox, he had the best one liners. Michael Caine was very good as Alfred. The people who played Bruce's Parents, especially his father were very good, Liam Neeson was excellent as well and the Ra's al Ghul scenes were great. Katie Holmes looked good and I thought the relationship between her and Bruce was handled very well, especially the end.

If I can raise any complaint it was that the film was a bit too long, but I find that to be the case with most films nowadays. Comparing this to other recent comic-book films is almost like comparing apples and oranges. The Spider-Man films were excellent, but a bit more bright. As much as loved the Spider-Man films, I have to say Batman Begins topped them. This is probably the best movie I've seen since The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

As did Spider-Man 1 & 2, Batman Begins ended on an almost perfect note with Batman leaping from a top a building. As in BYO, the foundation for Gordon and Batman's relationship is set and I cannot wait until the sequel. Additionally, a lot of groundwork was laid for future sequels and the last exchange between Gordon and Batman hit me with a huge amount of fanboy glee, though to be honest the whole film really did. This wasn't just a great superhero/comic adaptation, it was a great film period. Dramatic tension, superbly acted characters, great action and overall, a wildly entertaining film. I want to go and see it again, something I haven't done in theaters since Empire Strikes Back.

I think Lou Anders agrees, too.