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The Chronicles of Siala – Book I
Alexey Pehov
Simon and Schuster UK
March 2011/ ISBN 1847375636
Fantasy
Amazon
US
|| UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
Shadow Harold is a master at his trade, which is being a professional
thief. When what should have been a straightforward night’s
work goes wrong he ends up being hired by his king to steal a priceless
artifact. He won’t be on his own for this job, but accompanied
by an elfin princess, a goblin jester and a group of Wild Hearts,
fierce royalists who are renowned as relentless fighters. His destination
is the most dangerous place in the world and his ultimate goal is
to save the kingdom of Siala, or die trying…
Ah, fantasy as it used to be until fairly recently. Not a vampire
of werewolf in sight and the minimum of palace politicking. There’s
more than a whiff even of real back-to-basics D&D inspired stuff
too, with a dungeon fortress on many levels, the usual complement
of fantasy races, plenty of magic and even a dark lord in the wings.
But this isn’t a new author being retro, rather a Russian
author whose English language translation is just appearing of a
book first published back in 2002. If you like this type of thing
as this reviewer does, and if you too are wishing for an end to
the type of fantasy outlined above then this will more than suit.
Because it is good, lively stuff that grabs the reader and doesn’t
let go, consisting as it does of plenty of that old fantasy mainstay
– adventure! Told in the first person by Shadow Harold himself
this is a breathlessly exuberant dash through cursed areas of the
city not seen by outsiders for years dodging dangerous ghosts that
is sure to whet the reader’s appetite for more. You don’t
get to visit the subterranean horror-filled dungeons yet, nor even
bump into the dark lord but I hope that I for one don’t have
to wait too long for book two. It all reminded me of how much I
used to love fantasy…great stuff.
Reviewer's
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