Chronicles Of The Raven
''Chronicles of the Raven'' is the first of two trilogies by James Barclay which revolves around a band of mercenaries named The Raven. The trilogy consists of three novels, all set in the fantasy world of Balaia: * ''Dawnthief'' * ''Noonshade'' * ''Nightchild'' His trilogy ''Legends of the Raven'' continues on from the events of ''Nightchild'' after an interval of two seasons. Summary ''Dawnthief'' is the first in the trilogy and introduces the reader to the mercenary band known as The Raven, having been successfully together for about ten years. However, this all changes when they meet the Xeteskian Mage Denser. They learn of the approaching danger of the Wesmen and their shaman and set off on a quest to collect objects needed to perform the spell Dawnthief, which will effectively take away the shaman's powers. Along the way they are captured by the Black Wings, a radical group against all magic, suffering some losses but also acquiring new members, including the Dordovan mag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
James Barclay
James Barclay (born 15 March 1965) is a British high fantasy author who has written multiple series including '' Chronicles of the Raven'' and ''Legends of the Raven''."James Barclay." ''Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors'', Gale, 2012. ''Gale Literature Resource Center''. Accessed 18 April 2023. ''The Bookseller'' has called him "One of the UK's most popular genre fantasy authors." Biography Early life Barclay was born in Felixstowe, Suffolk in 1965. He attended Sheffield City Polytechnic. Prior to his breakthrough as an author in 2004, Barclay worked as an actor and a policeman. He was also an advertising manager for a financial investment company. Writing career Barclay said his main inspirations as a writer were David Gemmell and the novel ''The Legacy of Heorot'' by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes. A reviewer has since compared his work with Gemmell's. An origin story of the company of The Raven entitled "Or So Legend Has It" appears in the 20 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces. In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap. Modern mercenary organizations are generally referred to as private military companies or PMCs. Laws of war Protocol Additional GC 1977 (APGC77) is a 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Novels
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historica ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |