James Clemens, Shadowfall

Shadowfall

James Clemens

Roc, July 2005, $24.95, 480 pp.

ISBN 0451459446

In the Nine Lands of Myrillia, the hundred gods reside side by side with man offering their Grace (blessings) to the Shadowknights and their chosen handmaidens and men. They are rooted to their part of the land and cannot leave it and each god and goddess has its own distinct personality and quirks. On Punt Island, disgraced Shadowknight Tylar, broken in body and spirit, holds the dying goddess Meeryn in his arms. With her last breath, she fills him with her Grace, heals his body, marks him and utters the word Rivernscyr.

Arrested as a godslayer, Tylar escapes his prison with the help of a thief and they make their way to Tashijan to learn what Rivernscyr means. Tylar dreads returning to his former home because Kathryn, his former betrothed who testified against him at his at his trial, is there as is the warden who presided over his trial. He doesn't know that Kathryn has learned that he was set up to protect the secrets of a cabal that is working to sever the gods link with mankind. When he and his allies arrive, Kathryn is waiting for him, ready to help him in his battle with the warden and a corrupted god who can destroy the world if he can lay hands on a certain weapon.

The author of the Wit'ch novels has started a new series the Godslayer Chronicles and the first novel SHADOWFALL is a fantastic fantasy that is epic in scope. The hero fights on the side of the righteous even though he has every reason to be bitter because everyone he cared about turned against him and the system that was supposed to protect him was perverted so that he became a broken in body and soul slave. He is a true hero, a character readers will treasure. James Clemens once again sets the standard of excellence for high fantasy.

Harriet Klausner