Elves: Rise of the TaiGethen [Paperback]

Following on from the excellent "Once Walked with Gods", decades have now passed and the majority of the Elven race are slaves. These slaves are being used by humans to systematically destroy the great forest they have lived in for centuries. The `free' elves are unable to agree a strategy in the face of severe retaliation for any human killed and have divided up into three factions, the warriors of the TaiGethen, the Claw Bound, feral elves and those led by Takaar who wants to find new magic to combat the invasions. The trouble is, time is running out and a human army is now in the forest and the wrong strategy may see the end of the elven race.....

Some very interesting themes played out here in a very intelligent book. There is the theme of concentration camps, that of sustainability, the caste system and even narcotics! Wrapped into this are the risks of doing things for the longer term good against the horrors of today. But the book doesn't preach, it is all pace and action and a variety of rounded characters and viewpoints.

It is a powerful book, broad in depth but also a joy to any fan of heroic fantasy and the author's previous works. Read "Once Walked with Gods" first, but you are in for a treat here.

Elves: Rise of the TaiGethen the latest in the Elves series from James Barclay and a book that takes the series to a new level. This series is set in the same world as the fantastic action fantasy series the Raven a series full of characters that live and breathe adventure, that fight the good fight, that never leave a man behind. But that series for all its brilliance never had the depth of his amazing duo-logy the ascendants ( Cry of the Newborn: The Ascendants of Estorea Book 1 (Gollancz S.F.) & Shout For The Dead: The Ascendants of Estorea Book 2 (Gollancz S.F.) )

The Elves series and especially Rise of the TaiGethen bridge that gap in writing depth, the gap that seemed to exist between Raven and Acendants. That depth of writing and the characters like Auum, Serrin, Garran & Ystorumun and many other really do confirm what i have felt for some time, that James is one of the few Fantasy authors who can write as well Gemmell, and with Rise of the TaiGethen it all comes together in a signle book. Its not about just writing a good story, its about the place, the people, the fight, the message behind the story.
Like many James Barclay books, this one left me wrung out at the end, his plots always gallop along at a high pace, but even more so this time because you get sucked into the fate of the elves and depth of loss felt for every death, the utter bond of the clawbound, and the stark beauty and danger of the land they call home.

I as ever look forward to every word and every book that James writes, i have never been disappointed by a single book, and he just gets better and better.

Highly recommended.

(Parm)

Product Description
THE ELVES ARE ENSLAVED Calaius is occupied by an implacable, relentless enemy. The great elven cities are little more than prison camps. Elven slaves are forced to destroy their beloved rainforest to harvest timber for their masters. The enemy has no mercy, no honour and little skill in battle. The enemy is Man. Those few elves who remain free are fragmented, in squabbling factions, and they must unite before they can take a stand against Man. Many believe that the battle is already lost, but Auum is not one of them. He knows Men's numbers are great but their tactics are weak; he knows Men think the Elves are already beaten; he is convinced that his people must fight now, or see their race destroyed. Takaar disagrees. He believes Elven salvation lies in unlocking their magic, not in fighting pitched battles against Man. He is determined to save his people too, but his tactics are entirely different . . . and if some Elves must die now to ensure Calaius will be free of Man in the future, it's a sacrifice he is willing to make. The Elves must choose their sides. Whatever they decide, victory will win their freedom . . . and failure will mean extermination . . .

`Elves: Rise of the TaiGethen' is the second book in James Barclay's trilogy about the Elves. It is his eleventh novel and returns us to the world he created in the seven `Raven' books. However, it takes place nearly three thousand years before the start of the earlier series.

Although `Rise of the TaiGethen' is a sequel to `Once Walked with Gods', it's important to note that it is set one hundred and fifty years after the end of the earlier book. In the intervening time, most of the elves have been enslaved by the humans who invaded Calaia in the first book. They are now forced to chop down their forests so that the humans can export the high quality timber back to the major human population settlements on the northern continent of Balaia. The number of elves who remain free is small and they are divided, leaderless and mostly too busy staying out of the way of the human invaders to think about fighting back.

The free elves have been training their brightest and best to become mages, as it is the humans' magic that has been the key to their domination of the traditionally non-magical elves. However, the first time the elven acolytes try to perform magic together, they are immediately located and destroyed by the far more powerful human mages. In the process, a sacred elven temple is desecrated. Faced with this blasphemy, the ClawBound - a relatively new and controversial development in elven society, comprising symbiotic pairings of elven priests with panthers - decide that they have had enough, and declare a guerrilla war on every human occupying Calaia.

Other than the ClawBound, the only free elves who retain an ability to fight the humans are the small number of elite warriors called the TaiGethen. However, when their leader Auum finds out that ten captive elves will be murdered for each human killed by the ClawBound, he is put in an impossible position. The few dozen remaining TaiGethen warriors must either stop the ClawBound from attacking more humans, or try to free the captive elves - and risk being annihilated by thousands of human soldiers in the process.

Auum's mind is made up for him soon afterwards, when the leader of the human contingent on Calaia, Ystormun, declares total war on all elves. He's had enough of the ClawBound's hit-and-run tactics and decides that the simplest solution is genocide. He mobilises all his forces and sends them towards the elves' most sacred city, Katura. Now Auum has no choice: Katura must be defended. But given the odds stacked against them, can the free elves survive?

This is a phenomenally good book. Barclay always writes well, but I'm not sure I've seen stronger storytelling from him than in `Rise of the TaiGethen'. The characters - both elven and human - are brought to life with such skill that nobody can be seen as mere cannon-fodder. As is his wont, Barclay kills off several of the major characters during the book, and in a couple of cases, the death scenes genuinely brought a tear to my eye. The story is full of drama and proceeds at a good pace throughout. The action scenes are brutal, exciting and very bloody. And despite the book having quite a few sub-plots, everything is tied up neatly by the end.

In conclusion, `Elves: Rise of the TaiGethen' is probably James Barclay's best novel to date. It's a hugely enjoyable book to read and a great achievement, particularly for the middle book in a trilogy. I can't wait to see how he tops this with the series finale.