Watcher of the Dead (Sword of Shadows)
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Review
'Relentless and powerful. This is damned good stuff' Glen Cook, Bestselling author of the Black Company Series on The Sword of Shadows
Product Description
In the frigid wasteland of the north, Raif Sevrance, Watcher of the Dead, has endured many trials to lay claim to the renowned sword known as Loss. But the price of wielding the legendary weapon is high, and Raif is unsure if he is willing to pay it. Ash Marsh, Daughter of the Sull, still struggles to come to terms with her heritage, and the knowledge that the Watcher, armed with Loss, could be the one who will save the Sull - or end them. Raina Blackhail, widow of a murdered ruler and wife of his brutal successor, has seen her clan disgraced and has, herself, taken up the mantle of chief. But there are enemies both beyond her gates and within. And in the murky swamps of the Stillwater, two children will learn the secrets of the Marsh clan. Secrets so terrifying they threaten everything ...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Okay, first the good. The book itself is something of a return to form. Benefitting immensely in pace by shedding about 40% of the flab from the second and third books whilst actually seeing more plot movement. This continues to be a character-driven series and there is a welcome return for Angus Lok as well as more action for Raif, Effie and Raina. The basis of the storyline - Raif's ability to heart-kill - is as good as most fantasy novels and is nicely expanded here. All good, well written, engaging characters, and a sense of progress that has been missed. There is still a woeful lack of interaction between the main characters which means that the various plots run almost independently, which is a crying shame, and it still isn't clear what purpose some of them serve.
The bad mostly, to me anyway, stinks of weak editorial work and poor planning across the series. I'll put the interminable ages between books to one side (we wouldn't care if the series was rubbish after all!). But the first book was sold as the first of a trilogy. This is book four and I presume there's at least one more because there's not a great deal of sense of events drawing to a conclusion yet. So a trilogy it is not! The first three books were massive doorstops and this one is nearer half the size (at an obscenely over-priced £20 hardcover, mind you). Thankfully it cuts out most of the dull travelling that made the third book such a mediocre read, but I can't help feeling that the great concepts from book one have started to get lost in a series which has run out of control. There has been so much irrelevant flab that I can't help but think that a good editor would have ensured it was a trilogy - and then it would have ranked among the best, which it now doesn't.
I'll read the next book, but I'll hope it's the last too.
The bad mostly, to me anyway, stinks of weak editorial work and poor planning across the series. I'll put the interminable ages between books to one side (we wouldn't care if the series was rubbish after all!). But the first book was sold as the first of a trilogy. This is book four and I presume there's at least one more because there's not a great deal of sense of events drawing to a conclusion yet. So a trilogy it is not! The first three books were massive doorstops and this one is nearer half the size (at an obscenely over-priced £20 hardcover, mind you). Thankfully it cuts out most of the dull travelling that made the third book such a mediocre read, but I can't help feeling that the great concepts from book one have started to get lost in a series which has run out of control. There has been so much irrelevant flab that I can't help but think that a good editor would have ensured it was a trilogy - and then it would have ranked among the best, which it now doesn't.
I'll read the next book, but I'll hope it's the last too.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is definitely a bridging novel, although I seriously doubt the final book will be the final and fifth book. For a war against the mighty endlords I kind of expected.... well an endlord or at least some kind of major conflict, instead all we saw was character progression. I did enjoy many of the characters growth, I just felt that very little happened in the overall conflict. As someone else pointed out the only way the last book can be the final book is if it's huge and judging by the current length (448 pages) I doubt that will be the case. The first two books were great, but after a five year wait for the third and another two for the fourth, its a long wait for nothing much to happen. When a story becomes more focused on character progression than story progression we fall into the Robert Jordan fold, which while brilliant, was a series that should have ended sooner.
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Until I just had a look, I always thought JVJ pushed this series out fairly rapidly but it turns out its 4 books in 11 years, which compares unfavourably to George RR Martin's 4 books in 9 years (and I never thought I'd use the word unfavourably in comparing release schedules against Martin!). Still, its mostly due to a 5 year hiatus between books two and three, which caused me to reread books one and two at the time.
Book four, Watcher of the Dead, sees the action really hotting up. "Rentless" isn't a word I use a lot, especially in a 400 page novel but it really is suitable in this instance: from Angus Lok, to Raif, to the Eye, Effie, Raina and so on, at the start of each and every chapter you're desperate to continue the story of the person from the last chapter. For all of two pages anyway, and then you're gripped by the continuation of the next characters story arc.
Poor old Raif is looking like he's going to be held together entirely by scar tissue at some point in the not to distant future, there is some imagination involved in the regular torments he suffers. Certainly wouldn't want to get the wrong side of the person that dreamt them up ;)
Part of the skill is keeping a tight rein on your characters, if they wander off you spend too much time getting them into place for the finale, and this is where series can lose it in the middle- endless trekking, contrived reasons for going somewhere and a lot of boredom for the reader. It's obvious JVJ has spent a lot of time planning this series and this book particularly because at volume 4 we've not really encountered pointless marching for the sake of getting the chess pieces in the right place.
The only issue I have with this book is a silly one really. It's so well written if you read the series back to back it exposes the shortfallings of the first book. Thats not to say Cavern of Black Ice is badly written because it isn't, but this is on a different level, the writing is up there with the top contemporary fantasy crowd. I shudder to think the level of research thats gone in to some of it :)
All in all, well worth reading. If you've read the other 3, it's a no brainer to get this, if you haven't, go grab volume one, you're in for a treat.
Book four, Watcher of the Dead, sees the action really hotting up. "Rentless" isn't a word I use a lot, especially in a 400 page novel but it really is suitable in this instance: from Angus Lok, to Raif, to the Eye, Effie, Raina and so on, at the start of each and every chapter you're desperate to continue the story of the person from the last chapter. For all of two pages anyway, and then you're gripped by the continuation of the next characters story arc.
Poor old Raif is looking like he's going to be held together entirely by scar tissue at some point in the not to distant future, there is some imagination involved in the regular torments he suffers. Certainly wouldn't want to get the wrong side of the person that dreamt them up ;)
Part of the skill is keeping a tight rein on your characters, if they wander off you spend too much time getting them into place for the finale, and this is where series can lose it in the middle- endless trekking, contrived reasons for going somewhere and a lot of boredom for the reader. It's obvious JVJ has spent a lot of time planning this series and this book particularly because at volume 4 we've not really encountered pointless marching for the sake of getting the chess pieces in the right place.
The only issue I have with this book is a silly one really. It's so well written if you read the series back to back it exposes the shortfallings of the first book. Thats not to say Cavern of Black Ice is badly written because it isn't, but this is on a different level, the writing is up there with the top contemporary fantasy crowd. I shudder to think the level of research thats gone in to some of it :)
All in all, well worth reading. If you've read the other 3, it's a no brainer to get this, if you haven't, go grab volume one, you're in for a treat.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good Reading
As part of a series this book lives up to the standards set by the others.
JV Jones is a writer who knows how to hold interest and keep the reader wanting to know more.
JV Jones is a writer who knows how to hold interest and keep the reader wanting to know more.
Published 4 months ago by Smee55
watcher of the dead
I came late to j.v.jones writing, and have read most of them now.
i love them all, i cannot honestly say ive been disappointed in any of them, and here comes the BUT, this... Read more
i love them all, i cannot honestly say ive been disappointed in any of them, and here comes the BUT, this... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Ms. Susan M. Rowe
Better than the last
While this was better than the last and I didn't skip any chapters I've given up on this series now.
Published 8 months ago by Maxieduncan
Couldn't put this down!
JV Jones is one of those writers who gets better with every book. Her earlier series were good but didn't leave a lasting impression. Read more
Published 9 months ago by smallblondehippy
Watcher of the Dead
Having read the first three books in the series, I was looking forward to this. Unfortunately, while the book was good, I was disappointed at the end as I still don't know if this... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Mr. Paul Mangan
Adds something, but not much
An ok addition to the series, Watcher of the Dead does not progress the series as much as it should have. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Balor of the Evil Eye
Fantasy that happens in real-time
I marked the day that book two was published in the UK in my calendar, a long time ago, considering the author one of my favourite writers. Read more
Published 10 months ago by PlumOse
the same few chapters repeated, again, and again, and again . . . .
"SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS" and some ranting.
I think Raif is a brillliant chracter, the world that has been built up over the previous three books [although it took... Read more
I think Raif is a brillliant chracter, the world that has been built up over the previous three books [although it took... Read more
Published 11 months ago by ross
great follow on to first 3 books
J.V.Jones writes a great story. Full of real characters one can believe in & get to know, and plenty of action. Watcher of the Dead is no exception, I just can't put it down. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Chris Wall
JV Jones epic fantasy cycle, book 4
I've lost track of how long Jones has been writing this: I think the first volume was published in the late 90's, and I think there was a 5-year gap between books two and three. Read more
Published 12 months ago by John Middleton
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