Cover art - "Elfsorrow" by James Barclay

Pyr will release in November a new edition of James Barclay’s first novel in the “Legends of the Raven” series, “Elfsorrow”. Pyr put a lot of effort in the artwork too, commissioning for the covers of their edition of James Barclay’s series one of my top favorites artists, Raymond Swanland. I rarely am a fan of covers centered on a character, but this time I am making an exception. Raymond Swanland made once again a wonderful artwork, stirring my desire to find who this character is (I am not familiar with James Barclay’s works) and inflicting the same excellent sense of motion into his work as he used us with in some of the other covers he made before. Raymond Swanland used more dark colors here, but they are working for me without a problem. I will definitely grab a copy of this edition.

Another action-packed adventure from the new master of fantasy. The Raven travel to a new continent in search of mages to help the ruined college of Julatsa rebuild and find themselves in the midst of an ancient curse—a curse that has unleashed a plague that threatens to wipe out the elven race. Barclay excels with another tale that pitches The Raven against the clock and unseen foes. Full of desperate fights and secret betrayals, the story also fills in more of Balaia's history and delves deeper into the ancient emnities between the colleges. Barclay has created a wonderfully appealing group of heroes, and with every book their history grows and the land they live in becomes wider and richer. This is landmark fantasy in the making.