Review: The Grave Thief by Tom Lloyd

The Grave Thief by Tom Lloyd

The Grave Thief
Tom Lloyd
Pyr, 2009

The Grave Thief is the third book in Tom Lloyd’s Twilight Reign series following both The Stormcaller and The Twilight Herald.  Where as The Twilight Herald broadened the scope of the series beyond Isak’s travails The Grave Thief increases the complexity of the plot and the gravity of the threat in the series.  Where The Stormcaller stayed more tightly focused on Isak and his coterie The Grave Thief continues to expand upon the cast and players in the Twilight Reign.  This was both boon and bane to the novel; the latter primarily because I waited something close to 7 months to read this latest volume.

Review: The Twilight Herald by Tom Lloyd

The Twilight Herald
Tom Lloyd
Pyr, 2009

Tom Lloyd’s The Twilight Herald is the second book of the Twilight Reign series following Stormcaller.  Isak, now lord of the Farlan must come to grips with his new role as king and ruler of his people.  Meanwhile, in the city of Scree, a dark spell is being woven that threatens to consume it and its populace.  That same spell is drawing powerful people towards a huge convergence introducing a slew of new characters and new ideas to the world of Twilight Reign.

The expansion of the cast and the shift from the more character-driven tightly focused Stormcaller to the broader more epic approach seen in The Twilight Herald has mixed results.  On the one hand it lends itself towards one heck of a wild ride, with action, excitement, danger, violence and epic confrontations occurring left and right.  On the other hand the broader focus and new characters mean less of a focus on the well-developed and interesting personalities seen in the previous volume.

Review: The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd

The Stormcaller

Tom Lloyd

Pyr, 2008

Tom Lloyd’s Stormcaller, the first book in the Twilight Reign series first saw publication in the U.K. in March….of 2006.  If my previous rants haven’t hammered home the disparity between the U.K. and American fantasy market maybe that will.  I don’t know.  Regardless The Stormcaller is a fascinating entry into the fantasy genre that sparkles with originality while at the same time paying homage to the works that have come before.  The story centers around Isak, a white-eye, a creature touched by the gods and gifted with superhuman strenght, speed, and other magical abilities but cursed with a quick temper.  Isak, as it turns out is the Chosen of Nartis, the hunter god and chosen deity of the Farlan people, and thus is heir to the enigmatic and powerful Lord Bahl.  But there are greater things afoot and Isak finds himself drawn into a web of prophecy and power.