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Hinterland
The Second Chronicle of the Godslayer

by James Clemens



      In Shadowfall, the thrilling first installment of James Clemens’ Godslayer trilogy, Clemens showed how he had built on his already considerable talents and brought his world-building skills to a new height. As volume two, Hinterland, opens, Tylar de Noche is no longer a crippled outcast, but is about to be reinstated as a shadowknight as well as being made the new regent with the powers of a deity. But all is not well, and it looks as though his much-vaunted reinstatement ceremony at the Citadel is actually a trap, and soon the place is besieged. Can it all have something to do with this mysterious skull that has been found in the dread Hinterlands, where the rogue gods howl? Can it really be the skull of a god, and if so, which one? Tylar must leave the Citadel and journey to the Hinterlands himself to find out more.

After such a cracking beginning it seems in the cards that the middle book of a trilogy will tread water, and this one does this somewhat. I can promise a thrilling finish to the book and plenty of excitement, but more plot strands and the odd new major character or two wouldn’t have gone amiss. This is a lively and imaginative tale however, with strong characters of both sexes, an interesting magic system, lots of dastardly doings and battle. There is always something going on, and this keeps the plot rolling merrily along even if it does sag a bit in the middle. I’ll be eagerly reading book three to find out how it all ends...

The Book

ROC (Penguin Group) (US)
Orbit (Little Brown) (UK)
November 2005
Hardback (US)
Trade Paperback (UK)
ISBN 0451461134 (US)
ISBN 1841494429 (UK)
Fantasy
More at Amazon.com US || UK
Excerpt
NOTE: Some violence

The Reviewer

Rachel A Hyde
Reviewed 2007
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