Book one of the Godslayer Chronicles, "Shadowfall", by James Clemens grabbed my attention from Page One. Clemens creates a monster, the 'Naethryn', that drips other-world danger and an intelligent horror. His descriptions are classic and detailed. The purpose of this demon is more than initially exhibited. The author immerses us in a story within a story, within a mystery, and throws in several sub-plots that kept me guessing till the end.
Myrilla is the stage where the charactes play out their various roles. Two lead characters, Tylar and Dart, are both more than they seem. One is given extraordinary magic that was unlooked for. The other is born with magic she needs to develop. Her demon pet,the most interesting 'pupp'I have ever had the pleasure to read about, has connections to the Naethryn that should be expanded in the Chronicles.
Jim has created a world of both beauty and depravity. He has shown, in a most concrete manneer, the use and abuse of magic and the consequences of calculated and unthinking use of dark and light magic. There are many original ideas in this story. I was constantly returning as soon as possible to this book, eventually reading and re-reading it several times.
I look forward to the rest of the Godslayer Chronicles. Thanks Jim.

A most definite 9/10!

In Shadowfall, the first chronicle of the Godslayer chronicle we are introduced to Myrillia, the land of gods & mankind.

There are nine primary lands in which 100 gods have settled themselves, there are 4 categories under which the gods fall with respect to their powers,namely gods of air, fire, loam & water.

Tylar de Noche is the protagonist & the alleged godslayer, he is a broken man in spirit & body then he witnesses the death of the god Meeryn & in her dying moments she brands him with her palm print on his chest & effuses him with Grace(she is 1 of the water gods) Tylars' body is seemingly healed but then he is accused of being a godslayer & tossed into jail.

He's is saved from being killed,by a shadowknight who turns out to be a former friend,in jail he befriends a thief called Rogger whose predicament is worsened by the death of Meeryn

Tylar is then judged guilty by the process of soothing(mindreading) & then tortured to reveal how he killed Meeryn
while being tortured they break his hand & the demon spirit in him gets released, the hows & whys i'll leave u guys to discover on your own in the book

On escaping from the Island, Tylar,Rogger & Delia(meeryn handmaiden ) make journey to Tashjan, the citadel of Shadowknights

Early on we are also introduced to a 13-14 year old girl known as Dart who is in the town Of Chrismferry. She is being trained to be a handmaiden to the gods. she is always being picked upon by her class mates & due to one such event she is punished to clean a certain place where she is raped brutally by one of the brothers of the conclave

She is saved by her astral companion, a doglike creature whom she calls Pupp & who is visible only to her as he is intangible, at the same time but becomes solid when in contact with blood, he kills the rapist by tearing him to shreds

Dart then gets picked to be handmaiden to Chrism, the first god of Myrillia with her speciality being Blood, the highest of all graces(there are nine in all) her classmate Laurelle is also picked alongwith her for tears & they are introduced to Chrism's court

It is from here on that Jim starts tweaking the story & entwining the various thread which include an assaination at Tashijan, a group called Fiery cross within the Shadowknights with their own agenda, Tylar's friend back at Tashijan including his bethrod Kathryn who had turned against him when he was removed as a shadowknight & also a race of people called the Wyr who are intent on creating a man-god

The journey for Tylar is long & he meets many characters both villanous & heroic & at last the alleged Godslayer becomes an actual Godslayer with the help of Dart who plays a very crucial role

The land of Myrillia is made starkly vivid & agonizingly vast by Jim & it willl be interesting to see where & what does he do in the the next book of the GSC, he has left hints which might show where he wants to go in his next book. the climax scene & dialogues between Tylar & the actual Godslayer reveal a few things bout the greater story which is very collosal & in which Tylar & Dart appear to be mere pawns also the epilogue is a killer, in which 1 of Tylars' friends is being turned against Him A LA Kral of the B&B series

I have rated this book so high as it overcame my expectations from it & from the moment I read page one I was hooked into the mysterious & marvellous land that is Myrillia

my rating = 9/10