Elves: Once Walked With Gods

A superb read that lets up only long enough for you to take your next breath before plunging you headlong back into dizzying action. Having said that, some of the fight sequences do at times become so kaleidoscopic as to disorient. Nevertheless, this is grown up fantasy at its best. The characters are fully realized and faced with difficult choices that will challenge your loyalties. And don't be fooled by the title. These elves have nothing airy about them; unless, that is, they're leaping into that air to land behind you and lay you waste with a swift kick the head or a blade to the back. Highly recommended.

Tremendous read action packed once you pick it up you cant put it down

Not an easy one to get into this, but once you settle into it, it moves like lightening.The author does not help the reader by failing to position this with his readers who may, or may not have read his excellent Raven series. So I'll try, and I am sure if I get anything wrong someone will jump in and correct me.Takkar is a hero of the Elves and the fearless leader of the TaiGethan (think ninja warrior Elves) and as he and his warriors are defending a portal from their world to the world of Balaia his courage fails and he breaks, leaving thousands of Elves to their fate.In Balaia Takkar goes into shameful exile and the Elves build up their society, sharing a world with humans that they keep well away from in the forest. Shunt forward in time and the caste system (known as threads) is breaking down and treacherous Elves bring humans in to help defend their Thread as the superior one. Violent civil was breaks out and the Elven race is now at the brink of extinction, maybe the long exiled Takkar can help, but the immortal Elf is dealing with his shame in exile....That's kind of where the book starts and I was confused at first putting the situation and the timelines into context. At this point in their history the Elves have no magic so when they encounter human mages with powerful spells, the fighting skills of the TaiGethan may not be enough.The majority of this book is about the battle for the Elf city of Calaius, taken over by humans and defended by sword and magic as the Elves struggle to fight back amongst their own mistrust and treachery.I almost went three stars with this, the Elven race fell apart too quickly, the contextual confusion, but Barclay has considerable skill in his dialogue and his action and you soon forget early concerns as you are swept into the pulsating story you would expect from James Barclay. I certainly ended it hungry for more and seeking the next instalment.There is no need to have read anything else by James Barclay to read this, and in a strange way you might enjoy it more if you haven't as the timelines will not confuse you.

A good start for a series, a bit confusing in the begining but once the plot was set rolled along at a fast pace.

I started to read this book but gave up within the first few pages. I hate swearing and as soon as this starts in a fantasy book I don't want to know. Clearly Mr Barclay has a small vocabulary when it come to language to have to resort to swearing. It shows a complete lack of class. When you read "The Lord of the Rings" there is no swearing because Tolkein wasn't ignorant.This book doesn't merit a star...please note Amazon and give reviewers this option!