Shadowfall: Book One of the Godslayer Chronicles (Godslayer, #1) (Godslayer Chronicles, #1) (Godslayer Chonicles)

by James Clemens

Four millennia have passed since the gods came to Myrillia, creating the nine lands of peace as a haven from the nightmarish, accursed Hinterlands. In all this time nothing has disturbed the harmony of the nine lands.

But now the goddess of the Summering Isles has been murdered. The only witness is Tylar de Noche, a crippled and disgraced former Shadowknight. As he holds the dying goddess, her last breath bestows a powerful blessing on him-a mark that heals his broken body. A mark that many see as proof that he killed a god. A mark that unleashes a powerful force of darkness within him.

Chased across Myrillia by enemies both human and ethereal, Tylar must uncover and face down a being powerful enough to kill an immortal-the true godslayer. For if he fails, all of Myrillia will fall into shadow.

• ISBN10: 0451460502
• ISBN13: 9780451460509
• Publish Date: 7 November 2006 (first published 5 May 2005)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
• Imprint: Signet
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 528
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780451460509

Reviews

[celinenyx]

In Myrillia the gods live between the humans. A hundred of them settled and claimed their land, and made their Grace flow into it. The solitaries live far away, in barbaric land. Then, one day, one of the Hundred is killed. And Tylar de Noche is falsely accused of the slaying of a god.

We follow Tylar in his journey to clean his name. The story starts off very slow, especially since there are a lot of characters introduced pretty early on. The strength of this book is that it ties up all these characters so neatly in the end, without giving too much away for the sequel, Hinterland. There were a lot of twists I did not see coming. I loved how corruption is so wide spread and that not even the gods are spared. The desperation was so heartfelt it made me uncomfortable.

Of course, you cannot write a review about Shadowfall without mentioning the magic system. It's awesome. It is different, it is gross, and it even is well thought through. I did wonder a few times why Tylar wasn't just throwing his blood at his enemies. It should work, right?

Tylar undergoes a great transformation. He is turned from a broken man into a perfect knight, and his mind slowly grows into it. It goes very gently and with little steps at a time he is accepting his new fate. I also really liked how things aren't easily resolved between Tylar and Kathryn. It made this book feel so more credible. And that's quite an achievement in a book where it is common to be covered in someone's faeces.

[wyvernfriend]

Tylar de Noche is already in trouble, he was betrayed and broken in a slave ship. He was once a shadowknight of the realm, now his sword hand is useless and his legs and back are twisted. He comforts himself with drink, and one day as he goes home he finds himself drawn to a woman's screams. He holds her in his arms as she dies and he realises that she's in fact a goddess and when other people arrive they think that he's the killer.

Tylar finds that he has to be the pivot in an attempt to save the world.

It's interesting and while it is quite a large book I found this quite an interesting read. I was drawn into the characters and really wanted to know what was going to happen next. I do want to read more of the series and see what happens next.