Dawnthief

Dawnthief is a fantasy novel by James Barclay. It was first published in the UK in 1999.

The story is about the Raven (a mercenary group), six men and an elf. Swords for hire in the wars that have torn Balaia apart. Now they must join forces with dark mages and find a spell to end the world.

The heroes of this novel are accidentally drawn into a plot revolving around the subjugation of the free peoples of their homeworld: Balaia. During a battle they become aware of a Xeteskan mage who informs them that an old magical enemy has returned to their world; the Wytch Lords. Denser, as the mage is called, explains that the world today does not have the power to defeat these enemies as they did before and that in order to save the realm he needs their help in finding an ancient spell of great power: Dawnthief. Along the way to finding dawnthief they discover that the spell is highly risky and if it does not work the sun shall never rise again.

The excitement of this book is in its fast pace, magical originality and the fact that no character, even the heroes, is immune to the dangers of battle. Called action fantasy by its reviewers and praised by such authors as Maggie Furey, John Marco, David Langford and Stan Nicholls, Dawnthief is exciting fantasy mixed in with a dash of something special which has made its author one of the most successful British writers of the past few years.