British author James Barclay’s series of books about a mercenary band called The Raven is divided into two parts, with each part comprised of three books. The Chronicles of the Raven is made up of Dawnthief, Noonshade, and Nightchild.
At the outset of the Chronicles, when we first meet the Raven, they have been together for ten years as a unit, working for whomever will pay their way. In the midst of a battle, they are about to encounter two beings who bring about a change in both their lives and their world, Balaia. One is a 120 foot-long dragon and the other a mage. The first is in possession of an amulet that the second desires in order to piece together an ancient spell.
After using the Raven to ensure his successful securing of the amulet, the mage reveals the threat their world is under that requires this spell to be cast. Thus the adventure begins. At first it seems simple enough, recover the elements needed, go into the heart of the enemy's stronghold, cast a spell which has never been done before, because it risks destroying the world, and hope to survive. But this turns out to be the easy bit.
The three books of the Chronicles deals with the events surrounding the casting of the Dawntheif spell and establishing the Raven as the doers of the impossible. By the end of Nightchild they have been through so much that they are ready to give it all up and retire. But the world has other plans for them.
Legends Of The Raven’s three books, Elfsorrow, Shadowheart, and Demonstorm has them being forced out of retirement on three separate occasions in order to attempt rescues of either one of their own or the world. They are older and injured now, with more to lose in the way of families and loved ones. But there is no one else who can do what they do.
But everything begins with the casting of the Dawnthief spell. It sets in motion the series of events that will see The Raven criss-cross two continents, befriend dragons, betrayed by allies, befriend enemies, overcome a plague that threatens to wipe out the elves, (the majority of elves who live on a separate continent are like a cross between ninjas and Greenpeace) and cross dimensional boundaries in an attempt to save their world's soul from the grasp of demons.
It will also see the birth of an ancient magic which combines the elements of the four disparate teachings in their world, but has the unfortunate side effect of being almost too strong for any mage to handle without their mind being fried. Sound exciting? Well it is, but it's more then just simple sword and sorcery, although there's plenty of that too.
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