The Covenant Rising: Book One of The Dreamtime (The Dreamtime...

In a land where magic defines the social order, the ruling tyrants alone control the most powerful sorcery ...One of the last of a massacred race of warriors -- an unparalleled swordsman magically afflicted by spells of blind, uncontrollable rage -- Reeth Caldason wanders Bhealfa seeking vengeance ... and freedom from his strange malady. Now word has come from a sorcerer's apprentice of a mysterious Covenant in the capital city, a secretive society that may provide the escape Reeth desires. But forming an uneasy alliance with the youthful messenger could ultimately prove disastrous -- for the road they musttravel together leads into the sordid heart of a perilous conspiracy of treachery, tyranny, necromancy, and death.

From Publishers Weekly

Weak characterization undercuts British author Nicholls's otherwise alluring fantasy, the first in a new sword-and-sorcery series with a well-conceived setting. Prince Melyobar, the mad ruler of Bhealfa, a small state caught between two large empires, believes that Death is an animate creature intent on stalking him. Long ground under the heel of the powerful in Bhealfa and the two empires, a few rebels are looking for ways to create a more egalitarian society. Enter Reeth Caldason, a brooding, nearly immortal swordsman straight out of the movie Highlander, looking for a magician who can help remove the curse he's under. Instead, Reeth ends up stuck with an inept and earnest magician's apprentice, Kutch, who may have hidden talents that will enable both Reeth and the rebels to get what they want. Unfortunately, the supporting characters—notably Melyobar, who's built a mobile palace in his attempt to outrun Death, and Serrah Ardacris, a crack soldier in the army of the empire of Gath Tampoor turned reluctant rebel—are far more compelling than the clichéd Reeth and Kutch. Still, Nicholls has the makings of a truly interesting series, and hopefully will do better in book two. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Stan Nicholls is best known for the internationally acclaimed Orcs: First Blood series. His journalism has appeared in Locus, SFX, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mirror, Time Out, Sight and Sound, and Rolling Stone, among many other publications. He currently lives in the West Midlands, U.K., with his wife, the writer Anne Gay.

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