Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

Shadow Prowler, the first fantasy novel by Russian author Alexey Pehov to be translated to English, pulls out every fantasy cliché in the book: elves, dwarves, orcs, ogres, goblins, guilds of thieves and assassins, and an evil overlord (the “Nameless One”) who is about to awaken and take over the land with an army of evil beasties. Shadow Harold (yes, that's his name) is a master thief who, against his will, gets involved in rescuing the world from said Nameless One. To do so, he must retrieve a magical doohickey (the Rainbow Horn) from someplace dark and scary in, yes, the Desolate Lands. If you wanted to play a drinking game, taking a shot whenever Shadow Prowler matches up with entries in Read More

Shadow Prowler & Shadow Chaser by Alexey Pehov

Shadow Prowler and Shadow Chaser are the first two books, respectively, of the Chronicles of Siala trilogy by Russian author Alexey Pehov. The series is a best-seller and award-winner in Russia, and has been translated into English by Andrew Bromfield (translator of Sergei Lukyanenko’s Night Watch series) for Tor.

The world of Siala has seen several Ages. Only the ogres survived from the Dark Era into the succeeding Grey Era, which saw the arrival of the Orcs and Elves (immediate mortal enemies) into the world. Dwarves and gnomes appeared next, a... Read More