The Cry of the Newborn

The Ascendants of Estorea #1

by James Barclay

The Estorean Conquord has stood for 850 years. Its Advocate, Herine Del Aglios, knows that she presides over the greatest civilisation in history. But she wants more. And in Estorea's recently conquered territories dissent is brewing. Forced to fight old friends and neighbours in the cause of the ever-growing Conquord, they face brutal choices and savage demands for money and men to be fed into Estorea's wars - demands made by Paul Jhered, head of the Gatherers and the iron hand of the Advocate, With Jhered by her side, Herine believes that nothing can go wrong. Until a disastrous and bloody reversal in the war to overrun the Kingdom of Tsard puts Estorea's armies on the back foot and has Tsardon troops flooding into the Conquord. As the empire trembles, far from the war four unique children are discovering their powers. They are the first true Ascendants, in touch with the elements, able to shape the world. An empire descending into war is about to discover the wonder and terror of magic ...James Barclay's new series is a triumph of epic plotting and heart-stopping action.

Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

800 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Robo Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes! Yes yes yes!

As a fan of "The Raven" novels I'd been disappointed by "Ravensoul" and so approached this new epic somewhat cautiously, worried that James Barclay had perhaps run out of steam. I could not have been more wrong! At over 800 pages this was a bit of a slowburner to begin with - so many characters and a fully realised world to wrap one's head around - but well worth that initial effort.

The political machinations of Estoria were detailed and fascinating (heavily inspired I think by the Roman Empire?) and the battles (similarly Roman) brutal: at times exhilerating, at others unflinching and offputting. The development of the young Ascendants followed a similar trajectory and it was not always easy to care for the "heroes" of the tale. As with all of Barclays novels there are some truly wonderful characters (see: Jhered) who you simply cannot help but get hehind and that emotional investment always leads to a rollercoaster ride of will-they-or-won't-they make it (although in this case the ride only starts several hundred pages in).

So, to summarise. Long? Definitely. Overblown? Perhaps a little, but wonderfully so. Worthy successor to The Raven? Absolutely.

My final impression of this novel is that it has been a complete labour of love for Barclay and I for one have been most impressed by its big-budget, epic fantasy storytelling. The story continues in "Shout for the Dead" and while I need a bit of a breather to recover from the epic length of "Cry of the Newborn" I absolutely can't wait to dive back into Estorea and find out where my favourite characters have ended up after the events chronicled here.

[F.V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes when I start reading a new book I get early «warning» how this novel is going to be. The cause might be the writing style. How and what kind og words the author uses. How the author presents the characters. Almost all fantasy writers uses at least 150 pages as introduction to the actually story. I guess it is just to set the «mood» of the novel. So the reader can better feeling and perhaps even find their character they can relate to. Often fantasy novels start out with «a mystery» adult or child that has great potentials. I know it is an classic. But the novel can be a bit «boring» for us above 15 years. In some novels we have the long experienced characters that already has been trough a lot and we (the reader) can fast establish what kind of persons(or something) we are dealing with.
In is Cry of the newborn we are presented with both. And for me at least that was an relief. Being somewhat over 15 years I need to read novels with an edge and perhaps more depth. And I need beings that are of both genre and acting as such .
Barclay has done both. Combining the story with adults and youngsters he has created a universe that will attract readers that are looking for a more mature behaviour in the story and characters but at the same time have that classic approach.
The conflicts also feel real and not just and escuse to write long battle scenes. The tension among the main charaters are also helping the reader to a more broaden view which give the story a more greyish tone.

Barclay is without any doubt an very skilled author. He has a good grasp of what it takes to write and what it takes to deliver an fast paced and interesting story. For fantasy readers that enjoy military campaigns the novel is an instant hit. Also how the characters in the novel evolve and perhaps change how they behave through experience is something Barclay is very successfully describing.

If I should point out some negative it has to be originality. I know it must be hard these days to come up with a new kind of story, but Barclay has not strayed long from the «classic path» . I wish he could be a bit more bolder and meaner to the story and his characters.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

c2005. Well - its certainly not the Raven. The plot seemed, well, it just seemed so inevitable. No twists or turns and I am not sure whether or not I actually liked any of the characters - unlike the Raven where every character was well drawn. Perhaps, I am just missing the Raven. It was a monster of a book as well - 819 in the edition that I read. Perhaps I should have realised something was up when the publisher used quotes for Barclay as a writer as opposed to quotes for this book alone. No map! But at least no mention of the dreaded "living rock".

[Christopher Curchy]

An excellent combination of Fantasy set in a military battle. Strong characters and warm social connections. Fast paced action and scene to scene narrative makes it hard to ever put this book down. Can’t wait to start Book 2,

[Hot Pink Mess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but there are some very over-used tropes in this book, as well as one scene that felt a bit over done to prove the "bad guy" was "really bad." Honestly, it wasn't the main characters that I ended up loving, but the Exchequer. There were some moments where the plot really slogged, but that was peronsal preference. I'm not a fan of detailed, drawn out war scenes and tactics, more character driven. Over all, not a bad way to have spent two days, but not quite good enough for it to be on my re-read shelves.

[Rui Mateus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been putting this off for a long time and God-surround-me, what was I thinking? I was hooked from the start and it didn't let me down. The detail of battles, the conflicting thoughts on magic vs. religion and the love shared by the characters fighting for a common enemy were elements that kept this story fresh from beginning to end.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and very enjoyable. From the characters and settings to the pacing an flow, the story kept me reading.
The battle scenes were epic. James Barclay is able to give you a real sense, both physically and emotionally, of what it would have been like to be in centre of a Roman or Medieval battle.
I'm looking forward to reading, Shout for the Dead.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very imaginative, creative, and enjoyable, although it certainly had it's faults. The first of which was it's punctuation; there were way too many periods making sentences seem short and disjointed as well as making shouting characters seem calm. The characterization was also lacking in the vast majority of the characters. Outside of the Ascendants and Jhered, many characters were simply faceless names to me. I also think there were too many points of view that took away from any suspense there may have been.
Although the fighting scenes were full of description and imagery, I feel as if more explanations were needed for certain war terms or levels of warriors and perhaps a glossary at the back would have made it a little more understandable for me. At times the war scenes felt long and over described or the sake of being so. Overall, I feel like much of the book could have been cut out with the same final effect. There were points in the book that had me on edge, but there were also points that had me essentially zoning out.
The book wasn't bad, but I do feel like it should have went through an editor (or a few) thoroughly in order to make it a little more readable and especially fixing the punctuation within the dialogue so you could actually feel the emotion while reading it instead of just thinking that everyone is speaking at a calm voice all the time.
I liked the book and will probably read the next of the series, but I don't feel as if I'm in a great rush to.

[Joelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a massive book - it took me weeks to read, I'd always read something else in between.[return]It certainly is a competent story, a competent and well crafted universe, lots of different characters, but I just found I didnt really get "into" it. In theory this is a kind of fantasy I should like, but I guess I have been tiring of massive books and series lately and this book arrived at just the wrong moment. I just would have enjoyed it more in a cut down version.[return][return]I felt the first 2 thirds of the book were about setting the scene - then in the last third things really pick up and get going and I read that quite a bit faster. [return]I found the military campaign story and the side characters of far more interest than in the main characters in the story, and I suspect that is why I really enjoyed the last third more - that's when I started caring.[return][return]One thing he does very well is make you care for people on all the different sides, which of course makes for a very complex and layered book.[return]A book for readers of massive fantasy series.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

First book I've read by this author. It is well written and quite epic in it's scope. The first half of the book showed much promise, concentrating on the emergence of the Ascendants and their growth from newborns to adolescents. But increasingly the narrative focused on war and endless battle scenes, few of which were very interesting, and I couldn't help but feel Barclay lost his way and ran out of ideas on how to develop the Ascendant plot. The last third of the book was very hard going and I skipped over many pages hoping for some spectacular finale which sadly never came. The magic system was also a little too "new age" for me. Overall disappointing especially given the promising start. Glad I borrowed this from the library as I shan't be reading the sequel anytime soon though I would be interested to read some of Barclay's other works as he certainly shows potential.

[Heather]

One of the reasons I picked up this book (other than the fact it was $5) is that on the front cover, there is a positive quote about the book from Steven Erikson, and I love his Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Unfortunately, I'm about a quarter of the way through this book, and don't particularly care what happens to any of the characters or the land itself, so I see no point in continuing. It all seems to be a grey version of what I've read before, somehow.

[Jennifer Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big book!! I found it slightly hard going at the beginning as it was a complete different world. Decided to stick with it to give it a fair chance and the more I read the more I got hooked. Found this hard to put down and was reading every chance I got. His writing style is quick and easily gets you involved with all the characters. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and the story of the ascendancy but found all the battle scenes long and hard to get through, I can only read so much about swords and onagers before I start skipping paragraphs to get back to the story.... I would have gave this book a 3 1/2 star rating if I knew how to give half stars because of all the battle scenes

[Kilwinkie Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book by James Barclay I'd ever read and it was fantastic, I can't wait on the rest of the trilogy.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

derivative tosh

[Dietmar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow going in the first quarter, but picking up speed and suspense to end in a great conclusion. I think I will go and look for the other parts in the series soon.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Can't wait to grab the next one. I've discovered a new favourite author. :)

[Adrian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dont Bother

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great writer, great book. I won't write much, because I can't to get into the second part...

[Mridupawan Podder · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Barclay novel. There were times I wondered what was going on, but the author wonderfully tied things down. Also the 2nd and final book looks more promising now.

[Adrian Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic new fantasy world by Barclay, new magic methodologies and a new world created - such an imagination for creativity is inspiring in an author!

[Carole-Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, disappointed.... nothing like the Raven Cycle but then, why should it be. Just didn't work for me properly.

[Kestutis · Rating 5 out of 5]

interessant wie es geht weiter, gute Anfang