The Books

The Ascendants of Estorea: Cry Of The Newborn

"Cry Of The Newborn" is the first book in the duology, please read below for a synopsis of the book.

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.

Details:

Writing The Book

This Description was written by James for www.JamesBarclay.com

It gives an insight into how writing Cry of the Newborn changed his life:

This book was written in my first full year of working full time as an author. So here's a bit of a consciousness dump about how it all felt.

Nothing like chucking everything you've been familiar with out the window... The transition from City-worker-who-writes-books to full time full-time professional writer was interesting to say the least. I'd spoken to a few writers about it and despite much sage advice, the sheer scale of the change is something I wasn't quite prepared for.

All of a sudden I had massive amounts of time on my hands (or so it appeared) and no manager or rigid task list to complete. No deadline barring the one for the first Ascendants book and that was nine months away.

And so I made a classic mistake and did far too little in the early weeks. Yes, I read and researched, planned and jotted notes and felt terribly happy with my lot 'being and author'. But I didn't do nearly enough and quickly found myself a long way behind.

I wouldn't like to say when the change happened but literally one day, I awoke to the enormity of the challenge I was facing. I couldn't rely on what I'd known with The Raven. This was a new book, a new concept, world, plot and crucially, new characters that I couldn't afford to be pale echoes of past favourites.

It was then I began to work and so fall in love with the Ascendants and really know why it was I felt I had to devote all my time to the project. It was, and is, huge. There was an immense amount of grounding I needed to do to make every element credible. Making battles work, the magic system logical, the religious difficulties reasonable not ridiculous... understanding the workings of the minds of rulers, senior generals, and people who are the first of their kind ever to walk the earth.

It was fascinating and I was lost in it for a time and found writing more pleasurable than ever before. Paul Jhered quickly became a huge favourite and I loved writing the dynamic between the four young Ascendants. And between them and him. I felt I was writing something important... to me if not to anyone else. I felt I was genuinely growing as an author and stepping outside my comfort zone and the challenge was exciting and frightening.

The change hadn't finished mind you. In October, I moved in with my girlfriend and within the happiness that brought was further disruption to my work as I struggled to find a new space and rhythm.

If there was one disappointment it was that for the first time, I didn't hit my delivery deadline. I like to think I am a disciplined author but I lost that at various times in the year. And if there is one joy it is that I genuinely feel I have written the book I set out to write. And indeed exceeded my own expectations.

I hope all who read it enjoy it for the great sweeping adventure it is meant to be.

The Ascendants of Estorea: A Shout For The Dead

"A Shout For The Dead" is the second book in the duology. It was released in the UK on January 4th 2007.

In "The Cry Of The Newborn" we were introduced to four teenagers, each of whom had nature at their command. They became the pawns in the struggle of the Estorean empire to survive. Through them their world discovered magic and we were drawn into a superb new epic fantasy that, for the first time, told the story of what happens when magic arrives in a previously non-magical world.

Now ten years have passed and Estorea is consumed by war and the four ascendents have chosen different sides in the conflict.

As the armies muster and the final conflict draws close the ascendents are only now coming to their full power and soon summoned armies of the dead will march against the living.

This is epic fantasy full of fallible characters, political machinations, betrayal and bloody battles. It combines vivid storytelling with an original theme in a popular sub-genre and shows Barclay to be a writer who is getting better with every book and who is truly comfortable with epic scale.

Updates : A Shout For The Dead

From time to time I will be asking James for an update on how the writing process is going, and an insight on how a novel like this is put together.

The first update is now available, read below for an update written by James in April 2006.

"The writing process for A Shout For The Dead has been long and often very difficult. What looked a straightforward idea at first had dozens of pitfalls to skirt (or fall into and climb out of once again…). There have been disruptions throughout the year due to factors like moving house, getting married and various others. What it’s all added up to is a disjointed drafting and that has knocked into a long revisions process. It’s still not over by a good distance – I’ve discovered plenty that needs redrafting, tightening, removing… you name it. But what I can say is that as the days go on and more and more looks like it’s final draft, I’m getting happier and happier with the result.

I’ll admit to moments of despondency when I just couldn’t seem to put my finger on the problems I faced but that seems to be behind me now. My editor has been brilliant the whole way through, very supportive and understanding as the initial deadline date passed by. He’s read plenty of the book now and is anxious for more which I guess must be a good sign… Hopefully, hopefully, it’ll all be sorted and put to bed in the next month or so and we can look forward to a publishing date this side of Christmas. "

The following update was written by James in May 2006.

A Shout For The Dead is finished and has been delivered to Gollancz for editing.

Finally! It’s been a tortuous process at times but in the end, a real joy.

I’ve loved writing about the Ascendants and while I’m not guaranteeing anything (that’s always a dangerous thing to do), it’s a big world, is the Estorean Conquord and I’d say the chances of more books based there is pretty high.