In the summer of 2011, I was in the middle of my first deployment to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when we received a bunch of care packages from charity groups in the United States. One of these boxes was nothing but paperback novels, which, as a voracious reader who had already shot through everything on my Nook, was the best sight I’d clapped my eye on in months. I grabbed several books, added them to my pack, and eventually read through them all.

One of these books had been particularly enjoyable. A high fantasy novel, the first of a series, written by some Russian author. It was different than most other high fantasy books I’d read, and I was determined to acquire the rest of the series once I returned home. Well, things got pretty chaotic in the weeks that followed. Any thought of home, I pushed to the back of my mind as useless optimism. Survival became the only thing that mattered, and thus was the memory of this book cast out and forgotten.

It was nearly three years later when a random deployment memory triggered my recollection of this book, but I couldn’t remember the title, the author, or anything of note. All I remembered was that the protagonist was a thief, and in this fictional world, the dwarves never grew beards. In the days before advanced A.I. could have helped me search the interwebs with little effort, trying to find this book with so little information was a lost cause. Numerous Google searches got me nowhere, and I resorted to asking the owners of local bookstores if they had ever heard of such a book.

Well, last year, my search finally came to an end. A glimpse of a memory of the book’s title came to mind: Shadow-something. Armed with this new memory, I finally found it after 14 years of searching: Shadow Prowler, by Alexey Pehov, Book #1 of “Chronicles of Siala” trilogy. The entire series was gifted to me at Christmas, and I’ve finally read them all. Now, after an unnecessarily long introduction, allow me to review for you the “Chronicles of Siala”.

The Cast

All three books are told in the first-person point of view from a master thief named Harold. At the start of the book, we join Harold in the middle of a job he’s been commissioned to do: break into a rich man’s house and steal something valuable. Here we are shown a good deal of Harold’s character. He is old enough to be wise, but young enough yet to be nimble. He’s a cautious, patient man, traits which have made him the master thief that he is. He’s also a planner and preparer. He did his homework on this rich man’s house, found all potential hazards, and brought the proper tools of the trade (including some magical baubles) to deal with them all.

This is the only character of note we see for a while. It’s not for another hundred pages or so that we meet the rest of the main cast. An elf princess named Miralissa, a knight of the kingdom, Aliston Mirkauz, and the king’s royal jester, a goblin named Kli-Kli. These three stand out as the most important protagonists not named Harold. Others eventually join the party (too many to be frank), but going through them all would take hours.

The Plot

This series is standard high-fantasy fare: the world of Siala is threatened by an ancient evil, a god-like figure bent on domination and control known only as The Nameless One, and it’s up to a ragtag group of unlikely comrades to find the one magical item, the Rainbow Horn, that can forestall the enemy and keep him locked in the far north, beyond the icy, impenetrable mountains. However, this horn was locked deep in a place called Hrad Spein, the Palaces of Bone. An ancient labyrinth carved into the very heart of the world, it extends miles underground and contains countless dangers, known and unknown.

Harold’s job is to go with a group of mighty warriors known as the Wild Hearts, travel to Hrad Spein, and sneak into the vast catacombs below to retrieve the Rainbow Horn so that the magicians can infuse it with power and keep the great evil at bay.

There are a few plot twists, and later in Book #2, Shadow Chaser, we are even treated to some world-hopping beyond the realm of Siala. But at the end of the day, this one checks all the boxes for high fantasy without becoming a laundry list of cliches. There’s a lot more I could say, but I don’t want to spoil too much, as I’m a big believer in going into books with as fresh a set of eyes as possible.

The Worldbuilding

Here’s what really hooked me on this book. Siala is a unique setting that stands out from your typical fictional worlds. For instance, as aforementioned, the dwarves of Siala never sport a beard, a far cry from the usual depiction of dwarves. Why are they clean-shaven? Because the gnomes all wear beards as a point of honor, and the dwarves and gnomes are bitter, vicious enemies.

Another thing that sets these books apart is the depiction of elves. Don’t expect to see the beautiful, angelic, delightfully aloof version of elves popularized by J.R.R. Tolkien. In Siala, the elves are nearly identical to orcs. In fact, they are cousins. Both elf and orc sport sharp fangs, dark, scaly skin, and golden-yellow eyes. As much as they look like orcs, these elves also act like them, too. They are not bad guys, but I wouldn’t call them good guys, either. The elves of Siala are a notoriously brutal, vicious race. They will torture captives if they feel like it, and they are quick to kill at the slightest offense or insult.

Last of all, one of my favorite features of Siala is how shamanism and magic are distinct practices that exist side-by-side. Shamanism existed at the very birth of the world, first practiced by the ogres. But their shamanism grew too powerful even for them, and it destroyed nearly all of them. Orcs and elves next took up a more stunted form of shamanism, and they practice it throughout the books.

Humans, however, cannot wield shamanism. They practice magic, a separate branch of supernatural power that derives from shamanism. It sounds like splitting hairs, but the differences matter. Magic, practiced by magicians, is not nearly as powerful as shamanism, but magic can be wielded quickly. It is also predictable and repeatable, like a science. If you know the spell for a magical shield, you need only say the words, make the sign, and have adequate training to hold it.

Shamanism, on the other hand, can tap into wells of power with untold depths. It takes years to master, and each spell takes time to conjure up. A magician can raise his hand and blast out a fireball at a moment’s notice, but a shaman needs several minutes to scratch out markings, chant an incantation, and even perform rhythmic movements before a spell will be ready. But when it is ready, it dwarfs the magic of humans. However, as the ogres discovered, it is also chaotic. Unlike magic, a single wrong word or misplaced rune can completely change the nature of the spell in ways that the shaman cannot fathom, and this makes for a key plot point several times throughout the story.

Final Word

For high fantasy fans, I can strongly recommend this book as something that hits all the usual beats while simultaneously presenting a unique world of anti-hero elves and beardless dwarves. The pacing is a bit erratic, and at times the dialogue is clunky and odd, but I’m willing to chalk that up to the difficulties of translating Russian into English. But there were no dealbreakers, and about two-thirds into the first book, I’d become fully emotionally invested in our group of heroes. Book #2 got a bit heavy, I won’t lie, but Book #3 wrapped everything up nicely. While it’s not exactly a ‘happily ever after’ type of story (get ready for some tears), I was satisfied with how it ended.

If you’re not sure about high fantasy, I would advise you to steer clear of this one. I don’t think it would be anything close to something you’d enjoy.