The Raven should have time to rest and celebrate their accomplishments. After sending home the dragons as promised and saving the elves from a mysterious illness that brings them to the line separating the living from the dead, Balaia should be safe from outside forces. But once again, the warring colleges bring a dire fate upon themselves.

The lord of the Wesmen sees an opportunity to destroy the magic he and his people so despise. While Xestek is busy defending itself against its fellow colleges, the Wesmen attack. The relentless barbarians attacks deplete the already weary mages. Seeing defeat is imminent, Dystran, Xestek's reining Lord of the Mount, orders the use of dimensional magic. While a rip in the dimension does defeat the Wesmen, it brings something far worse-- predatory demons determined to make Balaia their new home.

Demonstorm is a solid volume in the continuing story of the Raven. With this book, we finally see Xestek suffer the results of their arrogance, although they do take all of Balaia with them. Where Hirad lost his banter with Ilkar, he finds it with the other elves, who have begrudgingly accepted him into their culture. Erienne still struggles to control the One magic and Sol wants nothing more than to return to his family. There were times the narrative dragged on, mostly during the cat and mouse interaction between the humans and demons, but overall I was satisfied with the culmination of The Legend of the Raven.

My Recommendation
If you have not read any of the books leading up to Demonstorm, go and start with Dawnthief Following the adventure of the Raven has been an enjoyable ride, one that I enthusiastically recommend to any fans of fantasy.

Demonstorm by James Barclay
Published by Pyr
405 pages

Demonstorm by James Barclay is available at Amazon.com

My free review copy of Demonstorm was provided by the publisher.