Betrayal's Shadow by Dave-Brendon de Burgh - some thoughts

As you may be aware, I read a lot and always have done for as long as I can remember. Although I read most genres my main area has always been fantasy, and more particularly Epic Fantasy. I guess it's the whole "new worlds, New creatures, new quests, journeys, magic etc". The downside to being a fantasy reader though is repetition, repetition, repetition. There are only so many tales of humble farm boys becoming the King you can realistically get through before tedium sets in. Over the last few years a few author's have stepped up the game with new magic systems, story ideas etc, the fore runners here being the likes of Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss and Joe Abercrombie. Well, to this list you can now add the name of Dave-Brendon de Burgh the South African author of Betrayal's Shadow (book 1 of the Mahaelian Chronicle). I am only about half way through this and a review will appear on here when I've finished it but I had to post so I could share his world with you. It is a world painted with a broad brush, where the buildings, the scenery, the knights, and other citizens step off the page and into your imagination fully formed and raring to go. Imagine a scene, set in a market, which is so vividly written you can smell the wares on the stalls - that's what you get here. What really got me itching to post though was the magic. A magic so potent and so powerful it actually left me stunned at what I had just read......and this is in the first half of a book that just keeps getting better and better. This is, I believe, the most exciting new fantasy novel /world for me since Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. As I said, a review will be posted on here when I have finished but until then, if fantasy is your thing, do whatever you have to do to get your hands on a copy, you won't be sorry. And remember the name - Dave-Brendon de Burgh - you'll be hearing a lot of him in the future.