IRA: Shadow King by Gav Thorpe

This book is a tale of revenge. It's set on the island of Ulthuan, where the high elves live. The main character is Alith Anar, a prince of Nagarythe. His family are all murdered after they defy Morathi, who usurps the throne of Anlec. Cults to the cytharai (dark gods) are sanctioned and allowed under her rule. The Anars rebel against her and fight a guerrilla war against her. Eventually, they fight in open battle. Alith's father is killed and when they return to Elanardris (the Anar's home), he discovers his entire family has been murdered. He vows to avenge his family and all of Nagarythe against Morathi. One of the major questions this story raises is this; Can you fight fear with fear? To explain this question you must know that since Alith and his force of Naggarothi are vastly outnumbered, they fight a shadow war (they call themselves the Shadows). The Naggarothi who fight for Morathi are called druchii (dark elves), though they are all high elves, but because they willingly choose to follow her and most belong to one of the cults, they are called druchii by all the other high elves. So back to my main point. Alith uses fear to terrify his enemies, making them fear him and his warriors more than they do Morathi. Basically, since he can't overwhelm them with a large army, he uses guerrilla tactics and physcological warfare. He is a very smart and crafty enemy, realizing that you can't just kill your enemy, you have to make the rest fear you. Considering his lack of numbers, Alith has to use phychological warfare. His grasp of this displays the fact that, while he's young, he's a very gifted tactician. In short, this book is very interesting because the main character is a dark protagonist. Most hero's in stories aren't dark and revenge obsessed. It's quite a contradiction. It's almost as if he's a hero and a villian at the same time.