I am thinking about a book series that I read long ago, I think that it comes out in the early '90s, maybe in the '80s. The book follows different POVs and the story is about clans that are in a war with each other (one of them is called Dun or something and there are warriors with great hammers) while old demons are appearing again. The main character is a boy around 18 who is cursed with some mark that I think is connected with ravens (he can see hearts or something) and who uses a bow and a girl who is a key for victory, and in the beginning, she was kept in some tower and was chased by some huge guy that is named Maraphis Eye or something like that. Later she was found by two guys that are members of some mystic race that fight against demons. Also, there is a warlord of one clan that has something connected with dogs in his name or loves dogs but is cruel and has a huge family that was mostly killed later. There is also a segment in the second book where the cursed boy meets some very ugly guy who teaches him how to kill and he takes him to the place that is home to the outcast, crippled, and criminals where there are monsters that attack them. At the end of the second book, he killed some big monster that is called like Shatan Mier or something like that.
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Seems a bit of a leap, but maybe the Dun Deverry series by Katharine Kerr. Not much to go on though. Daggerspell etc.– mwarrenCommented Jul 26, 2021 at 14:17
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@mwarren no, it isn't that series but thank you for your answer– KobacYeaCommented Jul 26, 2021 at 14:24
1 Answer
This is the Sword of Shadows series by J. V. Jones. There is a detailed Wikipedia article on the first book A Cavern of Black Ice.
The boy is Raif Sevrance and the girl is Ash March. I would guess the character you remember as Dun is Dunness Fey, who is leader of the Thanelords.
The members of Raif's tribe are all given a lore, which I think is a kind of spirit animal, and Raif's is a Raven as you recall, though Raif isn't especially happy about it:
The guide who had given Raif the raven lore was five years dead now. No one had been more deeply honored in the clan. He was ancient and he’d stunk of pigs and Raif had hated him with a vengeance. He had saved the worst possible lore for Tem Sevrance’s second son. No one before or after had ever been given the raven. Ravens were scavengers, carrion feeders; they could kill, but they preferred to steal.
The warlord connected with dogs is Vaylo Bludd, who is known as the Dog Lord, and as you say he is a nasty piece of work:
Clan Bludd had broken the Dhoonestone down into rocks and built an outhouse from it. The entire operation—the raid, the movement of the stone, and its subsequent breaking and rebuilding—had been planned by the Dog Lord, Vaylo Bludd. A yearman at the time, Vaylo Bludd had been a bastard son of the clan chief, Gullit Bludd. Within that same year Vaylo killed his two half-brothers, married his half-sister, and usurped his father’s place.
The character from the first book that you have remembered as Maraphis Eye is actually Marafice Eye, and the character Shatan Mier from the second book is the Shatan Maer. At the end of the second book Raif fights and kills the Shatan Maer.
