Shiri’s Review: Knight’s Shadow

image via starburstmagazine.com

The sequel to a great book is always scary for the reader.

I’m certain it’s rather scary for the author as well.  Lots of expectation equals lots of pressure which equals lots of stress etcetera.  Some writers find that type of pressure fuel for the creative fire.  Others, I imagine not so much.  In the end, however, people, be it a publisher or fans, wants more and that can only be a Good Thing.

But for the reader…  you have fallen in love.  With a character, a setting, a style.  And anytime one falls in love, one opens ones self to heartbreak.  Never had your heart broken by a book?  Man, are you reading the wrong stuff.

Sequels, it is well known, are frequently the breakers of hearts.

So, despite waiting a year for the sequel to Sebastien de Castell’s Traitor’s Blade, despite ordering it from the UK so I could have it by April instead of waiting for the US version to go live in June, I had some trepidation in the moments following the cracking of covers.

Mine! All mine! *bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*

Knight’s Shadow is even better than Traitor’s Blade.  Hard to believe, I’m sure, considering the way Luke and I gushed over the latter but, unless you want to go the same impatient route I did, you’re going to have to take my word for it for another six or so weeks.

Falcio val Monde’s story expands here into something epic, drawing there reader along with this desperate, yet ever snarky, hero into something so much larger than one man, larger even than the seemingly unbreakable trio of Falcio, Kest, and Brasti.  There is more than a child’s life at stake now; an entire nation could rise or fall on every decision the intrepid Greatcoat makes and, as Falcio has proven on many a pervious occasion, he is a man and while always well-intentioned, screws the pooch thoroughly and often as men are wont to do.  Moments of error despite a desperate desire to DO the Right Thing, episodes of outright failure, only add make Falcio and the others more solid, more real, more dimensional, more human.

And while there is a definite good and evil about the tale, both are rare in pure form here, the shades of gray shading a fantasy world so real, it’s often difficult to pull one’s self out of de Castell’s creation and return to the mundanes of work and sleep and eating.

Both Brasti and Kest come in to their own in this installment and, as much as I enjoy Falcio as narrator, it’s nice to hear their voices as well, to experience the world as they do, to feel their emotions through the lens of their best friend and leader.  Valianna has the opportunity to stand apart as well and, as one of my nits with the Traitor’s Blade was the sort of bog standard damsels and villainess, I was excited with the not only the amount of page time she, and a new character, Darianna, had, but the way in which it was used to round both women out, to give them a chance to stretch their sword skills and their morality, to allow them to grow and change as much, if not more, than the male characters do.

The Knights played their parts well, neither as monolithically despicable as Brasti would like to claim, nor as honorably as our own usual mythos would suggest.  I think, again, that this is one of the most impressive elements of de Castell’s writing: the attention to each character, from utmost in importance to minor, that makes them living, breathing people.  It seems a simple thing to do, but it’s not.  There are no tropes in this novel, no writer to reader shorthand, which makes the crafting of such a book a remarkable feat of creativity and dedication.

There is an issue of repetition in the 600 page Knight’s Shadow, something I’m prone to look more askance at an editor for than a writer.  There are several places where a word is used in one sentence and than again a few sentences, or paragraphs later.  The same is true of larger events – I definitely had moments of deja vu — which feel as though they happen more than once in the course of the story.  Perhaps the editor did catch them and de Castell, for whatever reason, felt they were important enough to leave in or perhaps the editor didn’t catch them at all.  Regardless, I noticed.  The book was so good I was able to decide to dismiss them, but I did notice.  There may have also been one or two bends in the road too many in the middle 200 pages, a few places that could have been nipped and tucked to keep the pace a bit more sprightly, especially since the story takes place over days and weeks, not months or years (well, there are flashback scenes, but you know what I mean).

Generally, however, the pacing was excellent, the twists were twisty, and I essentially chowed down on the entirety over span of three or four days.

Yes, I sacrificed writing time to this one, kids.  Which should tell you something about its quality.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Knight’s Shadow.  No.  No, more than that.  I adored it.  Around the halfway mark, I slowed my reading speed a little because, while I desperately wanted to know what as going to happen, I didn’t want the journey to end.  I didn’t want to say goodbye to Falcio, Brasti, Kest, or Valianna for the year between now and the release of the third installment (which looks to be titled Tyrant’s Throne).  I miss them and I’m pretty sure there will be genuine tears when this series comes to a close.

Five out of five fingers on the hand of glory for Knight’s Shadow.