Elsewhere I have written about the challenges of picking up a book in the middle of a series, and it’s worth repeating here:
“Series” can mean a number of things, from stand-alone complete-in-themselves novels set in the same universe to one long story that extends over several volumes. Recently I listened to an interview with Peter Jackson in which he discussed the decision to not put a recap at the beginning of The Two Towers, the second part of The Lord of the Rings. He felt that one year between film was a short enough time for viewers (those few not intimately familiar with the books) to remember and anyone who went to see it without having seen or read The Fellowship of the Ring, oh well… I admit to not being as careful as I might about checking to see if a book is a sequel, so I rely on the skill of the author to furnish necessary backstory without inundating me with it, and to draw me into the story so that even if I have to work a little harder to figure out what has gone before, I’m already hooked.
I began Shadow’s Bane without realizing it was “yet another adventure” in a series. To the ultimate credit of the author, for most of the book, I honestly could not tell if there was separate backstory (previous volumes) or if this was a brilliantly executed, complex novel that wove in aforementioned backstory, world-building, and characters, all while sweeping me up in a dramatic, action-driven plot.
The world is fascinating, multi-layered, and rich in its own history. Vampires exist, as do dhampirs (vampire-human hybrids, heartily loathed by both parent races), ogres, fae, mermaids, were-creatures, and magicians. Relations between the various races are uneasy at best and impossible to summarize here. Our heroine, Dory/Dorina, in addition to being dhampir, suffers from split personality that’s the result of her (vampire) father attempting to save her from her worser (waaaay worser) nature. So there’s a nice internal conflict, as well as rather spicy romance with a master vampire, a sweet friendship with a human woman who has (a) given birth to the heir to a fairy kingdom; (b) turns out to be a were-dragon, so don’t get her pissed, and various other friendships and enemyships.
My one complaint about this fast-paced, intricately plotted novel is that Dory is constantly flying off the handle, reacting instead of thinking things through or, better yet, asking questions and then listening to the answers. She’s supposed to be hundreds of years old and has apparently never learned the value of information, perspective, or taking a deep breath and counting to ten. As a result of this and her almost pathological lack of self-esteem, quite avoidable misunderstandings abound. That would be okay if it were just one character, but this world seems to be populated with folks who do the same thing. It’s a wonder they haven’t blown themselves up by acting hastily instead of with deliberation. To be fair, I liked that there were very few all-good or all-evil characters, and at the same time, people changed their minds, learned, and grew.
That quibble aside, this is a fun story that moved right along, doesn’t require any previous knowledge of the series, and comes together very nicely in the end.
The usual disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book, but no one bribed me to say anything about it.
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