In Shade and Shadow: A Novel of The Noble Dead Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've enjoyed the Noble Dead books so far in part because they aren't shiny, happy heroic fantasy with perfect heroes and implacable villians. Magerie, Leesil and Wynn have many virtues, but they aren't perfect, and Chane, Weistel and Aged Father all have reasons for the evil they do.
However, I think this most recent Noble Dead book takes things too far into flawed heroes and conflicting agendas. I just felt it was something of a muddle with plots and plans overlapping and stepping on each other without anything clear being gained. Yes, we find that the Sage's Guild isn't without its own politics, and that Wynn has to grow up, but really, couldn't that have been conveyed in a book where *something* happened? For that matter, even Wynn's growth is somewhat unsatisfactory. She spends most of the book off her stride and completely unsure of herself, and even her climactic actions at the end of the book are undercut by a rapid backtrack.
And I haven't mentioned the biggest problem of the book yet, which is the complete absence of Magerie & Leesil. Even the "go our seperate ways for now" scene is missing, only thought on by Wynn in passing and it feels like a big story chunk is missing. I suppose it could have been told in a short story in an anthology somewhere as is becoming popular in the Urban Fantasy arena lately, but I haven't heard of it. I realize that Wynn wasn't part of the original Magerie & Leesil team, but the three worked very well together, and I don't think Wynn alone or with her supporting characters (both new, and an older one whose reappearance is bound to have consequences that were skimmed over here). I suppose the next book will concentrate on Magerie & Leesil and the one after that will re-unite the team, but so far, I'm not liking the split-up very much. (Though I will still follow the series for now).

Click Here to see more reviews about: In Shade and Shadow: A Novel of The Noble Dead

The national bestselling Noble Dead saga is "one of those [series] for which the term dark fantasy was definitely intended" (Chronicle).After her adventures with Magiere and Leesil, Wynn Hygeorht has returned to the Guild of Sagecraft, bearing texts supposedly penned by vampires from the time of the Forgotten History and the Great War. Seized by the Guild's scholars and sent out for copying without Wynn's consent, several pages disappear—and the two sages charged with conveying these pages are murdered. Suspicious of the Guild, separated from the only friends she fully trusts, and convinced the Noble Dead are responsible for the killings, Wynn embarks on a quest to uncover the secrets of the texts.

Get 4% OFF

Click here for more information about In Shade and Shadow: A Novel of The Noble Dead