[Review] Shadow's Son, by Jon Sprunk

This will be the first in a series of regular reviews that I hope to sprinkle amidst the usual updates. Why? Well first off, I like making it known when books are good (or bad, or great!) and by the end I think it'll be a collection of reviews that will show off where perhaps some of my influences come from. Every single book I ever read influences me in some way; whether its writing style, character development or simply tropes and techniques, I take in everything. 

There's a backlog of reviews I want to write, but since I finished this book just last night it seemed as good a place as any to start. 

Before I even read Shadow's Son  [Jon Sprunk] there was already a little story around it growing. Having ventured into Waterstone's and being drawn in by the blurb, title and front cover (everything, really) I was ready to pluck it from the shelf and skip to the cashier. Then, it was pointed out that the book wasn't hardcover—which I have a penchant for—and that Amazon proffered such, at only a couple of pounds more. Reluctantly (I wanted to return home happy with book in hand) I waited on Amazon. An uncharacteristic delay saw me receive the book some two weeks later. I was not impressed. 

Still, when I finally received it I was not disappointed. 

From the beginning I warmed to Caim. What can I say? I detest whiter than white protagonists whose back-stories are cleaner than a nun's unmentionables. Caim is the kind of hero I like: he's clever, quick rather than strong, and pushed forwards by a mysterious past. Moreover, he's a little dark. Sure, he's an assassin, but he's as nice a man as you'll find in his profession, and that's saying something. 

Early into the book we meet Kit. Seconds after meeting her, I loved her. A stunning, strange girl, Kit is witty, clever and the way in which she and Caim interact brings their relationship to life. You can almost feel Caim's ache for her at times, just as strongly as you can sense his desire to wring her neck. Their relationship is one of my favourite parts of the book, and I look forwards to more of it throughout the second. 

Purely because it was set in a city it brought images of both Mark Charan Newton's Nights of Villjamur and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora to mind. Though whilst you're not taken to the chilly winter streets where bistros' steamed windows overlook the trodden cobbles and the undeniable sense of a metropolitan community permeates the air, or the lavish Italianesque streets enhanced by ancient towers and alchemical lamps, traversed by the dandy, the rich and the thieving, the city is alive nonetheless.

In fact, the setting is so rich that you're treated to almost a guided tour of the city as Caim treads its many paths, streets and obviously, dark, dangerous alleyways. The city is ruled by the True Church, which essentially is the Catholic church. This allegory immediately piqued my interest, as I gladly warm to any setting where the church and monotheism are in the firing line. This further compounded the notion that this city was European in appearance and feel, and the same Italian verve from The Lies of Locke Lamora remained. 

Caim boasts a colourful cast to support him. A nobleman's daughter who bears a secret she's unaware of, but that could tear apart the city from its heart. A dandy young activist whose father perches at the very top of the establishment he strives against. An ambitious assassin whose loyalties are as fluid as the silk with which he adorns his apartments. Finally, a dark and dangerous pair; a powerful, influential priest and his dark sorcerer who, whilst he might lurk in the shadows he appears clad in, is not as easy to tame as his master might assume. 

Essentially the book begins with little plot in a sense; only Caim and his occupation, and Caim with a job to do. As the blurb promises, Caim soon is pulled into a deeper plot—a plot against him—and this is when the story heats up. Other books that start with little plot on the table upfront can be a little difficult to really get into, but that wasn't the case at all with Shadow's Son. Quite the contrary, actually. Caim and Kit make for such a dynamic and intriguing pair that their escapades are exciting enough to hook and reel the reader in until the big wheels start to turn. 

And boy do those wheels turn. 

Shadow's Son not only presents Caim as an assassin with a difference—namely, with powers—but also reaches far, far higher than the streets of Othir from which he takes his living, suete knives in hand. The plot reaches the lofty heights of the palace, with Caim struggling to stay one step ahead of enemies who have too much to lose to merely back down. Caim the Knife soon finds himself fighting battles that his knives alone can't match, and that he must rely on the one thing he's been trying to deny since he can remember: the shadows.

Good pacing, gripping action and sublime duelling scenes make this story a winner. Packed with dark sorcery and darker secrets, romance and suspense, all topped off with the proverbial cherry that is Sprunk's excellent writing, Shadow's Son was exactly everything it promised to be. 

4/5

An Introduction to The White War

When any new blog takes its first little steps out into the big, hungry forest that is the internet, it can feel as though its papa is talking to himself (and perhaps he is!).

But instead of wallowing on the sidelines of the fantasy world, stepping softly about the fortress walls for fear of waking sleeping dragons (you know what they say about that), it's probably best to try and scale the grand stone walls of the castle with little more than a rope and grapnel, with a bundle of determination stuffed in a knapsack. 

Presently I'm writing the novel that's been clawing at the grey squishy stuff in my head for years, desperately seeking release. Unfortunately, it has transformed into something of a gargantuan beast, having been kept under lock and key for umpteen years, whilst I've been toiling away pretending to be an academic, when really what I wanted to do, was let this thing run free. 

The novel is by no means finished, but neither is it a blank page with a title and good intentions. It's currently sitting somewhere in the awkward middle, neither here nor there, occasionally rolling onto its back for a belly rub when it's feeling lonely, otherwise running about in circles like a thing possessed, just waiting to become words on a page. Since this blog is about the project itself, and not about why it's not finished already, I won't go too deeply into the evils of my time at University, writing for a degree wherein genre fiction is not only regarded with a surprised, arched eyebrow, but also a small titter when your back is turned. Essentially the beast was tamed and instead of pure roaring fantasy with bells on, it became a purring mess that liked a snooze in the midday sun. 

It finally began to shake off the cobwebs, yawning widely, when I took another route (read as, chose a different genre) for my Masters Degree, and let the beast slowly awaken. That's where we are now: my beast and I are ready to make this happen (whatever, "this" is!). 

As a plot, The White War has been solid for a very long time. The summary of the story would go as follows, if presented as a synopsis: 

The White Kingdom, a varied realm of humans, flanked on both sides by the kingdoms of the elves and fae, has always known that its single weakness is also its greatest strength: it's Lady. Kalvina is the Living Goddess of the White Kingdom, a tangible deity whose power has protected and nurtured the realm since the Creator moved on, leaving the world he'd craft in the hands of his immortal children. 

Though the Lady rules with kind firmness (so say those who love her), there are factions who would see her expelled, those who consider her as a meddlesome obstacle on the true path that the realm should walk towards. Protected by her own power of foresight, Kalvina dwells in a glorious palace whose towers breech the clouds, and there her mortal soldiers pledge their lives to her service. 

Greyan Xar'hail—half-elven, half human—is one of these soldiers. A major in the White League, outranked in his regiment only by his father, Greyan is more than happy to spend his life away from his native Ijmaviska. All Ijmaviska holds for the half-elf is a constricting life as a noblewoman's son, whereas in the human White Kingdom at his father's side, he may serve the Lady in peace, honouring too the elves' Living God—Kalvina's brother—with his gesture of alliance. For Greyan all is well. 

Until, that is, news of an ancient god-slaying weapon reaches the keen ears of the White League; a weapon that could take their Lady from them and plunge the kingdom into chaos. More troubling still, whisper of this evil has drifted from the West, from the ever-peaceful lands of the secretive fae. And that's not all; tense rumours of a resurrected cult linger about the darker passages of the realm, rumours linked to a handful of bodies and talk of monstrous creatures that prowl the winter darkness. 

With his father acting strangely, a shadow of himself, and the Lady under threat, Greyan has his hands full, let alone when he receives a letter he's been dreading for years: a summons back to Ijmaviska, for reasons undisclosed. 

The colour of the White Kingdom is about to change as a darkness rolls in, a darkness that threatens to stain the realm blood-red.

 

As with any fantasy novel there's much more to it than what the synopsis promises, but I feel this gives a nice little taste of it to whet the appetite. 

There will be elves and fae; two races that I want to cast in new moulds and give a sizeable chunk of time in the spotlight alongside the customary humans. Dark magic, white magic—and grey magic too, for that matter! 

There will be horribly monstrous, yet delectably cool creatures; ones that you'd stare in awe at if you saw them frolicking past in the forest, and those that can rip your face off at thirty paces. Add a generous helping of politics and religion, with ample backstabbing on both sides, coupled with that old fantasy guilty pleasure—romance—and The White War is set to be something I can stand there and grin proudly at upon its completion. That is, until I delve into the sequel, and begin the dark journey afresh (fun, isn't it?).

In the next update, I'll be sharing a map of the world in which The White War is set as cheap ploy at piquing interest further—and come on, who doesn't love a good map? I'll also be talking more about my depiction of elves and fae. 

Keep checking back for an assortment of articles, reviews and general blog updates on everything from my work, to anything else in the genre circle that grabs my interest. In addition, I'll be posting about my involvement with the Ranting Dragon team, and more about my article writing for Fantasy Faction.