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A review by tiredfox
Shadowblack by Sebastien de Castell
4.0
4.9/5 stars
i really enjoyed this and thought it was a fairly good sequel to spellslinger which i read in January.
the story picks up a few months after book one ended with Kellen, Reichis and Feiris on the road as outlaws. Kellen has yet to learn any of the Argosi way and this is causing friction within the group after an attempt on Kellen's life by bounty hunters they are rescued by another Argosi and a seemingly blind girl who turns out to have a dark secret: the shadowblack. what is going on in the seven sands? how are seemingly normal people being afflicted by a magical disease? will Kellen ever learn the ways of the Argosi or find love? all to be revealed within this fast paced sequel.
this book continued to build the characters and world introduced in book one and provided readers with further insight into these elements. there were a few new characters introduced and with them i found new favourite and least favourite characters. out of those returning characters we had some amusing developments with reichis that seemed slightly off character but were pretty amusing.
the magic in this series stayed interesting. there was a return to the magic from book one and some of the tricks used previously but there were also further developments and new abilities which made this book quite interesting. my favourite out of the new types of magic or further developed old magic was the whispering magic. i am not really sure in the end if it was a magic or just a ability that can be learned but there is something kind of cool about using ghosts/ spirits to see what others cant or to track things/ people. it will be interesting to see how this is used in later books.
thirdly the pacing. this book was pretty fast paced and for large stretches of time it was hard to put down so i could do other things. this was due to the fact that the risk in this book kept escalating and that every time it seemed there might be a simple explanation of what was going on the book threw a spanner in the works and made it go in seemingly a completely different direction with what was really going on with the shadow black "outbreak." this made the book quite a fun read and made it near impossible to put down.
my only real complaint with the novel was the ending. yes i know that it is book two of a series but the final scene kind of left a few unanswered questions in relation to the fate of a few characters and a few plot threads. ffor example: is the main characters sister okay? who else is involved in the conspiracy based around his culture? and what will happen when they get to thier next destination where other "shadow black" victims are?
over all a fun read with a lot of twists and turns. would definitely reccomend this book to people if they have read book one and they are not sure if to continue or just if people like the premise after they have read book one.
i really enjoyed this and thought it was a fairly good sequel to spellslinger which i read in January.
the story picks up a few months after book one ended with Kellen, Reichis and Feiris on the road as outlaws. Kellen has yet to learn any of the Argosi way and this is causing friction within the group after an attempt on Kellen's life by bounty hunters they are rescued by another Argosi and a seemingly blind girl who turns out to have a dark secret: the shadowblack. what is going on in the seven sands? how are seemingly normal people being afflicted by a magical disease? will Kellen ever learn the ways of the Argosi or find love? all to be revealed within this fast paced sequel.
this book continued to build the characters and world introduced in book one and provided readers with further insight into these elements. there were a few new characters introduced and with them i found new favourite and least favourite characters. out of those returning characters we had some amusing developments with reichis that seemed slightly off character but were pretty amusing.
the magic in this series stayed interesting. there was a return to the magic from book one and some of the tricks used previously but there were also further developments and new abilities which made this book quite interesting. my favourite out of the new types of magic or further developed old magic was the whispering magic. i am not really sure in the end if it was a magic or just a ability that can be learned but there is something kind of cool about using ghosts/ spirits to see what others cant or to track things/ people. it will be interesting to see how this is used in later books.
thirdly the pacing. this book was pretty fast paced and for large stretches of time it was hard to put down so i could do other things. this was due to the fact that the risk in this book kept escalating and that every time it seemed there might be a simple explanation of what was going on the book threw a spanner in the works and made it go in seemingly a completely different direction with what was really going on with the shadow black "outbreak." this made the book quite a fun read and made it near impossible to put down.
my only real complaint with the novel was the ending. yes i know that it is book two of a series but the final scene kind of left a few unanswered questions in relation to the fate of a few characters and a few plot threads. ffor example: is the main characters sister okay? who else is involved in the conspiracy based around his culture? and what will happen when they get to thier next destination where other "shadow black" victims are?
over all a fun read with a lot of twists and turns. would definitely reccomend this book to people if they have read book one and they are not sure if to continue or just if people like the premise after they have read book one.