Thursday, July 25, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Shadow Fall by Seressia Glass




Shadow Fall is the third and currently final book in Seressia Glass' Shadowchasers series, after Shadow Blade (Review Here) and Shadow Chase (Review Here).  I'd rather enjoyed the first two books in the series - which features an urban fantasy setting in which our main characters have ties to the Ancient Egyptian Gods (although other gods exist too!).  Neither of the first two books really struck me as truly great, but both were well done and fun reads with enjoyable characters, so I was happy to move on from the second book to this one pretty quickly.

And Shadow Fall is definitely a very solid conclusion to the trilogy, although it does make me wish for more stories in this universe with these characters - the ending is satisfying but leaves the possibility open to such a continuation.  Given how long ago this series was published, I'm guessing a continuation isn't coming, but I'd definitely read one if it ever did: the main heroine as well as the rest of this world are well worth my time.  The book still has some of the same issues as its prior installments with regards to some of the minor characters, but overall, I do recommend it and the series to others who enjoy urban fantasy for sure.

----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Having returned to Atlanta after she and her friends saved the world from an epic flood in Egypt, Kira Solomon just wishes she could have time to relax, enjoy her time with her lover - the 4000 year old nubian Khefar - and maybe enjoy the new exhibit being opened up based upon the Egyptian Book of the Dead - with help from Kira's archaeological knowledge of course.  Yet Kira can't relax - with her still in fear of the increasing amount of Shadow within her and the new knowledge that her father was a Shadowling.  It doesn't help that she keeps having recurring dreams of the Egyptian God of Chaos, Set, and a was scepter filled with his chaos magic.....

And then things begin to happen all at once: Kira's foster mother and Lady of Light, Balm, disappears from Kira's mental contact, leaving behind a chest of objects from Kira's mother for Kira to inspect.  Khefar's longtime companion and demigod Nansee (Kweku Anansi) leaves to spend time with his wife.   Kira's friends begin to act anxious around both Kira and Khefar, as if they're afraid of something.  And the forces of Shadow begin to interfere with the hybrid communities of Atlanta in subtle and dangerous ways.

It will all lead up to one more confrontation between Kira and the forces of Shadow, with the stake of not simply Atlanta, but her friends' lives on the line.  Yet can Kira really confront those forces once more without giving in to the Shadow within her....a Shadow that might really be her true inheritance?
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Shadow Fall continues the story fairly soon after Shadow Chase, although it returns the setting back to where it all started, in Atlanta.  Not that the city itself is particularly special as a setting here - this Atlanta could be practically any American city honestly.  But the setting remains excellent in how it portrays an urban fantasy world, with more hybrid creatures living amongst humans introduced in major roles, and the Egyptian God-based mythology expanding a little as well for the final confrontation.

Again, our main narrator here is Kira, Shadow Chaser and Hand of Ma'at, who is struggling still with the truth behind her parentage and the power of chaos - the power of Shadow - that lies within her.  She's still an excellent character, with her insecurities being very real and understandable, while still of course being able to be an action hero when the time comes to it....if she can risk accidentally tapping into the power she fears while fighting.  Our secondary narrator is Khefar, who honestly takes his strongest step forward as an individual character in this book, thanks in good part due to us discovering some aspects of his past (T/W, male rape) which cause him to have his own insecurities and reactions that aren't necessarily related to Kira.  It helps make the two of them have a more balanced relationship, even if the book is really about Kira.

And the book expands its character roster to include a set of new types of hybrid creatures - for example a pack of were-hyenas - who Kira has to interact with as a neutral observer as things start to go wrong in the city.  And then there are the additional forces of Light, with their own specialties, which bring greater depth to the Light's organization Gilead which we didn't have previously.  These additions help the plot become stronger and add additional depth to the world and conflicts our characters go through in the process.

Alas, some familiar weaknesses of this story remain.  I complained about the lack of independent development of some of the sidekick characters - namely Wynne and Zoo - in the prior installment, and that's exacerbated here as the two of them take a developmental turn that just feels out of nowhere and inconsistent with the last book...if we knew more of the duo aside from their relationship with Kira maybe this would work, but we don't.  The main antagonists are comicly evil, and the solution to Kira's problems seem somewhat obvious in terms of where we'll end up at the end, even if how we get there isn't quite clear.  And while the ending isn't as abrupt as it has been in the prior two books, it leaves us at an equilibrium with a lot of sequel hooks that make me want more....which with the series seemingly concluded, we're not likely to get.

On the other hand, if one of my bigger complaints is wanting more in this universe, it's not a big complaint.  Overall, again, Shadow Fall demonstrates that this is a very solid urban fantasy series with a myth-basis that isn't the usual, and is recommended for urban fantasy fans.
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