The Council of Shadows
Shadowspawn #2
Publisher: Penguin
Books USA as Roc
(2011)
Author: S.
M. Stirling
Genre: Urban,
Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 448
Price: $9.99
Adrian Brèzè has long defied his
heritage as a purebred Shadowspawn, an ancient race of shape-shifters
who once reigned supreme. But when his ruthless sister, Adrienne,
kidnapped his human love, Ellen, he emerged from seclusion to rescue
her.
Before her defeat, Adrienne revealed
that the Council of Shadows was marshaling its strength to rule the
world once again. To stop them, Adrian and Ellen must ally with the
Brotherhood, a resistance group dedicated to breaking the Council's
hold on humankind.
In the coming confrontation, Adrian
must fight not only the members of the Council but also his own
nature – and, he will come to suspect, traitors within the
Brotherhood itself...
While
the first book in this series, A Taint in the Blood,
wouldn't be considered a classic, and suffered from several flaws
(review), it was interesting enough to keep me around and excited to
see what came next. The Council of Shadows
picks up shortly after the ending of the first book.
Kind
of, which is my first complaint in regards to the story. Rather, the
structure of the story. The first chapter begins with Ellen
experiencing a nightmare. Given what she suffered in the first book
I had assumed that there would be some psychological ramifications
explored during the course of the story. Abruptly, the story shifts,
and I mean shifts everything; new characters, new location, new time
frame. The reader is transported to the Santa Fe police department
and the investigation into Ellen's the fire at Ellen's home and her
subsequent disappearance.
While
I have no problem with the introduction of police involvement, as a
matter of fact I would have been disappointed if the events of the
first book went completely ignored by the authorities, this was not
the way to do it. Actually, because of the way Harvey develops
during the course of this book, another human ally for Adrian makes
sense, I'd go so far to say that it's almost necessary. The way in
which they're brought into the story though is so structurally weak
that every time the reader gets to thrust back to the investigation,
led by Eric Salvador, it severely disrupts the story. Within the
confines of this single book a prologue would have made more sense.
Ideally Salvador and his partner should have been present in the
first book. The fact that they aren't seems to indicate that, at the
time, Stirling had no idea where the story was headed. The police
scenes seem as if the author reached the end of the book and realized
that he had isolated his protagonist from all of his allies so
completely that there was little realistic chance of his success.
Then the new characters were dropped into the story in what feels
like a very contrived way.
One of
the other issues I had with The Council of Shadows
is Ellen. Here we have a character that went through absolute hell
in the last book. She was assaulted in every way imaginable and kept
against her will in the hands of a deranged sadist. I recognized
that she's intended to be stronger than one would think on first
glance, but her reaction to those events is so unbelievable that I
can't buy into the character. Aside from a nightmare or three she
acts as if none of the abuse happened. It's just too hard to accept
that after everything she suffered at the hands of Adrienne she'd
jump right into this type of relationship. I'm not saying that she
should have run screaming for the hills, I could see her relationship
with Adrian growing into something where she'd be comfortable with
some of the things that they're both into. So soon after those
events, I just can't imagine anyone jumping right back into the
sexual activities that she and Adrian engage in.
Speaking
of Adrian, I'm glad to see a little growth within his character.
He's coming to accept himself and his place in the world with Ellen's
help, but his other motivations and desires seem so static that I'm
not sure for how much longer he can be interesting. The best thing
about Adrian is his friendship with Harvey. So far Harvey is the
character that is the most fun to read in this series. Sure he's a
grumpy, hard-ass mentor figure, he doesn't bring anything new to the
genre personality-wise, but there's a pragmatism in his mindset with
which it's easy to relate. I believe
that he's been fighting this war for decades, that he's lost more
friends than we can imagine, and that ultimately he's willing to do
anything it takes to finally end it. His goal in the book didn't
surprise me in the least, as he's written it's exactly what I
expected from him.
Aside
from the character comments and concerns there's not a lot to talk
about regarding The Council of Shadows.
The commentary on food was toned down a little from the previous
book, although it's still fairly prevalent. The number of sex scenes
has been reduced and they're not as graphic as before. There just
isn't much going on. A lot of travel and talk of the Shadowspawn
plans to resume their dominion over humanity, but that's all building
to an event that you don't see in this book. The intended climax is
an infiltration and extraction of Cheba, a minor character from the
first book, and Adrienne's children. The pay off just didn't seem
worth the amount of time it spent to get there.
Conclusion:
The Council of
Shadows
has too many flaws for me to consider it a good book. Setting aside
the untimely introduction of new characters and a lack of realism
regarding Ellen's mindset there just isn't enough going on to justify
an entire book being devoted to the events. It seems more like half
of a book that was inflated to bridge the gap between books. Think
of it like the middle book of a trilogy that was artificially
lengthened; some of the content would have been better off in book
one, and some should have been held until book three. There's just
not enough to make a satisfying book out of what's there.
Rating:
5.25/10
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