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Loading... Shadowbridge (Shadowbridge, Book 1) (original 2008; edition 2008)by Gregory Frost, Lauren Davis (Narrator)
2   fyrefly98 | Mar 7, 2009 | 
Very strong, unusual fantasy on a world where everyone lives on a network of giant bridges. This is the first half of the story; Lord Tophet is the second half. Full review of both books here. (  ) fascination | Aug 8, 2009 | Summary: The world of Shadowbridge is a world unlike any other. It's a world built on an ocean, where vast bridges connect far-flung spiraling towers, and tiny islands underneath the spans are the only land most people ever see. But more than that, Shadowbridge is a world of dreams, of sea dragons and fox-faced tricksters, of capricious gods visiting their gifts upon unsuspecting mortals. And most of all, Shadowbridge is a world of stories. Leodora is a collector of those stories, a sixteen-year-old orphan who has fled from the abusive care of her uncle and the tiny village in which she grew up, onto the more cosmopolitan world of the spans. Following in her father Bardsham's footsteps (but disguised as a boy), she makes her living as a shadow puppeteer, telling the stories of the spans. Acting as her agent and guide is Soter, a drunken old man who used to perform the same office for Bardsham. Soter is haunted by Leodora's family's past, a legacy that he hopes to keep secret from the girl, even as her talent begins to outstrip even her father's. Rounding out their small traveling troupe is Diverus, another orphan who has been god-touched. Born an idiot, left as a sacrifice to the gods, he was gifted with the ability to play any music upon any instrument… although gifts from the gods are not always blessings, and seldom come without a price. Review: Shadowbridge is a world of stories, and Shadowbridge is also a novel of stories. There's a central story running throughout -- of Leodora and her companions traveling the spans -- but there are major digressions to tell the back stories of Leodora and of Diverus, and sprinkled throughout are the stories of Shadowbridge that Leodora collects and performs. It's a format similar to Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief, but even more so, and it works exceptionally well to weave together a feeling of the world, its inhabitants, and their mythos. Shadowbridge is a unique, imaginative, and highly textured world, and I found Gregory Frost's writing to be thoroughly transporting. However, for readers who prefer a more linear approach to storytelling, it might come off feeling fragmented. The only real issue I had with this book is that it doesn't tell a complete story. I don't know what went into the decision to publish Shadowbridge and its sequel, Lord Tophet, as two separate (albeit relatively short) books instead of one complete manuscript. Whatever the reason, however, it leaves Shadowbridge feeling somewhat incomplete; it spends all of its time doing character introduction and worldbuilding, and seems content to leave almost all of the main plot for the sequel. That's not to say that it isn't well-written, or compelling, or interesting -- indeed, I was thoroughly hooked by the story from the beginning, and frequently found myself willingly doing household chores I'd been neglecting, just so I could have the opportunity to listen to more of Shadowbridge. However, neither piece of the duology can stand on its own as a complete work, so the decision to split it in two feels artificial and leaves a trace of a bad taste in my mouth. I was also somewhat distracted by the narrator's voice, at least initially. Lauren Davis is a good narrator overall, and good with keeping voices consistent and recognizable, but she just sounds so young. I don't know how old she actually is, and her voice is a good fit for sixteen-year-old Leodora, but it was rather disconcerting to hear a voice that normally narrates children's and mid-grade books so casually discussing violence, cruelty, and sex. All in all, though, I really enjoyed Shadowbridge, and will certainly be listening to Lord Tophet, as well as keeping an eye out for more of Frost's novels in the future. 4.5 out of 5 stars. Recommendation: I'd recommend Shadowbridge to all fantasy fans, but particularly those who like the story-within-a-story format, those who enjoy legends and fairy tales, those who are interested in mythology and enjoy stories of gods interacting with mortals, and most of all, to those who have the second book on hand (or enough Audible credits to download it) immediately upon finishing the first. (  )2 fyrefly98 | Mar 7, 2009 | martlet | Mar 2, 2009 | Once upon a time, long long ago, I read a book called Lyrec written by a man named Gregory Frost. I loved this book and reread it multiple times over the next few years. This was back in the mid 1980's when I was living in Maryland. I searched everywhere for another book by this author, but I was soon transferred to Texas where there was a dearth of decent bookstores and I never could find one. After a while I had to assume he'd been a one-hit wonder and I gave up. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found his latest book, Shadowbridge, at the bookstore this year! I had to check online to make sure he was the same Gregory Frost I remembered. Turns out he'd written a couple of other novels and many short stories in the past 20 years, they just never came to a bookstore near me. I also blame the army for their crappy post libraries. Shadowbridge tells the tale of a world that was dreamed into existence. It's only inhabitants were a fisher couple who were entirely content with their lives of fish/eat/sleep for that is all they had known since before memory began. Due to interesting circumstances related to a storyfish's poisoned bite, one night as the couple slept, a huge bridge was constructed right outside their shack. The end of it was so far away it vanished into the distance. Impossibly high above their heads jutted towers that seemed to pierce the sky. The couple began to explore the bridge and each night new spans were added to old, offshoots spiraled away from their origins out into the ocean, dozens upon dozens upon dozens, curling around the world like stone and steel ivy. Long long after this couple discovered mortality, a troupe of shadow puppeteers walks the spans and sails the seas, searching for new stories to add to their repertoire and new markets to make them rich and famous. As their travels unwind, we listen to the stories they hear and watch as they create their own stories of adventure and betrayal and romance. Well, not too much romance yet. Hopefully we'll get a bit more in the next volume, Lord Tophet. I'm not sure which I love the best yet: the story of our shadow puppet troupe or the tales that Jax, the master puppeteer, gathers up during her travels as she talks to the perfectly ordinary people of day-to-day life. Well, some not so ordinary. When the gods choose to touch the members of our troupe, the whole world shifts. The tales have the rhythm of fairy tales from a picture book and the rhythm makes all the magical occurrences seem perfectly logical. The story's rhythm is a little quicker, a bit more suspenseful with a touch of horror at times. Each new span of Shadowbridge is brought to life quickly and easily so the story itself isn't bogged down in words. Each character is endearing or annoying or alien or horrifying or all of the above. Highly recommended. ( ) cabri | Sep 25, 2008 | I first heard about Shadowbridge, and its sequel Lord Tophet, on LibraryThing. About a month later I received an e-mail with a notification that review copies of Lord Tophet were available. The duology had already peaked my interest, so I requested a copy. Unfortunately, I never did receive it. Doubly unfortunate, because of the two, my library only has a copy of Shadowbridge. I was warned by several sources not to read the first book without having the second book on hand. They were right. The world of Shadowbridge is a world of vast oceans--there is land, but not much of it. Instead, most people have made their homes and livelihoods on the seemingly endless bridges, called spans, that crisscross the waters. Each span is different from the next, with its own cultures, its own peoples, and perhaps most importantly, its own stories. Leodora is a collector of stories. Travelling the spans disguised as a man, she is quickly becoming recognized as one of the world's best, if not the best, puppet-master and story-teller. Known only as Jax, she is an intensely charismatic enigma to most people, and to some extent even to herself. Orphaned and on the run from her abusive uncle, she has no real knowledge of her own past. Soter, her manager and self-appointed guardian, is the only link she has left to her parents. But he's not particularly forthcoming--when he's not drunk, he's doing all he can to avoid telling Leodora what really happened to her parents, and what danger now follows them on their journey over the spans. As already mentioned, the warnings are true--if when you start Shadowbridge you find yourself enjoying it, immediately get your hands on a copy of Lord Tophet (I still haven't managed to yet, and I'm regretting that fact something awful.) Really, even without reading the second book, I think they should have been published together. Shadowbrdge doesn't even end in a good spot--basically all the primary characters have been introduced, and a grand adventure hinted at, when it pretty much just stops. I'm not entirely sure it can be called a cliff-hanger as we hadn't quite managed to reach the cliff yet. Except for being based more in fantasy than in science fiction, Shadowbridge reminded me quite a bit of The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was also vaguely reminiscent of Touched by Venom by Janine Cross, especially towards the beginning. (However, Shadowbridge is hands-down by far the superior book.) I particularly enjoyed how the legends and stories of Shadowbridge, which are vitally important to the book, weaved together and even overlapped with the plot. Leodora and her small troupe are absolutely wonderful, Shadowbridge is fantastic, and I'm desperate to get my hands on Lord Tophet. Experiments in Reading ( ) PhoenixTerran | Sep 16, 2008 | I have to admit, my timing for reading this fantasy is rather fortunate. It's part one of a two book series, and I wasn't even halfway THROUGH it before I ran to the bookstore and bought the second book, which was just released. Now that I'm done with Shadowbridge, I can read Lord Tophet next and be a happy devil. Like I said, good timing. This is definitely one of the more unique and original fantasies I've ever read. Shadowbridge is a world comprised of spans arched high over the oceans, and each span has its own set of tales. Your main character is a shadow-puppeteer, a collector of stories, but she must disguise herself as a man, the enigma known as Jax. Leodora is actually on the run from her past, but what she doesn't know is that she's on the run from her father's past as well. It's a great, swift read whose setting and world-building inspires awe. And trust me, if you start reading this and liking it? Just go ahead and get the second book. Shadowbridge ends with a cliffhanger, so I'm glad I've got the sequel on hand. The full review, with spoilers, is in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. REVIEW: Gregory Frost's SHADOWBRIDGE Happy Reading! :) ( )1 devilwrites | Aug 9, 2008 | This fantasy is set in a huge world of diverse cultures and creatures, of cities built on the spans of bridges that spiral across wide oceans. The experience of reading it -- the sense of wonder it invited -- reminded me of the pleasures of Robert Silverberg's Majipoor, especially as that world is revealed in Lord Valentine's Castle. Shadowbridge tells (part of) the story of an itinerant puppeteer and her companions, interspersed with nested folktales, myths, and stories from the imaginary world. The book's weaknesses are its publication format -- Shadowbridge is half of a single story and really doesn't stand on its own -- and, occasionally, flowery prose. (  )1 bezoar44 | Jul 9, 2008 | This book had me captivated from the beginning. The premise and storyline was unique. The way the author wove truth and tales together was sublime. Can hardly wait to get the next in the two book series. (  ) sdmtngirl | Apr 15, 2008 | First half of a "duology" (as opposed to a trilogy). Hope this isn't a new trend -- splitting 500-page books in half to double the sales margins. The original publisher of The Lord of the Rings told Tolkien that his book was too long, so they split it into three parts. Thus was the first of many fantasy trilogies born. Hard to find a stand-alone novel anymore. And even when an author writes one, they split it in half. Starting now, my new policy is, I wait until all the books are in print for a given series. That way, I can read the whole story at once. And probably save a bunch getting it used, to boot. Sorry this isn't much of a review, but then, it wasn't much of a book. It was okay. Just another coming-of-age hero story (yawn). Hints of it taking place in the far future of Earth (yawn again). If it weren't for the "gritty" elements, I would consider this a YA novel. And I don't typically read those, especially the Potter ones. Not sure I'll go out of my way to track down the second half when it comes out this summer. By then, I'll have forgotten the first half, and it would be too much trouble to re-read it. I think the publisher made a bad move. ( ) BobNolin | Mar 1, 2008 | sfreader.com | Feb 19, 2008 | This is a simply beautiful book. The setting is a mysterious ocean covered world bound by endless bridges. The heroine is a girl born to a wild island woman and a story telling shadow puppet master. The book contains a variety of stories -- myths, legends, histories, and romances. The writing is strong and fabulous. The only negative is that this is only the first half of a two part story. I could have kept reading for a another thousand pages. I really can't wait for the second part. This is such a compelling world that I have to assume that the author will use it as a background for more magical stories. ( ) kd9 | Jan 24, 2008 | |
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Leodora is a collector of those stories, a sixteen-year-old orphan who has fled from the abusive care of her uncle and the tiny village in which she grew up, onto the more cosmopolitan world of the spans. Following in her father Bardsham's footsteps (but disguised as a boy), she makes her living as a shadow puppeteer, telling the stories of the spans. Acting as her agent and guide is Soter, a drunken old man who used to perform the same office for Bardsham. Soter is haunted by Leodora's family's past, a legacy that he hopes to keep secret from the girl, even as her talent begins to outstrip even her father's. Rounding out their small traveling troupe is Diverus, another orphan who has been god-touched. Born an idiot, left as a sacrifice to the gods, he was gifted with the ability to play any music upon any instrument… although gifts from the gods are not always blessings, and seldom come without a price.
Review: Shadowbridge is a world of stories, and Shadowbridge is also a novel of stories. There's a central story running throughout -- of Leodora and her companions traveling the spans -- but there are major digressions to tell the back stories of Leodora and of Diverus, and sprinkled throughout are the stories of Shadowbridge that Leodora collects and performs. It's a format similar to Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief, but even more so, and it works exceptionally well to weave together a feeling of the world, its inhabitants, and their mythos. Shadowbridge is a unique, imaginative, and highly textured world, and I found Gregory Frost's writing to be thoroughly transporting. However, for readers who prefer a more linear approach to storytelling, it might come off feeling fragmented.
The only real issue I had with this book is that it doesn't tell a complete story. I don't know what went into the decision to publish Shadowbridge and its sequel, Lord Tophet, as two separate (albeit relatively short) books instead of one complete manuscript. Whatever the reason, however, it leaves Shadowbridge feeling somewhat incomplete; it spends all of its time doing character introduction and worldbuilding, and seems content to leave almost all of the main plot for the sequel. That's not to say that it isn't well-written, or compelling, or interesting -- indeed, I was thoroughly hooked by the story from the beginning, and frequently found myself willingly doing household chores I'd been neglecting, just so I could have the opportunity to listen to more of Shadowbridge. However, neither piece of the duology can stand on its own as a complete work, so the decision to split it in two feels artificial and leaves a trace of a bad taste in my mouth.
I was also somewhat distracted by the narrator's voice, at least initially. Lauren Davis is a good narrator overall, and good with keeping voices consistent and recognizable, but she just sounds so young. I don't know how old she actually is, and her voice is a good fit for sixteen-year-old Leodora, but it was rather disconcerting to hear a voice that normally narrates children's and mid-grade books so casually discussing violence, cruelty, and sex.
All in all, though, I really enjoyed Shadowbridge, and will certainly be listening to Lord Tophet, as well as keeping an eye out for more of Frost's novels in the future. 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Recommendation: I'd recommend Shadowbridge to all fantasy fans, but particularly those who like the story-within-a-story format, those who enjoy legends and fairy tales, those who are interested in mythology and enjoy stories of gods interacting with mortals, and most of all, to those who have the second book on hand (or enough Audible credits to download it) immediately upon finishing the first. (