Shadow's Son

I honestly didn't think this sort of fantasy got published any more - the pedestrian, cliche-loaded, mediocre-tolkien/mythology-aspirant sort. At least the plot moves fast, though I suspect it has to or otherwise you'd be able to see daylight through the holes that turn into lace. Characters made of thin cardboard in utterly familiar shapes, a brutal dichotomy of good and evil, and a setting that's both generic and wildly anachronistic in its influences. Sort of like in was written from an unholy melange of the notes from Dan Brown's newest novel, and the notes from a teenage GM's newest campaign. At least I finished it; it's that bearable.

There's a lot to like about this novel, which creates an interesting fantasy world and doesn't spend too much time detailing every aspect of it, including aspects that aren't relevant to the plot. The characters are strong and I thought the plot was compelling, but my biggest problem was a completely unnecessary rape scene late in the novel. This is such a tired fantasy cliche, and it doesn't need to be in the book. It's never really dealt with and could easily be excised without affecting the final story at all.

Part of me thinks if I hadn't just finished Brent Week's "Night Angel" trilogy I would have been less pre-disposed to say 'Another super special assassin!' and played the compare game between Kylar (of Night Angel) and Caim (of Shadow's Son). I'm a creature of habitual likes so this isn't a problem for me--I have more super special assassin books in my fantasy collection then almost any other trope.

In truth that's the only similarities between the two, well technically there's another, but its a spoiler in both cases so I can't mention it here, but suffice to say Kylar and Caim both indulge in royal politics. Caim is self-assured, resourceful and intelligent. When handed a too easy job he's immediately suspicious and questioning. When show more told a convenient sounding lie he mulls it over and deciphers the meaning. He is very disciplined. In short he was a little dry for my tastes. Its not that he was boring or stuffy, he didn't do anything that gave him joy.

True, he was an assassin and killed people for a living, but that was the totality of who he was for much of the mission given to him by Mathias. Sometimes he bantered with Kit and he certainly grew impatient with Josey more than once, but he didn't relax very often.

I found myself more interested in Kit and what exactly she was and her role in Caim's life. She was some kind of spirit, who only Caim could see and interact with and could not really effect the physical world. Who and what she is evolves as the plot thickens and Caim realizes that who he is matters to the schemes at hand more than he could have guessed. I liked that she gave Caim attitude, but was dedicated to his protection as well.

Josey took a little while for me to like, she seemed like a spoiled kid with a permanent petulant attitude. Her ability to grasp the bigger threat was deficient and I wanted to smack her. Just scream at her and say 'Don't you see? Can't you understand?' She had a good heart though and as the book went on it became apparent that she also was very perceptive and quick on her feet when she did understand.

The world building is a little more shallow then I was used to and Sprunk had this fixation on making us care for a character (good or ill) and then many horrible things would occur. It made me wary of investing in any character, a little paranoid that as soon as I came to a conclusion in regards to them everything would change. show less

This was a quick, fun read. It doesn't bother with a lot of world building or filler nor do I think it really needs to. It's a pretty straight-forward story with a little bit of mystery thrown in, but nothing to dwell on after it's over. I'm interested enough in Caim's backstory to keep going.

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Recently a book from a new author showed up and I decided to give it a go.

Shadow’s Son is an assassin story staring Caim one of the most feared and deadliest knifes in the city of Othir. Othir is a city ruled by the True Faith, a corrupt and grasping religious order whose members are busy conspiring and plotting. Many other players are in town, from the former nobility to relatives of the powerful. Into this Caim suddenly lands in the midst of a power struggle between factions trying to become the new rulers on the block.

There is a ton of great action, decent characterization and a solid plot, toss in some cool magic that is lightly used and some powerful bad-assed enemies and you have a winning combination. Granted there show more hasn’t been a lack of assassin based stories recently, but this one was well worth it! I’m sure looking forward towards more books from Jon Sprunk.

8/10 show less

An excellent debut. Sprunk does so many things right, from using sophisticated vocabulary just enough to add flavor but still be discerned in context and never too much to distract from the narrative. His sword fighting scenes are top notch, as if he himself were an experienced fencer (he says he's not). His protagonist is an anti-hero, a noble born orphan assassin, but unlike so many, Sprunk counters him perfectly with a truly heroic companion in Josephine, a woman whose nobility and honor and purity more than make up for any deficiencies in Caim, By fighting to save her, we can't help but root for him. It's clever and overcame even the tiredness of a reader who's worn out from too many anti-heroes (like me). His world building is well show more handled. I don't recall a single infodump (rare for a first novel). And the pacing and POV choices aid the telling of the story well, moving it along at just the right clip, with just the right perspectives at each moment. Well plotted, with good character development of the two antagonists and two leads, the only faults I saw were leaving the shadows too much in mystery, at least until the end, when Caim discoveries some history and his own connection to them. Frankly, I think it would have helped us to understand a little more about them throughout or at least learn more as we went, rather than have them shrouded in mystery the whole time. It certainly might have increased tension and our fear or suspense. The second is a minor quibble. The scene at the end where Caim discovers his own connection played out a little farcical because of parallels to a famous movie scene. But neither of my complains will dampen the experience of reading this well crafted tale. Highly recommended. show less

Well, from the various pre--and post--publication things I'd read on the internet, I was expecting this to be an above-average fantasy debut, but I was only partially correct; it was average (below-average, actually).

Standard fantasy tropes:

1) Protagonist has powers but never explores them, seeks knowledge about them, etc., despite thirsting for vengeance against those what up and done him and his family wrong

2) Female protagonist/love interest who conveniently forgets conversations/dire situations in order to further the distrust/disbelief of Protagonist in order to heighten tension and, as always, place herself in at least one dangerous situation necessitating rescue by Protagonist

3) Companions who know about Protagonist's background show more and/or powers but do nothing to help educate him (and he apparently never really asks)

4) Protagonist is openly known as an assassin and he open..oh, excuse me, secretly meets with the leader of a secret rebellion...in a public tavern. Protagonist is, natch, helping fund the rebellion, for no apparent ideological or philosophical reason (the latter part isn't really a trope, but the former part is a well-trod road).

5) Bad guys' city guard equivalent never seems to know about the rebellion or where Protagonist lives and hangs out despite everyone searching the city for him (no paid snitches or reward-seekers in fantasy-land)

6) Protagonist shakes off serious wound (i.e., a crossbow quarrel and the crude surgery done to remove it) and is up fighting and climbing walls and buildings within 1-2 days, after recovering at the local whorehouse where he's the protector/lover/saint and where the love interest is forced to embarrassingly garb herself as--and ultimately immitate--a lady of the evening (a trope of its own, really, though not just in the fantasy genre)

7) This one's not really a "trope," just the most ridiculous thing in the book...perhaps. Protagonist's father is killed and his mother "taken" when he's 8 years old, but Protagonist doesn't remember that his family is nobility or by what title his father is addressed, until it is revealed by a bad guy, despite various dreams and many "lord" references to his father by others (see #3, above). I think, if he is the first-born son, by 8 years old, he will pretty well know who his father is and what his role is going to be in life.

Well, there's more, but, honestly, the best thing about this book is the cover. I really wanted to like the story and was even planning to buy the UK hardcover (like that cover, too) if it turned out to be good, but no throwing good money after bad, here.

I give this book show less