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Shadowgod (Book 2 of The Shadowkings Trilogy) by Michael Cobley
01/04/2005 . Source: Sana Master 
pub: Earthlight\Simon and Schuster. 470 page enlarged paperback. Price: £10.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-6114-2. 470 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-1600-7. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out websites: www.simonsays.co.uk, www.shadowkings.co.uk and www.periurban.clara.net
Having never read the first part of 'The ShadowKings Trilogy', this second part, 'ShadowGod', was very difficult to get into. It plunges straight into the action and there is very little in the way of a recap. However, once I got into the story and figured out the past history it got easier. It is, in some ways, quite a dark fantasy novel with some truly horrific parts, particularly the fight scenes and the violence utilised by the 'bad guys'.
At its core, the novel is about the bad guys trying to conquer the world and the good guys trying to stop them. The characters are created carefully, but there is very little about any of them that grabs you and makes you really identify with them. I felt this was due to the lack of depth in their description, however, they may well have been described and fully formed in the first part. The main characters, Mazaret, Nerek and Byrnak are interesting. The latter two because of their magical link with each other (which is never fully explained) and Mazaret because of the bereavement he suffered in the first novel (he lost his partner and archmage called Suviel). Nerek is known throughout as 'the mirror child' because she is identical to another character called Keren. Again, this coincidence is never explained apart from the fact that they are not twins. The book uses the idea of mirrors and disguises that mask characters' true feelings quite effectively but, again, familiarity with the first novel may remedy this, rendering a deeper understanding of who stands where.
Byrnak is one of the ShadowKings and is trying to rid himself of his portion of the Lord of Twilight. I presumed that in the first part, the Lord of Twilight was vanquished, but not wholly and so spread portions of himself into his lieutenants to await a time when he can gather his power and return. The ShadowKings are singular in that they do not want their leader to return. Instead, they want to find a weapon that will vanquish him for good and claim his power for themselves. So, there is a mutiny in the ranks. Man defeating divinity is a thread that runs throughout tis universe created by Cobley.
The structure of the novel is difficult to pin down. It begins in the middle of things and you have to think hard to catch up. Once you have caught up, it completely confuses you towards the end with its parallel time and the multiple events that occur. The main event is the siege of the city and the creation of a weapon that will destroy the Lord of Twilight forever. Crises and resolutions progress from there. The ending however, is so very final that I had to check over and again that this was part two of the trilogy and not the final part. It rises to such a crescendo and then falls with earthshaking finality. I just sat there when I had finished reading and tried to imagine how or where the story could continue. It was a very bizarre ending and even now I find it difficult to see where it is going to go. Admittedly, there are a few threads that could do with tying off. However, these are no more than those most authors leave at the ends of their novels to signal the continuation of life in their created universes.
Overall, this novel may be quite a good book to read in its proper place in the trilogy. It is not good to read as a standalone novel, because it just confuses the reader and does not offer an adequate recap to help someone do so. The characters are intriguing, but would be a lot more so if drawn in more depth, then they would probably come to life in your imagination, as so many fantasy characters do, and become people you aspire to be. To be brutally honest, it was an interesting reading experience, but not one I would care to repeat.
Sana Master
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