Shadowkings (Paperback)

Sixteen years have passed since the horrific slaughter in the Battle of the Wolfgate and the Khatrimantine Empire fell to the enemy. It's the same number of years since the evil deity, the Lord of Twilight, was shattered into five hosts, five lost souls destined to become the Shadowkings. Now the Shadowkings are compelled to return the Lord of Twilight to his fleshly being. Many lives will be changed forever as battle commences yet again and the Empire's last valiant defenders take to arms against ancient sorceries and new terrors. There is the Warlord Byrnak, who discovers he is one of the five ShadowKings, and Tauric, the lost heir to the Imperial throne. They and their companions face a deadly struggle in the fight for freedom.

This book has got what you would expect from a fantasy novel; magic, parallel worlds, action, intrigue, betrayal as well as the above stated undercurrent of what people do with their power. There are the themes of greed, jealousy, underlying sexual needs in some of the characters. The character Byrnak for example , uses his power and stature to satisfy his sexual needs, both hetro and homo. The main characters are well fleshed out and you get an insight into their motives and why their decisions are made. You also have a Gandalf like figure in Bardow, who appears to pull strings without revealing all his knowledge to his allies. There are some characters, from which you get the feeling that there's more to come - the mysterious Kodel and the young Tauric.

The 5 ShadowKings, are not your normal bad guys, they're not totally devout to the dark deity and will do anything to preserve their power and use it as they wish and not restore the Lord of Twilight to his former glory. They enjoy the power and are not willing to go to oblivion in order for the deity to surface. What follows is an intriguing power struggle between them filled with jealousy and hatred. Opposed to this non-conformism to the evil deity are the acolytes who are totally devout and work towards bringing the dark lord's rebirth to fruition.

It is the old good versus evil, but even this struggle is not conformist, the good is represented through the EarthMother, but she is vengeful and quite menacing, using people as her pawns to meet her own ends.

It is a dark and atmospheric book, sometimes you can almost feel the smell of blood, smoke and sweat. Shows alarmingly 'real' human traits that are not only found in books but everyday life, greed, lust, love and our tendencies to inflict pain upon others in order to gain what we desire.

Could power corrupt us? I would like to believe that it wouldn't but after reading this book it does pose the question. What would we do if we had a large amount of personal power and would we use it in a morally acceptable way? If you enjoy the white knight in shiny armour scenarios then this book is not for you. But if the gritty, darker fantasy appeals to you and you enjoy reading thought provoking material then go out and get your copy now. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope the next volume carries on in the same vein.

A few people have commented on the unremitting darkness of this book but I would argue that, in the context of more-to-follow there must be this grim dark before the dawn! War is hell after all... I especially liked the fact that the mortals who contain the shattered soul of the Shadowking of the title, all have their own agendas and are not exactly willing sacrifices to one great plan...

Looking forward to book two...