In Shade and Shadow: A Novel of the Noble Dead

This novel stands out amid many other fantasy novels for an interesting aspect of suspense and mystery. So many fantasy novels are predictable. A quest, a challenge, a battle . . . and a victory. This novel unfolds like a classic mystery. In a world of sword and sorcery, a young woman monastic named Wynn loses several dear friends to one of several deadly attacks -- always with the object of stealing pages of ancient manuscripts. These manuscripts are written in difficult, ancient languages. The killer waylays and kills young monks who are transporting folios of translated pages from the city to the monastery. The killer is not human, but an undead. Wynn figures this much out. But mysteries abound . . . and multiply. Why kill young monks for pages of a dusty manuscript? What kind of undead IS this killer? Not a vampire, that's for sure. The attacks seem based on inside information, so who among the leaders of the monastery is working hand in glove to direct the attacks? Wynn almost herself gets killed on two occasions, making her ask . . . what kind of weapon or bane can prove effective against a wraith? The mystery is only intensified as the young and handsome captain of the town guard gets everything wrong, and for all his zeal, actually makes everything worse. On one occasion, he attacks and knocks unconscious a mage who was preparing to trap and kill the slayer, thereby exposing Wynn and others to deadly peril. It seems -- the road to hell is paved with . . . but we know that, don't we. I was kept wondering through hundreds of pages exactly who and what was the adversary, and for what motive, and what -- exactly -- was hidden in those ancient texts. I will say truthfully, I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. reading through to the end. As an old, jaded fantasy fan, that is becoming an unusual experience for me. I have to say also, the characters are vivid and believable, with the young woman monastic being by far the best. The supporting cast is anchored by a very mysterious and powerful mage named Ghassan il'Sanke, who has deceived the entire monastery, posing as a humble guest teacher, but with astonishing and frightening magical skills. Nothing in this novel initially is what it may seem. A winner and an "all nighter." After finishing the book and returning it to the library, I checked out several other books by this author. That's the highest compliment I can pay any fantasy novel.

If you like Dark Fantasy or any of the other Hendee's books then you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't read this one. This book is simply their best to date. Their last book, Child of a Dead God was disappointing to me with what didn't feel like enough resolution. This book more than makes up for it and will make you want to go back and reread the entire Dhampir series. The character Wynn, who is a journeying scholar has come back to her hometown with a sort of post-traumatic stress disorder from dealing with the undead. She has brought back some of the most ancient discovered writings in her world, but she is considered too crazy to be allowed to work on them herself. Now there are some mysterious deaths among the scholars working on her books. This book is an excellent series of murder mysteries in the Hendee's dark fantasy world. If you like Dark Fantasy novels, you'll love this book.

While I've always thought the Hendees were fabulous writers, they have really hit their stride with this book. Crossing genres (fantasy and mystery) it takes the reader to the peak of both.

I will not begin this review with a summary of the novel since the previous reviewers have handled that well. I must admit to feelings of shock and loss when I started to read In Shade and Shadow. I was not aware that this was the beginning of a new series, and instead I thought that this was a continuation of Margiere's and Leesil's exploits. Wynn had not been my favorite character in the previous novels and Chane could have been permanently killed off 3 books ago. However, Barb and JC have definitely shown that they know what they are doing. Wynn as she says at one point in the book has certainly grown up. Shade was a great addition to the plot and I was thrilled for Wynn to have a least one sidekick that she could unconditionally depend upon. My only real complaint is that I am now reinvolved in the storyline and must wait another year for the next book to come out.

I've read all six books from the first series of the Noble Dead Saga. Dhampir Thief of Lives Sister of the Dead Traitor to the Blood Rebel Fay Child of a Dead God This novel is the first book of series two. At the end of Child of a Dead God, the sage, Wynn, finds a library in an aging castle on a mountain atop the world, and the texts inside the library were written by ancient vampires (in a number of dead languages). She carries some of these texts away, and then when she returns to civilization, she is given the tasks of carrying this "treasure" across the sea all the way back to her homeland and the main guild of sages. In Shade and Shadow begins about a year and a half later. Apparently, the journey back took a while, and Wynn has been living at the guild of sagecraft for about six months. But upon her return home, all the texts were taken from her by her superiors, and the information is being translated in secret. She is not even allowed to see the texts. Worse, everyone at the guild seems to believe she's gone "mental" and they don't believe her stories of vampires and ghosts and Elvish assassins. Then, one night, two young sages are bringing some of the transcribed pages of the ancient texts back to the guild--from a scribe's shop--and they are murdered. When Wynn sees their bodies, she suspects they died by unnatural means, and when her superiors try to force her into silence, she begins trying to uncover the truth. This book is somewhat different from the previous Noble Dead novels because it has the feel of a murder mystery. One of my favorite characters here is a new one named Captain Rodian who is investigating the murders for the city guard, and he is expected to "find someone" quickly and solve the case--but of course he is looking for a mortal murderer. He's a very conflicted person, rather young for his job, and quite ambitious. Wynn's character grows up a good deal in this book, and she is joined by the vampire Chane, who was a secondary character in the first series. He's quite interesting here too. I read this book quickly, and I'm not a fast reader. I couldn't put it down. It's such an engrossing story, and I could not wait to find out what happened next. This has become one of my favorite Noble Dead novels--and I wasn't sure what to expect. These writers just keep getting better. I'm only sad that I must wait a year for the next book!