Shadowplay

Excellent followup to Shadowmarch! I really miss having fantasy elements and adventure in epic fantasy novels these days. So many are political intrigue novels that, while they are enjoyable as well, don't quite live up to my favourite because they simply don't have enough magical elements. My favourites are still the stories that take me to strange new lands, with magical (scary, cute or otherwise) creatures, where characters learn about themselves on a quest-like adventure. The trend these days is for novels in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire and while I think they are excellently written novels, I do miss the more ‘typical' elements of fantasy that are a bit more obscure in those novels. I am glad to say that Tad Williams manages to mix both political intrigue, quest-like adventure and magic in this series to excellent effect. The ‘typical' fantasy elements are there, but don't feel cliched, but rather quite inventive. I feel that this second part in the 4 part Shadowmarch series was even better than its predecessor, widening the world, the mystery and the magic involved and as always creating characters that I just can't help but care about. Looking forward to the concluding 2 novels for sure!