Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Shadow Raiders
Dragon Brigade Series, Volume One
Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes

Daw Books Inc.
May 2011/ ISBN 978-0-7564-0662-2
Epic Military Fantasy
Amazon

Reviewed by P.L. Blair

Dragons Soar, Magic Falls in New Weis/Krammes Epic

Magic is the Breath of God, and something – despite all the beliefs and teachings of the Church – is destroying it. That's the premise of Shadow Raiders, Book One in a new epic fantasy series by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes that promises plenty of swashbuckling action, magic and dragons.

Set on the world of Aeronne, where landmasses float on the Breath of God – and where the Church, reminiscent of the Roman Catholic Church of our own Middle Ages, keeps a heavy hand in politics and brooks no deviation from its teachings – Shadow Raiders deals as much in intrigue as in action.

And there's plenty of action once the plot gets rolling: A convent of nuns killed by bat-riding demons – demons who also attack ships that travel, by magic, across the ocean-like Breath of God … demons capable of destroying that magic …

My one quibble with the work – and it's strictly personal – is that the plot doesn't really start becoming obvious until about a quarter into this 531-page book. It begins with an eight-page Prologue that is expendable … and Weis and Kramme consistently interrupt plot-moving action with paragraphs of background information that (again, strictly my opinion) could be better handled in shorter snippets either as dialog or through a character's thoughts.

Occasionally, after some of the longer paragraphs of digressions, I found myself having to go back and pick up the thread of the action. Still, when the authors do focus on the plot, they demonstrate a masterful ability to interweave action with the complex intrigues of Church and State.

They also succeed in creating a cast of memorable characters, headed by Lord Captain Stephano de Guichen and Father Jacob Northrup, two men I found likable not merely in spite of their flaws but, in an odd way, because of them. I found the dialog believable, and the authors' descriptions – from the lay of city streets to the clothes their characters wear – present vividly visual images.

The authors can soar to poetic heights in describing the workings of their world's magic. Here, for example, Stephano's reaction when the Trundler girl, Gythe, begins singing magic into visibility: “He saw sigils, simple and complex. He saw the lines connecting them, myriad lines, myriad sigils, blue-and-purple shining lights, dazzling and beautiful. And confused. Like a spider spinning web over web over web ...”

Shadow Raiders is a slower-paced book than I usually choose to read, and I found myself growing occasionally impatient. But then the plot captured me, with enough questions to keep me reading, wanting to know … What happens next? So … I'm hooked, and I look forward to the next book in this series.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Shadow Raiders    [Review 1] [Review 2]

Reviewer's Note: suitable for YA and older

Reviewer & Columnist P.L. Blair is the author of a series (Portals) of fantasy/detective novels set in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Reviewed 2011
© MyShelf.com