‘Shadowmage’ – Matthew Sprange (Abaddon Books)

Abaddon Books have released some pretty good alternate-earth books (check out ‘Unnatural History’ and ‘El Sombra’) and they’re good for zombie fiction as well. What’s been conspicuous in its absence however is a fantasy series and this looks to have been resolved with the introduction of ‘Shadowmage’, the first in the ‘Twilight of Kerberos’ series.
Lucius Kane is forced into exile when warfare ravages the city of Turnitia; years later he returns and takes up a life of crime on the streets of the city. However, his new allegiance to the thieves guild is about to be put to the test by war with a rival guild and the burgeoning magical powers that he is learning to control…
‘Shadowmage’ is a book that pretty much shoots itself in the foot before it really gets going and this is a real shame because if you give it a chance the story isn’t bad at all. Where ‘Shadowmage’ falls down is its ‘overuse’ of certain fantasy tropes in a genre that is starting to look in different directions with its storytelling. After spending time in Turnitia, I was left with the feeling that I could have been reading about any number of fantasy cities. You want guild wars? ‘Shadowmage’ has guild wars but I’m pretty sure a lot of other fantasy books have done the same thing already. You want a story about a young man, with strange powers, returning from exile? ‘Shadowmage’ has lots of this but so did ‘The Belgariad’… You want a tale about a wise-cracking thief? ‘Shadowmage’ will do the job but ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ does it a whole lot better. And just what is a ‘Shadowmage’ anyway? I can appreciate that this is the start of a series, and the reader will find out more as they go along, but there’s no real sense of what being a ‘Shadowmage’ actually means. Lucius is able to do things that other Shadowmages cannot; does this mean that he’s an ‘uber Shadowmage’ or that he is the only real Shadowmage (and the rest are just regular mages)? It would have been nice to know…
After this big rant it will surprise you to know that the story itself wasn’t that bad. There’s plenty happening with some spectacular set piece magical battles and an ongoing commentary about the politics between the major players in the city. I liked the fact that no-one is safe and it’s clear that the author will not let any attachments, to a character, get in the way of the story. The introduction of a major foe is also handled well, getting just the right balance between telling the story and raising questions for future novels to answer.
As a quick light read, ‘Shadowmage’ is certainly entertaining but it doesn’t really stand out amongst all the other books that do the same kind of thing. Having said that though, ‘Shadowmage’ has done just enough to make me want to see what happens next and if the series improves from here…

Six and Three Quarters out of Ten