Customer Reviews

Shadow Chase (Shadowchasers)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read Shadow Blade a while back and couldn't wait for this book to be released. I must say I have mixed feelings about this book or series. The first book was good and I could see it evolving into something great but the sequel just didn't cut it for me. First off just let me say I love the idea of the book. I love the characters, especially Kira and Khefer. But I got lost in the long, drawn out details and set ups for what was going to happen or long explanations. I am an avid reader and I know a good book when I read one or atleast a good book to me. I get lost in the pages, the characters come alive and I can't put it down until I'm finished. I can see the characters doing and saying the things that the author has written but for me I just didn't get that with this book. I kept waiting for her to pull me in and then I finally just gave up and finished reading the book because I started. I didn't feel any passion from her with this book. Like I said, the idea of this story is wonderful and so are the characters but that's it. The book kept going and going and building up to this final scene of returning the "waters" and when it finally happened it was over in a few paragraphs. So much time was spent on Kira's guilty conscious or Khefer and Kira's struggle to give in to what they feel for each other. I don't know what else to say except for I didn't get what I expected!!!

The back cover blurb for Shadow Chase promises an adventure story revolving around the Vessel of Nun, an Egyptian artifact that has gone missing and, unless restored to its proper place, will unleash a worldwide flood.

This storyline, however, doesn't start until after the 100-page mark (though there is one brief hint that foreshadows part of it), and this is to the detriment of the book. In the early chapters, most of the page time is taken up with introspection, discussions, and arguments about the events that occurred in Shadow Blade and the issues these events raised. The same concerns are raised repeatedly. On the one hand, this could benefit readers who haven't read Shadow Blade and are starting with this installment. But readers who did read the first book may be impatient for this book's plot to get rolling.

And once it does get rolling, it's a great deal of fun. We travel with Kira, Khefar, and friends to London, Cairo, Aswan, and an eerie alternate dimension, and Seressia Glass puts them through the physical and emotional wringer several times. In terms of the adventure aspect, the Egypt sections could have used a little more description to help "transport" the reader there, but nonetheless the story is enjoyable. We also get plenty of development on the romance front. Shadow Chase reminded me a bit of the GRAIL KEEPERS series Evelyn Vaughn wrote for Silhouette Bombshell several years ago, with its combination of archaeology, romance, goddess mysticism, and a strong heroine. If you liked those books, you will probably like the SHADOWCHASERS books too.

Shadow Chase would be a stronger novel if some of the talk and introspection were cut from the early chapters. The plot is a good one, but it takes an unusually long time to get there.

Shadow Chase by Seressia Glass

Urban Fantasy- July 28th, 2010

4 stars

This fast faced Urban thriller is sure to keep readers on their toes. The author starts the heroine in the thick of things and I would advise first time readers to check out the 1st book Shadow Blade to get up to speed.

The heroine, Kira Solomon has just recovered from a deadly battle that nearly killed her friends. And one where she almost died herself. She was only saved by the enigmatic and sexy Nubian Khefar. A man she desires but who keeps her at arms length. But before she can recover she is already assigned a new mission to find the Vessel of Nun. An object of power that unless returned will cause untold damage.

This book really explores Kira's feelings. I liked how it delved into Kira's thoughts of inadequacy and the need to prove herself. Because Kira has been tainted by shadow this reader could really feel how much she struggles to do the right thing. But I do have to admit all her constant insecurities did grate on me after a while.

I found the best part of the story were the fantastic secrets about Kira that are revealed. Especially why she was adopted by the powerful Balm. The author reveals details about Balm herself! Also the intriguing Khefar plays a prominent role in this book. He is the only one that Kira can actually touch without draining him of his life force. And his noble enigmatic personality plus super hot bod make him irresistible to Kira and me! This book was also special because Kira's beloved mentor Bernie makes some unexpected cameos which were surprisingly heartfelt.

Fans of this series will have to get this book if only for the secrets it reveals about Kira's past. I loved that it explores something other than vampires and shifters. The Egyptian lore the author combines gives it an exotic and alluring atmosphere that readers looking for something new in the Urban Fantasy genre will devour.

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

Seressia Glass is an experienced romance writer... and it shows. Unfortunately, this makes the crossover to fantasy rather difficult for several reasons. Back in the day, I did read a lot of romance novels of all sorts, so I can say with some certainity that the faults in the crossover is that while romance alone might drive a romance fiction book, it simply is not enough to drive a fantasy adventure series.

Fantasy readers (not crossover romance readers to fantasy - huge difference) require more. More in-depth characters, better world building, otherworlds that seem real, and heros and heroines who know how to kick some ass both with their hands and feet, and blades. Instead we get fights that don't read realistically, and lots and lots of fluff.

From about Chapter 1-7 all we get is a re-hash from Shadow Blade: Comstock is dead, Kira misses him, Kira doesn't know why Khefar would have saved her, Wynne and Zoo are worried about her, Kira worries about Wynne and Zoo, Kira wonders what Balm isn't telling her, they visit the DMZ club, and FINALLY make the decision to leave to London where she needs to take care of Comstocks estate.

Her editor should have had her trimmed this back to 3 chapters at MOST. Much of this could have been done in a synopsis or prologue and the introspection placed throughout the book. Instead we are right off the back, introduced to a snoozefest of a story.

By Chapter 8 I was more then ready for this book to BEGIN! Goodness what a lot of padding and fluff so far. I was really hoping that in London we could see Khefar and Kira behaving like a couple on a honeymoon while she learned more about Comstock - such as the intriguing idea that his lawyer (I don't think they call them that in London BTW but a barrister - someone local can help me on that) is a Shadowling...

but NO! instead we get Balm pulling her back into Gilead business.

While I had hoped that the characters Wynne and Zoo had been dumped in Atlanta, I can't even be satisfied with that as Balm hires these two incompetent nobodies and they come along for the adventure. From somewhere, suddenly Zoo knows Arabic and has a friend in Cairo that owes him a big favor ---- totally not believable and out of left field. Thankfully, they are little highlighted and I was able to ignore them while reading about Nansee, Khefar, Kira and the more intriguing character of Solis (way should have been more of her in this book).

The plot is terribly light. The bad Shadow wants a historical urn so they can flood the Nile in honor of Set who they are trying to awaken. End of story.

What is horrible in my thinking is that you have an action Fantasy heroine whose fight scenes are pretty much non-existent. She rushes in with her blade... and everyone is dead. C'mon! Why would I want this type of heroine if it is not to read about her martial arts move, sword and blade play?? That is why romance writers on the whole are very poor writers of fantasy. They just don't get it.

While the intriguing information about Kira's past and heritage comes to light near the end of the book, and it helped me make it to the end, overall this book doesn't pass the fantasy muster for me. An intriguing idea is being left to gather mold, while Kira and Khefar are not developing as real characters. Both lack in any real development and Kira runs around being pissed off or wondering why her friends are helping her (please by Chapter 14 this is OLD NEWS!).

I was hugely disappointed that I didn't get a travelogue of the London area - the sites, the noises, the smells and doings of the city. Yet this author did the same when she wrote about the city of Atlanta in the first book too. When a book is an URBAN fantasy then I expect the city itself to be a character and neither in Shadow Blade (Atlanta, GA) or Shadow Chase (London) did I ever have a sense of these cities.

What could improve this book:

* Have some realistic battle scenes where we hear the crunch of bones and the cut of the blade.

* Kira needs to stop being so super-human. What are her weaknesses? And I'm not talking about her family past.

* Khefar has to be more then his sad story of how he became immortal. As someone who has lived for 4,000 years does no one have any curiousity about what he has seen or done?

* Kill Wynne and Zoo

* Let's get more into the Halflings, the Shadow and how there is a lot more gray there then Kira or Balm have ever admitted.

* Make the city a CHARACTER!!

While I did enjoy Shadow Blade enough to buy Shadow Chase and SC was a satisfying read, I'll be passing on this author in the future. I like authors whose books can sit on my shelf and be re-reads, especially when it's $7.99 a pop. This book will appeal more to the romance reader (though there is a bit romance-light even on that end) but the dyed in the wool fantasy reader will be left with disappointment.

Urban fantasy is all the rage these days, especially if you can bring werewolves or vampires into it. Those monsters are getting old, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for good fantasy novels that bring magic into our modern world. Seressia Glass has entered that genre with the adventures of Kira Solomon, but sadly they're not as good as they could be. The second book, Shadow Chase, doesn't live up to the promise of the first.

Kira is a Shadowchaser, a woman trained to serve the Light and fight off the forces of Shadow that are trying to take over the world. She has been tainted by it, however, and spilled innocent blood. As part of her atonement, she has been recruited as the Hand of Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of Truth and Order, to fight for her as well. While in London settling the affairs of her murdered mentor, Bernie, Kira becomes embroiled in other business by the Gilead Order. A fellow Shadowchaser has disappeared, as has the Vessel of Nun--an artifact that will cause immense destruction if it's not returned. Kira and her friends, including an immortal Nubian named Khefar who is the only person who can touch Kira without being affected by her powers, will have to recover it before it's too late.

Some good things in Shadow Chase will keep me coming back for the next one. However, my criticism of the first book, Shadow Blade, holds even more true for this second book. It doesn't really add anything to the standard urban fantasy fare other than Egyptian mythology (which I guess adds a bit of heft compared to a generic "Order vs Chaos" milieu). This wouldn't bother me so much if Glass's prose were better, but it's fairly pedestrian.

Two main problems are more specific to Shadow Chase. First, the pacing of the book is way off. Many of the copious quiet moments designed to build character work, but some don't. At these times, the book merely plods along on its own momentum. Thankfully, just when it seems like it will drag to a complete stop, something happens to propel it forward again.

The other problem is the anti-climactic ending, which stems from the pacing problem. The finale begins about two-thirds of the way through the book, but when the final confrontation finally occurs, not much happens. The characters bypass the obstacle in their way with such ease that all tension is lost. While some good character climaxes will surely lead into the next, the plot just kind of... stops.

The saving grace of Shadow Chase is again Glass's excellent character work. You really feel for Kira as she is buffeted by revelation after revelation about both her past and her present. Her growing attraction to Khefar, not just because he's a hunky guy (that's a given in this genre) but also because he's the only one who can touch her without falling comatose while she absorbs their memories, is affecting.

Khefar is quite interesting too, with his ancient curse of having to save a number of people equal to the innocents he killed all those years ago. The relationship that develops between these two, running both hot and cold as Khefar keeps some secrets to himself, brings the book together and makes you want to keep reading. Khefar has promised to use his magical dagger to "unmake" Kira if she falls too far under the Shadow influence that infects her, so that underlying tension runs throughout.

I have high hopes for the third book in the series. If Glass can just bring together a more interesting plot with better pacing, she has a wonderful framework for an intriguing series. We want to find out more about Kira and her past (though we do find out quite a bit in Shadow Chase) and how she deals with her discoveries. Glass has us rooting for her.

I'm also rooting for a better book.

Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book © Dave Roy, 2011

This book is outstanding and I had to buy book 2 and 3. I am hooked and got my mother hooked to this book too.

Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Key points: It wasn't as repetitive as the first book.

We get lots of new background information on Kira. Thank goodness!

Bernie shows up again in this one.

It moved so much faster than the first book.

There's more drama in this book.

The action is tons better in this book. LOVED IT!

SPOILER!!!!!!!!

Things to look for in the next book: There are some things dealing with Bernie I feel like will come and bite us in the butt for the third book. Apparently he had some special artifacts that only Kira is to see and use her extrasense on. Ooooo, I was so hoping we would get to that in this one but I guess I have to wait until the next one. Also, the shadowling/avatar woman that Kira faced in Between ... Definitely has to be back for the third.

+++ Deva ... Full review at [...]

This is the second book in Glass's Shadowchasers urban fantasy series in a supernatural Atlanta. I just read the first book Shadow Blade (Shadowchasers) a few weeks ago and was eagerly awating this sequel. It doesn't disappoint! The main character Kira Solomon works as a Shadowchaser for Gilead, an international clandestine organization. Shadowchasers use their powers to serve the Light to protect humans and magical beings from the evil Fallen and prevent the spread of chaos. Khefar, the 4000 year old Nubian warrior, has put his soul and immortality on the line to help her.

Shadow Chase starts off where Shadow Blade left off. Kira is recovering from a fight with an Avatar Enig and meeting with her Goddess Ma'at. After recent events, Kira is concerned her friends Wynne and Zoo will become collateral damage in her fight against evil, so pushes them away. Now that she came close to turning evil and accidently hurting innocent people, she is even more leary of working as a team. Her entire life she has found it difficult to be close to people due to the nature of her special power. Whatever she touches (living or inanimate objects) she scan see its history and emotions. Khefar is the one exception. Her feelings for him are complicated because she is haunted by her past and afraid of getting hurt. Will she overcome her fears to find love?

Shadow Chase is about a fellow Shadowchaser who has done missing at the same tine as a unique artifact, the Vessel of Nun. Once again an artifact has the power to destoy the world, if Kira doesn't stop it. The only way to defeat the enemy is to trust in her power she can barely control.

I think Seressia Glass is a good author. She writes interesting characters, they evolve in her books, and I like the way her plots unfold. I really enjoy this series and am looking forward to a third installment.