The Shadow Within: Babylon 5, Book #7 [Paperback]

Jeanne Cavelos (Author)

Book Description

Series: Babylon 5 | Publication Date: March 10, 1997

Anna Sheridan has two passions--her husband, John, and the mystery surrounding some intriguing artifacts found during a mission to a distant planet called Z'Ha'dum. Now she gets orders to become the science officer on the follow-up mission scheduled for the spaceship Icarus. Happy, young, beloved, and brilliant, never has a woman had so much to live for. Or so much to lose. While John, recently promoted to the rank of captain, struggles with his new command on the Agamemnon, Anna begins to assemble her science crew...and makes a first mistake. She signs on Dr. Morden, a highly credentialed translator whose heart hides a weakness that can cost Anna her life or her soul. Her second mistake is to underestimate the danger of Z'Ha'dum. What is awaiting the Icarus near the rim of known destiny...and a dark future that can crush her husband's dreams and a terror that can come back to haunt us all.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"They provide an intriguing energy source to draw us in. And here we are. Butwhat I can't figure out is why they would want to hide from us and then attackus. They don't even know us."

As Anna talked, a strange change came over Morden's face. The muscles wentslack, his carefully composed expression melting away.

He reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit, and she realized he was going topull out the PPG. As the PPG came clear of the pocket and began to rise, sheshoved him hard. The gun went off with a reverberating blast. She lost herbalance, heard rocks falling, and then a flash, and she hit the cave floor. Shecovered her head with her arms and tucked her body into a ball. It was likebeing an ant in the center of the bowling pins when God hits a strike.

She was in total blackness. She groped for her light, and shone it toward whereMorden had been standing. He looked as if he had been picked up and thrown atthe cave wall. He was twisted up against it on his side, the jumpsuit over hischest fluttering with quick, shallow breaths. His right hand still gripped thePPG...

Copyright © 1997 by Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner.

From the Inside Flap

Anna Sheridan has two passions--her husband, John, and the mystery surrounding some intriguing artifacts found during a mission to a distant planet called Z'Ha'dum. Now she gets orders to become the science officer on the follow-up mission scheduled for the spaceship Icarus. Happy, young, beloved, and brilliant, never has a woman had so much to live for. Or so much to lose. While John, recently promoted to the rank of captain, struggles with his new command on the Agamemnon, Anna begins to assemble her science crew...and makes a first mistake. She signs on Dr. Morden, a highly credentialed translator whose heart hides a weakness that can cost Anna her life or her soul. Her second mistake is to underestimate the danger of Z'Ha'dum. What is awaiting the Icarus near the rim of known destiny...and a dark future that can crush her husband's dreams and a terror that can come back to haunt us all.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dell (March 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440223482
• ISBN-13: 978-0440223481
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,158,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What do you want?, August 2, 2003

By 

Jason Montgomery "Journ" (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shadow Within: Babylon 5, Book #7 (Paperback)

This book tells the tale of what really happened to Anna Sheridan and Morden during the Icarus' doomed expedition to the Shadow homeworld, Z'ha'dum. Plus, there's a subplot concerning Captain Sheridan trying to get the crew under his new command on the Agamemnnon into shape, and then preventing a terrorist attack on the recently completed Babylon 5 space station.

This book, and it's companion volume "To Dream in the City of Sorrows", created a feeling of dread about the Shadows and what they represent, just like on the Babylon 5 TV show. And we all know that Anna joined the Shadows, but her reasons as to why are a shocker. Strongly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great background info; end vague, January 4, 2003

By 

"[e-mail]" (Moorpark, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shadow Within (Babylon 5, Book 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is generally acknowledged to be the best of the B5 books, although I also like the Psi Corps trilogy very much. This book follows the story of Anna Sheridan and Morden, and their ill fated trip to Z'Ha'Dum. It's a quick read, but it's not fluff. The characters are well developed, indeed we find out pertinent details about Morden (he's a very sympathetic person, actually!) and Anna, as well as background into John Sheridan's first command. I read this in a day; I could hardly keep my hands off of it. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. All along, they were helping explain things from the TV show, and fleshing out the characters, filling in many gaps. At the very end, I found it to be lacking. I do know the ultimate fate of the people, but I couldn't figure out exactly how or what happened. I would have liked a bit more of that. I felt the best parts of the story were the interactions between Anna and Morden, and Anna and John.

There is a very small background that takes place on B5, and Delenn and Captain Sinclair are present, but only for less than 10 pages of the story. The story is primarily about Anna, with the "B" plotline being that of John on the Agamemnon. An excellent read...and so many of your questions will be answered!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece of lame spin-off series, November 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Shadow Within: Babylon 5, Book #7 (Paperback)

I know that it ruins a story if you know how it ends,in this case, what happens to Anna Sheridan on Z'ha'dum, but you probably wouldn't have gotten the book unless you did. But for the Shadow Within, it is not what happens that matters, but how and why they did.

You see, this book explains how the ancient Shadows were awakened, as mentioned in the television series, and why Mr. Morden came to be in their service. The story is greatly inhanced by the dramatic irony that is always present with Morden. He gives a fresh air to the story.

This is a very well crafted story, which gets the reader out of the crampt five mile long station everyone has come to love. It explores the B5 universe. Other books in the series are dry, dull stories that sound like rejects from the first season.(Except Jim Mortimore's book: Clark's Law) Many familar characters are in it, including: Delenn, Sinclair, Kosh, and even the lovable Garibaldi. Let's not forget the Sheridans, whose marriage will be torn apart by the shadows within.