Customer Reviews

The Shadow Within (Babylon 5, Book 7)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

I have watched all of the Babylon 5 episodes, collected most of videos, and even started reading the comics when they first came out. Now I am working on the books. I just wanted to point out that this book is a must for all serious B5 fans. The TV series leaves you lacking in what happened to the Icarus when it reached Z'Ha'dum and this book clearly gives those answers. I also appreciated the author's look into the past life of the character Morden. It is nice to see that his life was very different from that which he leads in the TV series. The book was well written and kept me entertained throughout. Kudos to the author...

I have read most of the books in the Babylon 5 series, and can say that this book is right now my favorite because you find out what happened to Sheriden's wife, and the mystery that leads up to the awakening of the Shadows on Z'ardom. The characters are not just steriotypes, but are full of life. You discover the dark secret of Morden, and why he came to the aid of the Shadows. Over all this is one of the best SciFi novels that I have read with a female hero, or Shero, as some prefer. A good suspensful novel.

This is not a great book, but it stands head and shoulders above all of the Dell novels with the exception of "To Dream In The City Of Sorrows". When a couple of other Babylon 5 fans asked me about the series of novels, I highly recommended TDitCoS, and recommended that they read this one as well - of the Dell books, only these two deserve to be considered canon.

This book fills in the background of Sheridan, Anna, and Morden nicely, but it is a bit of an uninspiring read. As a first novel, though, it is not too bad.

This novel of the Babylon 5 universe fills in the blanks regarding one of the acclaimed series' most intriguing characters: Morden, mouthpiece of the evil Shadows. Even more, it also focuses on Anna, second wife of John Sheridan, and the tale of how she went from loving wife and archaeologist to mindless minion of those aforementioned Shadows.

"The Shadow Within" was originally published in 1997, and four years later the same author wrote a trilogy about the mysterious Techno-Mages, who appeared on the B5 space station in one episode of Season Two but whose story is incredibly fascinating. See the trilogy titled "The Passing Of the Techno-Mages" for more, especially since this book dovetails into that trilogy and serves as a prequel. I cannot recommend this set of four novels highly enough, although I do agree with another reviewer here that this volume is not as spectacular as the trilogy.

This is one of the must-read books based on B5 that are 100% canon, so if you haven't bought it already please do so.

It's full of interesting bacround information about Anna Sheridan and her tragic journey on the Icarus, with some attention focused also on the character of Morden. Both characters intiguing and not enough explored in the series.

The plot seems a bit lame, although I admit that that might partially be because we all pretty much know the ending.

Nontheless, it was interesting to read more about Anna Sheridan, Morden and their connection to the planet Za'ha'dum and the shadows.

A good read that offers essential information regarding the TV series. And that pretty much repairs the lacks in the storyline, wich aren't that tremendeous anyway. As I said before: By it!

Okay, If you haven't read this book its really wonderful.It has a great storyline and ties in with the series well. Youshould also seethe episode In the Shadow of Zha'dum it tells more about the shadows. This book filled me in on what Morden really was ( an ally to the Shadows, and the big mistake Londo Mollari made befriending him. It could have cost him his life.

After I finished this book, I never went back groping for more. ( Not like Accusations, I must have read it 100 times by now) Accusations is strill number 1 in my terms. I liked the way the author left the book roughly yet on the correct note so you feel a little glimpse of excitement every few minutes after reading the book. This book will also help you understand the meaning of trust better.

PROs :) This Book was great. I watch Babylon5 and I like it alot. When I saw this book I thought it would just be another corny spinoff but it wasn't. This is good enogh to be a stand alone book with the exception of some of the words (ie: Link, plasma laser, PPG, EVA suit, HeavyCuiser, ect.) that would not make sense to a non-babylon5 viewer. The Plot is great, their is actually three plots and each has it's own section in the chapter, just like the show. The cliff hanger chapters and "Commercial break like" endings to chapters won't let you stop reading, really!

CONs :( It leaves some unanswered questions at the end but I suppose their trying to be dramatic. if you watch the series some questions will be answered if you don't, you probably won't even notice most of the unanswered questions. The begining starts off slow (the first chapter or so) but after that it's great.

Conclusion :/ All in all you should get this book it is Great!!! If you watch the series or like Sci-fi this is the book for you.