Shadows Fall [Paperback]

Simon R. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994

The strange town of Shadows Fall, a place where the legends and mythical creatures of the past meet the technological marvels of the future, is threatened by the prophecy of James Hart's return.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shadows Fall is an extraordinary town where legends--human and otherwise--go to live out their days as belief in them dies. Comic superheroes who never achieved true fame mingle with rock 'n' roll stars who died young; dinosaurs roam the park at night. It is a setting with great potential. Unfortunately, Green ( Blue Moon Rising ) for the most part foregoes developing it in favor of simply adding to it, mixing in faeries, saints and other fantastic elements. As the novel begins, a serial killer stalks the town. It's up to mayor Rhea Frazier, the revenant Leonard Ash, rock 'n' roller Sean Morrison and James Hart, whose return to town has triggered an old prophecy, to unmask the killer and deal with an unprecedented attack on Shadows Fall by outsiders. The drama of their battle, however, is undermined by thin characterizations, stilted dialogue and scenes that read like farce. Too much goes unexplained (how exactly do the outsiders breach the town's defenses?). Green invokes some powerful mythologies, but cripples the impact of climactic scenes with off-key, atmosphere-jarring wisecracks ("I'm here to kill Time as in Father Time, but there's no hurry"). Ultimately this fantasy would have been more successful had the author done more with a bit less, spinning a richer story from fewer threads.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

SALES POINTS Simon Green's Deathstalker series backlist brilliantly One of Britain's bestselling writers of swords and sorcery A New York Times bestseller with Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves Strong support in genre press and at conventions --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Roc; First Edition edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451453638
• ISBN-13: 978-0451453631
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,523,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Green is the author of the bestselling DEATHSTALKER cycle, the New York Times bestseller ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, and many other novels. He lives in Bradford-upon-Avon in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder In the Shadows, May 16, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadows Fall (Paperback)

Shadows Fall is the first novel in a loosely connected set of urban fantasies. The town of Shadows Fall is "where dreams go to die. A place where nightmares end, and hope itself can rest ... You can find all sorts of things in Shadows Fall. There are doors that take you to anywhere ... Mostly, though, it's a town where people go to die. People, and other things."

In this novel, it is Carnival once again in Shadows Fall. Leonard Ash stands alone watching the people come and go. He has been dead, a revenant, for three years now, but he is still not quite ready to go through the Forever Door. He hasn't talked to the Mayor, Rhea Frazier, since his death and he takes the time to do so now, discussing various people, including Lucas DeFrenz, who was killed in a freak traffic accident and then came back possessed by the angel Michael, God's Assassin. As they are talking, Suzanne Dubois interrupts them with a message from Richard Erikson, the Sheriff, to come quickly. They find Lucas DeFrenz lying dead in Suzanne's shack. Someone has killed God's Assassin.

A few weeks later, James Hart returns to Shadows Fall after his mother and father have died in a car crash. He has been gone for twenty-five years and doesn't recognize anything. He watches the daily dogfight between World War I biplanes (the English pilot crashes and burns this time), walks down a Parisian street and then one out of the European Dark Ages, and finally sits down on a wooden bench in a park. There he meets Leonard Ash, tells him his story, and receives some answers to his many questions. When they go to a bar, the sheriff joins them and remembers Hart's parents, telling him that his parents were linked to some sort of prophecy concerning the destruction of the Forever Door and they had packed up and left shortly thereafter.

The sheriff recommends that Hart ask Old Father Time about the prophecy and his parents, but has to leave to quell a disturbance between overweight pixies and biker grizzly bears. Ash volunteers to accompany Hart to see Old Father Time and they cross the park to the Sarcophagus, converse with their dopplegangers just leaving the slab of stone, and then enter through a snowdome into a blizzard and hurry through the open door to get out of the swirling snow. Before reaching Time, they have to traverse through the Gallery of Bone, an unsettling experience in itself, and then pass Madelaine Kresh, Time's assistant. Time is currently a gaunt man in his late fifties or early sixties, dressed in Victorian finery. Old Father Time doesn't really explain the prophecy, but states that, since his return, Hart is at the heart of the matter. Hart also gets to meet Jack Fetch, a scarecrow with a carved turnip head, who has incredible strength and is fascinated by Hart, finally bowing to him.

Doctor Mirren performs autopsies on all seven victims -- to date -- and finds nothing helpful. When he tries to raise the spirit of the last victim, he receives more than he expected and barely gets rid of it. Something very powerful has ensured that the dead tell no tales.

Sean Morrison, resident bard, troublemaker and Sidhe groupie, visits Suzanne Dubois, seeking advice. He is thinking of asking the Unseeli Court, the rulers of Dark Faerie, to investigate the murders. While he is at Suzanne's shack, Lester Gold, an old hero from a canceled comic, drops by to get her advice as to how he can help. Suzanne suggests that the two team up to visit the Unseeli Court.

This novel is a mystery quest of sorts, with more twists and turns than a mountain goat path. After accepting the underlying premise, one begins to be curious about the ever expanding cast and the bouncing ball plot. Then one begins to wonder how all these threads are going to be reconciled. After that, the hook is set and one is committed to finishing the book. The story really starts rocking around the half way point and turns into an action adventure about three-quarters through.

In some ways, this story is the fantasy equivalent of Farmer's Riverworld. Somewhere/somewhen in Shadows Fall may be every character from every story that was ever told, published or filmed. The primal fears of the cavemen are probably wandering around the town right now!

Highly recommended for Green fans and anyone who likes an urban fantasy story with elements of a mystery quest during a bloody invasion.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Something Green This Way Comes, December 10, 2003

By 

David "dtstrange" (Pleasant Hill, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadows Fall (Paperback)

Shadow's Fall is one of those books that defines genre labeling, so it often gets overlooked by mainstream readers. It's a neat little story, combining elements of a modern fantasy, which reminded me of a meeting between Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes", and Baum's "Oz" stories. The mythical universe of Shadow's Fall comes alive in this book and the reader experiences the best feeling that one could have when reading such a book: you wish you could go there and visit the place for yourself. Higher praise is simply not possible. Green is better known for his fun, romping Deathstalker stories, but this one shows that the author can branch out and write a less traditional story (although in one of the Deathstalker books, there's a couple of chapters which reminded me of Shadow's Fall). All in all, a good story and highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I always thought this place existed...., January 24, 2000

By 

Chris Gladis "Chris" (Osaka, JAPAN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadows Fall (Paperback)

Very, very few books can make me get that "choked up" feeling at all, but this one managed to do it within the first chapter. That in and of itself is an accomplishment. Simon Green paints Shadows Fall as a wonderful way station between here and the hereafter, a place where anything is possible. He makes it a wonderful place where we would all like to visit... and then tears it apart. There are lots of intricate plots weaving around each other, and he doesn't pull any punches with the story, either - good characters don't make it all the way through the book. But it's okay, because it's done well. This is easily one of my favorites that Simon has done, and I wish I could read more about this strange and wonderful town....