Shadowplay: Shadowmarch Volume II (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: storm lantern, jack chain, white hounds, Ferras Vansen, Hendon Tolly, Golden One (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While juggling a complex epic fantasy plot may be child's play for veteran word-wizard Williams (Otherland), the bewildered star players of the fine second volume in his Shadowmarch trilogy must deal with a very adult world being transformed by war, magic, secrets and a weird, powerful scrying-mirror. Back in Southmarch, Hendon Tolly has usurped the throne, while King Olin's held in captivity in Hierosol. Olin's young twins, Princess Briony and Prince Barrick Eddon, struggle to survive in exile on separate but equally perilous paths. Barrick's trapped behind the Shadowline with Capt. Ferras Vansen; Gyir the Storm Lantern, a formidable, faceless fairy; and Skurn, a quirky talking raven. Briony's helped by a forest demigoddess and winds up with a band of endangered traveling thespians. Though the pace lags at times, bestseller Williams once again delivers a sweeping spellbinder full of mystical wonder. Author tour. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

The Marches, the Shadowlands, and everywhere else are menaced by ever bloodier conflicts that at least prevent old gods from returning. Humans, elves, and fairies (none cute, though often intelligent allies) are all in it together, and much-tried King Olin, going from one captivity to another, maintains the saga's focus. Meanwhile, his son Prince Bettrick learns that being relieved of one hand doesn't relieve him of duties, and daughter Princess Briony steadily becomes the standout in an exceedingly large cast. Requiring slogging some to find the good spots, Shadowplay still rouses curiosity about what will happen next, especially for readers of Shadowmarch (2004). Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: DAW; Reprint edition (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756405440
• ISBN-13: 978-0756405441
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #88,896 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He just keeps getting better...., April 22, 2007

By	E. McNeil (Vienna, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shadowplay (Shadowmarch, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

I read the first book in this trilogy and enjoyed it, but sometimes the second book in a trilogy falls flat. Not so with this, it was even better! What a feat. Very entertaining, great plot lines and character development. Also, a good balance of some characters in "traveling" mode and others progressing in plot from one general location. Many Fantasy books overdo the travelling from one place to another. Also, in these long books, I often spend time flipping through the pages of filler, conversations and other types that just go nowhere. Not with this one. I enjoyed every page. I was truly sorry when it ended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Improvement Over the First Book in the Trilogy, May 9, 2008

By	EquesNiger (Prague, Czech Republic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shadowplay: Shadowmarch Volume II (English and German Edition) (Paperback)

Author Tad Williams' second installment in the Shadowmarch trilogy shows definite improvement over the first, the latter of which left me somewhat unimpressed.

Here, Briony continues her flight from Southmarch and the family who have all but usurped her family's throne. In the process, she's rescued from starvation and the predations of the wilderness by a demigoddess (somewhat reminiscent of Geloe, of "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn"), eventually joining up with a traveling troupe of entertainers whose day job may be acting, but some of whose members have a more cloak-and-dagger midnight shift. Barrick travels with Capt. Vansen and Gyir, the latter bizarre by even fairy standards, and has an unfortunate meeting with a demigod of his own. We encounter captive King Olin at last, a prisoner in a reputedly impregnable city, as the mad Autarch batters at the walls, putting the city's claim to the test. Finally, the Minstrel Tinwright, ever the opportunist, finds being court minstrel to the usurpers a bit more dangerous than he thought, especially since he becomes romantically entangled with the concubine of one of the more ruthless of them - a lady who asks Tinwright to assist her in escaping her captor through death. The mysterious fairy folk, called the Qar, have all but vanished into the city surrounding Southmarch castle - their presence undetected, but the castle under siege nonetheless.

William's character development picks up in this second installment, and it's a welcome change from the first. While Barrick continues to be as annoying and whiny as in the first, Briony comes into her own and is turning into quite an interesting character - not at all the minor role I expected her to play. Tinwright, though unctuous and opportunistic, finds himself squirming in a trap of his own making - and is also proving to be one of the more interesting characters in the series, his moral ambiguity belying the tendency of William's characters to be somewhat two dimensional as regards their morality. Less emphasis is placed on the Qar, with the exception of Gyir, perhaps the most interesting of the Qar aside from the changeling Kayyin, formerly the halfwit Gil. This lack of focus actually benefits the story, as I never found the fairy army a particularly menacing threat from the beginning. The shift in focus in book two from the Funderlings to the sea people is also a benefit, the Funderlings being a bit too much rock-candy-coated Oompa-Loompas compared to the ambivalent natures of the sea folk. Still weak are the Autarch, whose Nero/Caligula-esque behavior seems all too much stock fare relative to someone of Williams' talent, and Chert, the hen-pecked Funderling who seems more a dwarven version of "Step-and-Fetch-It" to be truly credible beyond a fantasy allegory to the old negro stereotype.

All said, a strong follow-up to a weak beginning. Here's hoping the final book follows suit.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great, complex epic: will draw you further in..., March 18, 2007

By	Dr Tedde M. Rinker (Redwood City, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Shadowplay (Shadowmarch, Vol. 2) (Hardcover)

The wonderful pleasure in reading Tad Williams books is in knowing the characters, all with such complexity and depth, with the stamps of their many fantastic cultures, and to see them develop and unfold and weave into each other's destinies. What a feat, and what a feast for the reader! Even characters one can't help but want to slap into shape a bit will get under your skin, so that you will somehow want them to survive. And the villians are the most enigmatic, repulsive and deeply mystical creatures yet. When compared to the Dragonbone series, it seems these Sidhi had a similiar origin on the same fantasy planet but a different, darker evolutionary pathway. It was a wonderful read, over too soon, and as Williams does, we are left with many questions and worries about our beloved characters, and unquenched apprehension about the unstoppable tyrannies and simmering betrayals to come. I hope he doesn't take too long with that next one...