During the mid 90s, the Shadowrun franchise was at its pinnacle of popularity. Spearheaded by a very detailed combat system, the gothic cyper-punk world blended with dungeons and dragons captured the imagination of many people. In the midst SR's popularity they released a series of paperback novels which had moderate to decent success on the book market. Many of the stories were self contained but brilliant.
Enter the "Dragon Heart Saga", a series of three books which served as a jumping point in the world of Shadowrun. Scribed by Jak Koke, the trilogy has the gritty dark feeling that accompanies the fantastic setting of the 6th world. "Beyond the Pale" is the third and final book of the trilogy.
The book takes place weeks after the assassination of the great dragon Dunkelzahn. At the beginning of the trilogy the influential wyrm wins the presidential election to become the leader of the UCAS, becoming the world's first metahuman president in the process. The dragon's death leaves a great vacuum within the Shadowrun's power structure as numerous sourcebooks and other paperback novels will make reference to the events which unfolded in this trilogy.
Beyond the Pale explores the events that happen behind the scenes after the death of Dunklezahn. The book's main character Ryan Mercury, who we think at the time, is a physical adapt and his team of Shadowrunners. The book also contains appearances by Harlequin, one of the few famous figures in the 6th world. As I said earlier in the review, Koke's writing is very fitting of the subject material as he touches upon subjects which are more mature in nature such as blood magic, sexuality, mass deaths, dark arcane magic, and so forth. During the mid 1990s, these subjects were still taboo as most people were still being force fed with PG13 cartoon over all forms of media. Koke's writing is also intellectual and stays within the boundaries of the English language without dwelling to much into the vernacular of the Shadowrun universe. He wastes no words and does a great job blending in scenic detail, similes, yet gets to the point in his wording. The story is written from the perspective of three characters that interchange through the story. The first is through the eyes of Ryan Mercury, the second through the spirit Lethe, and the third through a manipulated being named Lucero. In the end Koke builds up the characterization of Lethe and Lucero very nicely and although reading through their perspectives can be boring at times, it all times up nicely.
My only problem was the book was that the dialogue was not strong. Most of the conversations between Ryan and his team were very fundamental and the personalities of some of the characters reminded me of card board boxes. The only character who was interesting beyond their physical appearance, fighting ability, or archetype was Harlequin.
Aside from that I love the way Koke pays homage to the Count of Monte Cristo by using the Chateau d'If as one of the settings points of the story.
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Top reviews from other countries
Gordon MacDougall
Well paced plot. spoiler warning
Reviewed in Canada on July 29, 2018
