Shadow's Lure (Shadow Saga, #2) in Q&A with Jon Sprunk

Mar 11, 2011 seak rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-review, 2011

I love assassins! I'll not go into the same discussion from my review of Shadow's Son, but by golly those guys are cool and Jon Sprunk is an assassin master.

Shadow's Lure is the second volume in the Shadow Saga as I mentioned before, beginning with Shadow's Son. It's full of assassins, magic, and tons of action. Did I mention TONS OF ACTION!

Shadow's Lure takes up the story almost directly after Shadow's Son. Caim, our fearless assassin, is headed north to the dangerous northlands, on a mission n I love assassins! I'll not go into the same discussion from my review of Shadow's Son, but by golly those guys are cool and Jon Sprunk is an assassin master.

Shadow's Lure is the second volume in the Shadow Saga as I mentioned before, beginning with Shadow's Son. It's full of assassins, magic, and tons of action. Did I mention TONS OF ACTION!

Shadow's Lure takes up the story almost directly after Shadow's Son. Caim, our fearless assassin, is headed north to the dangerous northlands, on a mission not even he yet knows about. Josey has taken over the throne in Othir as empress amidst protests of the True Church. In Shadow's Lure, there is also an added point of view, also in third-person limited, in the witch Sybelle who is the right hand man woman of the new Duke of the North who is attempting to unite the north through subjugation.

While I enjoyed Josey's part in Shadow's Son, I really had a good time with her sections in Shadow's Lure. It was filled with political intrigue and dastardly characters trying to take advantage of her naivete, not least among them, members of the True Church.

Some of the minor problems I had, and the reason for a 4 instead of a 5 star rating, was the fact that (***Minor spoiler warning***) Kit, Caim's invisible Fae partner, is absent from Caim for much of the book. Hence, the fun, witty banter isn't as prevalent as in Shadow's Son. But then again, her parts in the book end up giving us a glimpse of what all this world Jon Sprunk's created has to offer.

I mentioned in my last review that I was really interested, after reading Shadow's Son, to find out more about the Shadow realm. There are lots of hints, but not a lot of solid facts. In Shadow's Lure, we find out much more about this mysterious place, although it is still mostly a mystery.

The magic system in this series is really impressive drawing from this shadow realm and actually using shadows as the magic. There are lots of fantasy books/series that involve shadows, but I'd never seen one that actually uses the shadows for anything from healing to torture and even fighting. What a great concept that's used in a really unique way.

Why Read Shadow's Lure?

Shadow's Lure is sword and sorcery at its best. Fast-paced, filled with action and realistic characters, and of course...assassins! If you like Brent Weeks or Paul Kearney, you'll really enjoy this series.

4 out of 5 Stars (Loved it!) ...more

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Nov 16, 2010 Melissa Hayden rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

Caim's traveling to the snow covered rebellious North to see if he can find "her" or more about "her" as Levictus mentioned at the end of Shadow's Son she was up North somewhere. The land he left when he was eight after that horrid night that haunts Caim's dreams still. Caim travels light, with his usual weapons, the dark sword that was waiting for him at Kas's cabin, and the personal journal of Arch-priest Vassili. Caim finds himself fighting with untrained men at his back, yet still alone as K Caim's traveling to the snow covered rebellious North to see if he can find "her" or more about "her" as Levictus mentioned at the end of Shadow's Son she was up North somewhere. The land he left when he was eight after that horrid night that haunts Caim's dreams still. Caim travels light, with his usual weapons, the dark sword that was waiting for him at Kas's cabin, and the personal journal of Arch-priest Vassili. Caim finds himself fighting with untrained men at his back, yet still alone as Kit disappears. Yet what Kit has to learn could come in handy as well.

Josey has come into the seat of Empress as her blood right is, but is still learning and tending with the reminder of how she got here. With the Church over thrown and the new order short on funds some Nobles have started to take advantage of a weakened moment and harass each other along with banditry increasing. Josey seems to be sitting as a figure head, but she speaks up with a solution to problems and starts to take control for her subjects. There is a creature sent to assassinate Josey and has her running around to stay alive and find the assassin along with who sent it.

Quickly in the first Chapter we are reminded of the character strength in Caim. Although we get a small feeling he is tired and a little run down. In these moments we get the reminder of things and people important in his life. Wonderful start off the bat here. I remember where things left off as this refreshes easily and opens doors to more possibilities simultaneously. Makes me want to know more.

We follow two basic story lines in this book. One of Caim in the north fighting with the rebels against the duke and his witch, then with Josey as she fights for her life and tries to find her would be assassin. I enjoy both lines greatly! Josey's story line shows to me how greatly in strength her character grows. There is a great amount going on in both story lines and in the end start to tie together. In doing this we do follow a few different point of views. This is well done with Caim and Josey. Even Kit has her own view point in this book as well.

Then we meet our new characters in the series. We do follow a view point from the witch Sybelle as well. Which really starts to give us a view into the Shadows side of things. There is many interesting things to learn here. And many North clan men make the roaster as well. A few seem to become bigger players in the end. And I look forward to see where all the characters, new and old, go with Caim in the next book.

The world created here expands in this book. We get to see more from the broken Northern side, the crumbling of Othir, and new worlds that seem to be of a fey type origin. We have Kit's world and the Shadow world. I like these glimpses and still want more.

Oh, I'll be watching for the third installment of this series to come along. I WANT to read more of what is hidden in the shadows for Caim, Kit, Josey, and many others. ...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Eric rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a solid second book, and a solid 4 stars. I enjoyed the building of the main character and his relationships. I suspect there are a number of threads in the story that will come back together in the final book.

If you've not started this series - go and get the first one and get started! You'll need the first one as this could stand alone, but probably shouldn't. Once you get the first one you'll go right into this and straight on to the end.

I'm looking forward to the next one! ...more

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