Shadowmarch
I am finding it a bit difficult to find the words to explain this novel since there was just so much going on. But, in the simplest terms, Shadowmarch is about a kingdom that is falling apart because its king is being held captive in a distant land. Matters are made worse when the prince regent Kendrick is killed in his bed, leaving his two troubled younger siblings, (Barrick and Briony), to rule. In effect, the novel is about how the people residing within Southmarch Castle try to navigate through various obstacles, which include war with an ancient enemy and the effects of murder. The novel also surrounds the life of a few other minor characters and their troubles.
Honestly, I didn’t like this book much. There was just too much going on and too many characters to keep track of. (There’s even an appendix at the end with all of their names, which is never a good sign). It was also frustrating to be introduced to characters who were going to be killed a few pages later and to try and remember what happened to a character that hasn’t been mentioned in 50+ pages. Furthermore, a lot of the characters were similar, which made them boring and several were hard to care about. Part of this was because they were flat, part of it was because they were mentioned very little, and part of it was because it was hard to figure out what their point in the narration was. In effect, they seemed like a waste of space.
Furthermore, Williams’ prose is often slow and a bit clunky. He has a tendency to leave out words such as articles and prepositions, which make it hard to follow his thought patterns as well. Finally, the novel is freakishly predictable. I was frustrated by how often I predicted major plot points and was none to thrilled that I stuck the novel out since there wasn’t much of a payoff at the end. Everything is wrapped up and yet left open so that Williams can continue working on the series and filling in more details. Overall, I would say that this series isn’t one worth looking into.