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Shadow Dawn (Chronicles of the Shadow War, Book 2)

Shadow Dawn (Chronicles of the Shadow War, Book 2)

List Price: $7.50
Your Price: $7.50
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An OK continuance of the story, but not as good as the first
Review: "Shadow Dawn" continues the new "Willow" saga fairly effectively, but the major problems in the book lie in the abilities of the writer. Overall, the story could've used a bit more polish and a pinch more originality; an entire scene in the book is blatantly stolen from the film "Braveheart," while clumsily palliated in a story-within-the-story. While "Shadow Moon" gave us the future of the Willow saga so many of us had grown to love, "Shadow Dawn" stumbles along until finally reaching a morass of odd story twists and dragged-out characterization.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Hard to put down, but when finished, you've missed something
Review: A fast, easy read. The futher I read the faster I found myself picturing the story. The story is a little complicated with a lot of traveling from one sceen to another and back. It was a good read and though at the ending there was no sense of closure to the book it was still worth the time spent.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great action based book with lots of content
Review: A good book for more mature audiences, it's world is a little confusing to understand at first but as you read more you understand more. The magic and various other myth type ideas make it a very good book for those seeking adventure and even science fiction readers will like it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I don't care what others say...
Review: A much better follow up to the first book, Shadow Star. It seems that Claremont and Lucas now had their bearings and had managed to get their thoughts organized into a comprehensible world where characters we have know since the movie have grown and changed (yet, as the saying goes, still stayed the same), characters we have known since the first book who are now familiar and much clearer in our minds, and new characters who add color to the world.

Thorn (Willow) takes a smaller part than he did in the film and the first book, but that is only because the authors have discovered Elora. She has grown into a fully fledged character and not just the cute baby and bratty child we have known. This is her story and she is conflicted, flawed, carring, and a fully fledged character.

There are people who have disappeared and never reappear, but you almost don't care, as the mystery of the world keeps you wondering and questioning with the rest of the characters as they try to prevent the many worlds from ripping themselves apart, not only internally, but from each other. This makes sense now that the mythology hinted at in the movie and established, however shakily, in the first book is now complete and alive.

Reading it was a joy. There were moments where you will laugh out loud and rip through others as you race from the start of a fight or a chase till its end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who plays Dungeons and Dragons, as some of the sequences just reek of being played out on a table with a twenty-sider and a character sheet.

The ending manages to answer all of the questions critical to this book, while still leaving the more critical ones that hang over the trilogy only partially answered. You will be reaching for the final book the minute you end this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chris Claremont's finest work continues
Review: A very worthy successor to Shadow Dawn, one that makes Chris Claremont's Nicole Shea trilogy pale by comparison. As always, the Claremont trademarks: strong characterization, subtle plot details, epic storytelling in well-crafted chapters. The ending is a surprise -- yet at the same time it makes perfect sense in light of everything that has happened thus far. I eagerly await the conclusion.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Shadow Dawn redeems the Willow saga after shaky start in SM
Review: After Shadow Moon, I was a little nervous about trying Shadow Dawn, but as a fan of the movie Willow, I had to find out what was going to happen next. The pace of this new one was definitely more even, and Claremont was able to paint a clear picture of the action. Elora Danan takes the center stage literally and figuratively; she is the main character of Shadow Dawn instead of Thorn Drumheller, appropriate enough since it is obvious that this trilogy is her story. It also becomes clear how this hunted and hated Sacred Princess is supposed to be the savior of the thirteen realms. This book takes a place on my bookshelf among few other all time favorites.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Shadow Dreck
Review: Alright, credit where credit is due, Claremont has improved some from the frightful start of this trilogy- 'Shadow Moon'- but only just enough so that by the time you realize the novel is going nowhere you've wasted too much time to back out now.

The chapters are still far too dense- a chapter of twenty pages takes nearly three times to wade through what those of a decent book would- most of the new characters introduced are one-dimensional bores and Claremont seems to make it a habit of killing off the few that aren't. On the plus side, Elora has become much more interesting and the few chapters where she's allowed to adventure across the land on her own are by far the best bit of the book. The underlying problem is that this is absolute middle of a storyarc so nothing much happens except what is needed to reenforce what happened in 'Moon' and pave the way to the inevitable showdown in 'Star'. Expect lots of pointless wandering and expository dialogue.

Which brings me to the biggest problem of all: an Epic fantasy requires an Epic villain because, lets face it, Good vs. evil is nowhere near as exciting as Good vs. EVIL, and the story just does not deliver. Instead we are treated to baddies like The Deceiver, who is little more than a glorified zombie, and...wait for it...The Lord Of The Dance. That's right, gasp in shock and awe at the might of a guy who will literally two-step you to your doom. It's books like these that make me sincerely wish there was an emoticon for a smiley repeatedly banging their head against something hard an unyielding- perhaps the skull of whichever of the two collaborative 'geniuses' thought any of this would be a good idea.

Cheer up, there's only one volume to go!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: WoW!
Review: And I thought the Redwall series was good. This book was not only well written but it had an plot as well. i enjoyed the fact that nobody was as they seemed. It keeps you on your toes. Sort of like an X-Files episode.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: New revelations and fast pace will leave you wanting more
Review: As a fan of "Willow" I both enjoyed and hated reading Shadow Moon. But I was so intrigued by Claremont's reversal of chararcters and events that I had to read Shadow Dawn. Again he surprised me with new reversals in character and a fast tempo from the beginning of the book. He also treats readers to new revelations about Elora Danan's role in the binding of the Twelve Realms, Ryn's true identity and relationship to Anakerie, Thorn's feelings for Anakerie, and the identity of the Deceiver in the final chapter. Talk about a cliff hanger! There is no way I am going to miss reading the third book!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Getting better, there's some hope yet
Review: Better than Shadow Moon, but not by too much. The writing has improved, the characters are slightly more believable. But I still get the impression that I've missed something. The ideas flow from the authors faster than they can absorbed by the reader. It's like watching the T.V. with the sound off, you are only getting a portion of what is meant. I commented that the first book, Shadow Moon needed an impartial, unfamiliar editor to ask questions and to fill in the blanks for us. The same goes for Shadow Dawn. I finished the book as unsatisfied as if it had been put down in the middle. Again I ask "What was that all about? What happened?" Maybe part 3 will be better?


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