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The Shadow Of The Lion

The Shadow Of The Lion

List Price: $7.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Well Woven Story with an Abundance of Vivid Details
Review: The Shadow of the Lion in the first novel in the Heirs of Alexandria series. In 415 AD, the librarian Hypatia faced down a mob attempting to burn the Library of Alexandria. Her efforts saved many obscure works of the ancients, including a number of very powerful magical works. Although originally a neo-platonic philosopher, Hypatia was converted to Christianity and became the founder of an order dedicated to Christian magery, opposing the anti-magic biases of the Pauline Orders.

In 1537 AD, within this alternate timeline, all of Europe is threatened by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland, whose Grand Duke Jagiellon is a puppet of the demon-lord Chernobog. Emperor Charles Frederik of the Holy Roman Empire is the principal European leader of the opposition to Chernobog. The Knights of the Holy Trinity are supposedly his main agents in the Baltic regions, but they have their own agenda and have developed ties with the militant and unpredictable priestly order of the Servants of the Holy Trinity.

The Venetian Republic is the Queen of the Mediterranean, a bastion of independence and tolerance. Now forces are gathering in and around Venice. From Chernobog comes a shapechanged shaman to lurk in the lagoon and canals. From the Knights of the Holy Trinity comes a force of Knots and a few Sots; included among these knights are Manfred of Brittany, nephew of Charles Frederik, and his mentor Erik. And from the Grand Metropolitan of Rome come the Basque priest Eneko Lopez and his companions.

In this novel, Marco and Benito Valdosta are grandsons of Enrico Dell'este, the Old Fox, Lord of Ferrara, Modena, Este, and Reggio nell'Emilia. Moreover, Benito is the illegitimate son of Carlo Sforza, the Wolf of the North, military leader of the Milanese forces. Although both brothers were thought dead after their mother was assassinated, they have been hiding within the Venetian environs, Marco among the marsh-dwellers and Benito among the street people. After an assassin attacks Marco in the harbor, the brothers seek the protection of Caesare Aldanto, an adventurer and former Montagnard assassin.

When Caesare becomes sick, Marco and Benito help Maria Garavelli, his lover, take Caesare home and treat his fever. Maria is a canaler who was born and raised on her gondola; after her mother died of a fever, Maria assumed her mother's customers and route. Maria is related to many of the Arsenalotti, the families who traditionally work at the municipal shipyard.

Benito has lately done work for Katherine Montescue, the last scion of an old Venetian family who has fallen on hard times. Kat has established a gray business smuggling magical artifacts and other magical goods with her gondola. Recently she has become friends with Franscesca De Chevreuse, a courtesan who becomes the mistress of Manfred.

In this story, the Doge has reduced his opposition to religious persecution by the Sots and other Christian fanatics and the Sots have taken advantage of his recent slackness, stepping up their persecution of the Stegas and other non-Christian mages. In fact, they are very much opposed to even Christian mages such as the Siblings of St. Hypatia. The Sots have recently brought a powerful pagan artifact to the Imperial Embassy (unknowingly under the fearful eyes of Kat and Benito) and have performed questionable magical rites therein.

The Montagnards are also becoming more active in Venice and have recently tried to terminate Caesare with extreme prejudice. The magical population of Venice have noticed that some of the Sots (as well as a few Knots) are tainted and thus the undines and other pagan entities have been staying away from the embassy. The Stegas have become more disorganized, but also more militant, and have been searching for one of their leaders, Dottore Luciano Marina, who disappeared several years past under dark circumstances; Eneko is also trying to discover the status of Dottore Marina. Meanwhile, Marco is being pressured from all sides to accept his mage talents.

The story is a major alternative history of Venice. The rich details of the historical Venice are intermixed with a fantastic extrapolation of the existence of real magic in this timeline. For the most part, the magic is part of the background, but it also pervades every aspect of Venetian life. An amazing tour de force!

The story is multi-threaded, with a fairly large set of characters (it does include a list of characters and other information in the appendices). This may cause some confusion about the minor characters during the frequent scene changes, but the main characters are memorable and fairly well fleshed out. However, there is plenty of room for character development in the sequel, This Rough Magic.

Highly recommended for Lackey, Flint and Freer fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high magic, political intrigue, and Renaissance society with a touch of romance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Intricate and engrossing
Review: This book does have a slow start, but I found it deeply engrossing after a brief period of becoming familiar with the characters. The cast is extensive but well put together and filled with plots and sub-plots. The Venetian setting was new to me, and I quite enjoyed getting lost in it as well as picking up some of the actual history and culture of the place. This book is certainly an alternate history more than a fantasy or science fiction, a point which may disappoint some of the author's fans. If you're looking for a light read, look elsewhere. However, I recommend this one for those in the mood for a deep, rich adventure with everything from political intrigue to magic.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: History... only different
Review: This book has all the earmarks of Mercedes Lackey's usual work. The characters begin their story as the underdogs, abused and downtrodden and fearful; as the tale unfolds, they mature, stronger for the trials they pass through. The mood is dark but not oppressing, the magic obeys laws without losing its wonder. Venice and its allies and enemies are recognisable, the world the story represents only slightly out of sync with accepted history.

Humor has its moments in the story, subtle in flavour but there; nowhere does this tale bog down in depression, despite the fact that some of the characters do their damnedest to achieve that state.

The many viewpoints are well-represented, and not terribly disturbing, although the occasional scene is repeatedly told. I prefer finding out with the lead character; I like surprises, not foreknowledge. Despite this, I enjoyed reading this book and eagerly await further collaborations by this trio.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Weak
Review: This book was disappointing. It has too many major characters that are inadequately developed and too many plot lines to follow. The magic is an awkward add-in that the book could well have been written without.

The first half of the book's plot, several of the characters, and the setting closely resemble one of C. J. Cherryh's Merovingian Nights stories, which was much better.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not entirely original
Review: This novel borrows substantial character and plot material from the Merovingen Nights series (C.J. Cherryh, et al.), but with some new characters and situations. The setting has been moved to 16th century Venice, although in an alternate timeline where the Library at Alexandria was saved, and where magic exists along with demons. People are caught up in political struggles between rival empires, city states, and rival families, with vendettas and assassinations being common. All of that is complicated by demons from the underworld trying to take control and feed on people's souls.

The setting is not entirely clear at the beginning, and it is necessary to read a few chapters to get a clear picture of the situation. After that, the story becomes more interesting. It was easy to set aside while reading the early chapters, but I stayed up late to finish the book when I reached the final chapers. Overall, an interesting story.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not entirely original
Review: This novel borrows substantial character and plot material from the Merovingen Nights series (C.J. Cherryh, et al.), but with some new characters and situations. The setting has been moved to 16th century Venice, although in an alternate timeline where the Library at Alexandria was saved, and where magic exists along with demons. People are caught up in political struggles between rival empires, city states, and rival families, with vendettas and assassinations being common. All of that is complicated by demons from the underworld trying to take control and feed on people's souls.

The setting is not entirely clear at the beginning, and it is necessary to read a few chapters to get a clear picture of the situation. After that, the story becomes more interesting. It was easy to set aside while reading the early chapters, but I stayed up late to finish the book when I reached the final chapers. Overall, an interesting story.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Nicely Written!
Review: This was a great book, thought I had the worst time figuring out what was going on in the beginning. Once I figured out what everything was (thank GOD for the glossary!) it was an easy read, and I shot through it. The plot was beautifully written, if complicated, and the description of the monsters so eerie I got goosebumps-- everything was magnificent until the end. I can't quite figure out how they managed to botch it, but I was left with a complete sense of dissatisfaction. It seemed far, far too easily resolved considering how long it took to read the book! It was good in that it was unpredictable, but bad in that NOTHING that you WANTED to happen, HAPPENED. You'd be led with the expectation that certain things were gonna go down, and if they did (and far too many didn't) they either went down in a big fat mess, or they went down far too easily. There is no way this book can stand alone. It will have to be part of a series, otherwise it was completely pointless. Don't buy it till it hits paperback.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: cognitive dissonance alert ! (or rehash is just hash)
Review: Two stars ONLY because it's not a bad book, as long as you're not a Merovingen Nights fan.
If you are, too bad. SOL's basic plot and characters, as well as incidents major and minor, are lifted straight out of the previous series. A few minor adjustments to adapt it to a setting in an "alternate Italian Renaissance" instead of the wonderful complex world of MN didn't improve the story at all.
It's the same thing, a little more predictable and considerably dumbed down.
If you enjoyed the first version, this one will just annoy you with pitiful attempts to change enough details to pretend it's not just hashing over the book you've already read.
If you haven't read the original, this book will just spoil it for you.
Bad idea-whether it was the author's or the publisher's, it was just a bad idea.
Shame on you!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This is not a normal Mercedes Lackey book.
Review: When I read a Mercedes Lackey book I expect to care about what happens to *someone* in the book. There was no one here who was 'real' enough to care about. The people all felt like shadows, without true substance (or reasons) to their actions. I couldn't find reasons to cheer for anyone. One problem is there were too many people to follow easily. Since there were so many none of them were drawn richly enough to draw me into their world.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A book that long? Are you kidding me?
Review: Yep, that was my reaction when I first heard of the girth of this book. I tend to believe that if you can't write a good story under 600 pages or a very little bit more, you can't write a good story period. I stopped picking up any book over 600 pages by authors I didn't already like years ago. And even though I really like the work of Lackey, Flint, and Freer, it did take me a few weeks to go get it and then read it. I read it in about two and a half days, a better pace than many a book half it's length. The characters are all worth reading about no matter who you feel most drawn to. The world is a little harder to adjust to than the run of the mill (DRECK!!) stuff that is usually based on northern European mythology where English is the norm and German and French are thrown in for 'culture' and 'scope'. Not only a good read but it has put any follow-on's into the top portion of my must-buy list.


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