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tophokles's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Oh wow! This one was even better than the first one. The world and lore got more time, while still focusing very much on the characters and their struggles.
While sceptical in the beginning I ended up really liking the blossoming romance between Drystan and Micah. My favourite character so far is Cyan though.
I really liked the visions of the past, and how alien they seem to Micah and how that was actually reflected in the writing itself. That was pretty neat. I hope the third part delivers on all the mysteries build up here
While sceptical in the beginning I ended up really liking the blossoming romance between Drystan and Micah. My favourite character so far is Cyan though.
I really liked the visions of the past, and how alien they seem to Micah and how that was actually reflected in the writing itself. That was pretty neat. I hope the third part delivers on all the mysteries build up here
lizziethereader's review
3.0
I finally got around to continuing this series and although I like the characters, I'm not sure the story managed to really wow me. There are a lot of really convenient things and although it's supposed to be high-stakes, it doesn't really feel like it. It was okay, but probably not enough for me to want to pick up the next book.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
4.0
Parts of Shadowplay reminded me of The Prestige, with old style illusionists gripped in an ancient grudge. I loved the atmosphere of the theatre and the images conjured up by their performances. Yes, in the first book Micah/Gene ran away to join the circus and now he’s run away to join a magic show. Though life seems a little easier this time round.
Whilst Micah spent a lot of time in Pantomime worrying what other people thought of him, this is much more about acceptance. More people know his secret and everyone is accepting. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling about the story, despite there being darker aspects.
Of course, Micah is still in hiding and desperate to stay out of the reach of the Shadow on his tail. But he also wants to learn more about Kedi and what that means about him. I’m starting to identify Micah/Gene as a young man in my head, because I think that’s how he identifies himself, but there are still aspects of Gene sneaking through, especially in the narrative voice.
The unfolding relationship between Micah and Drystan is lovely and chaste and completely believable. I loved the moments when they curled up in bed together.
It’s a worthy follow up to the utterly fantastic Pantomime. It had a lot to live up to, and like many second books, it’s not quite as good as the first, but if you loved the first book, do carry on and read Shadowplay too. Whilst there is a bit more on the Vestige, I think I wanted more magic, something I suspect we’ll see in the future.
Review copy provided by publisher.
Whilst Micah spent a lot of time in Pantomime worrying what other people thought of him, this is much more about acceptance. More people know his secret and everyone is accepting. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling about the story, despite there being darker aspects.
Of course, Micah is still in hiding and desperate to stay out of the reach of the Shadow on his tail. But he also wants to learn more about Kedi and what that means about him. I’m starting to identify Micah/Gene as a young man in my head, because I think that’s how he identifies himself, but there are still aspects of Gene sneaking through, especially in the narrative voice.
The unfolding relationship between Micah and Drystan is lovely and chaste and completely believable. I loved the moments when they curled up in bed together.
It’s a worthy follow up to the utterly fantastic Pantomime. It had a lot to live up to, and like many second books, it’s not quite as good as the first, but if you loved the first book, do carry on and read Shadowplay too. Whilst there is a bit more on the Vestige, I think I wanted more magic, something I suspect we’ll see in the future.
Review copy provided by publisher.
vorpalblad's review
4.0
Shadowplay is a terrific piece of fiction. Beyond the interesting characters that reveal themselves slowly (we learn a lot more about Drystan's background), Lam has created a fabulous world with three distinct ages. While the story is set in this third age, Lam uses Micah's powers to take us back to prior times, explaining more about the Penglass, the Chimera and the Alders. It's intricate and well done. I would highly recommend this book for a YA audience, but because it is sometimes easier to point at what we don't like as opposed to what we do, I have a couple of bones to pick that dropped a star for me.
Let me say that there is a third book in this trilogy, Masquerade! It's not advertised well online, IMO. The copy of the book I had was published by Strange Chemistry, which shuttered not long after this was published. Unfortunately, I could tell that the greatest care was not taken with editing this book and I hope that Pan Macmillan corrected some of the issues here. Here's an example: Micah follows Cyan to find out more about her. There's a break that then says "A few days later I was up in the gridiron..." and in the following conversation between Cyan and Micah, Cyan says "I know you followed me yesterday." This was one of several examples of discontinuity that don't affect the overall story but are annoying enough as a reader that I marked it down a star. Here's my other concern, and one that Lam doesn't address here, but it's in the back of my mind. Lam has written Gene/Micah as a hermaphroditic character. I think a lot of people were drawn to this series because of the way she handles Micah. But as this book progressed, I got this feeling that Lam, in maybe an early draft, was going to make Micah's physical sexual attributes a part of their magic; then as it was revised she was warned that this wasn't something her audience would love and so there's a whole scene where Micah's unexplored powers, it is explained, have NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. That's exactly how it felt. Like we stepped out of the story and were given this frying-pan-over-the-head explication that despite being called a "Kedi" and the Kedi statue they have having the same attributes that they do, Micah's power has nothing to do with this. While I think that move was necessary to move forward, Lam doesn't seem to have thought it through until the last moment.
Despite these hiccups, I found the premise fascinating and I love the characters. I like Micah's gullibility combined with fearlessness and self-acceptance. I loved the suspenseful chases and nosing in other people's business. I love that these characters, who I root for, sometimes have to deal with the horrible consequences of their choices. And all of those things make this story bigger than the sum of its parts.
Let me say that there is a third book in this trilogy, Masquerade! It's not advertised well online, IMO. The copy of the book I had was published by Strange Chemistry, which shuttered not long after this was published. Unfortunately, I could tell that the greatest care was not taken with editing this book and I hope that Pan Macmillan corrected some of the issues here. Here's an example: Micah follows Cyan to find out more about her. There's a break that then says "A few days later I was up in the gridiron..." and in the following conversation between Cyan and Micah, Cyan says "I know you followed me yesterday." This was one of several examples of discontinuity that don't affect the overall story but are annoying enough as a reader that I marked it down a star. Here's my other concern, and one that Lam doesn't address here, but it's in the back of my mind. Lam has written Gene/Micah as a hermaphroditic character. I think a lot of people were drawn to this series because of the way she handles Micah. But as this book progressed, I got this feeling that Lam, in maybe an early draft, was going to make Micah's physical sexual attributes a part of their magic; then as it was revised she was warned that this wasn't something her audience would love and so there's a whole scene where Micah's unexplored powers, it is explained, have NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR PHYSICAL APPEARANCE. That's exactly how it felt. Like we stepped out of the story and were given this frying-pan-over-the-head explication that despite being called a "Kedi" and the Kedi statue they have having the same attributes that they do, Micah's power has nothing to do with this. While I think that move was necessary to move forward, Lam doesn't seem to have thought it through until the last moment.
Despite these hiccups, I found the premise fascinating and I love the characters. I like Micah's gullibility combined with fearlessness and self-acceptance. I loved the suspenseful chases and nosing in other people's business. I love that these characters, who I root for, sometimes have to deal with the horrible consequences of their choices. And all of those things make this story bigger than the sum of its parts.
aruejohns's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book for the GayYA book club, but I have to say that I really couldn't put it down. Like really, the past four hours should have been homework. Oops. Again, Lam creates brilliant new characters and expands well on the ones she's already designed. Definitely looking forward to book three.
gbliss's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointing.
I know I should not speculate on the circumstances behind the writing of this and just focus on the finished product, but....
This read like an overly hastily produced sequel, published too quickly. Pantomime was a strong, compelling, character-driven story with just the right dose and dash of the supernatural. The strongest parts were those where the characters shined through, particularly the complex and stunning Micah Grey. I was held by the storyline and plot and character development at all times.
Can't say the same about this one.
The plot took way too long to get going. Far too much time was spent on a meandering rehash of what happened in Book #1. A lot more time -- too much -- was spent on the history and "rules" of the story world. The story slowed to a crawl in these data dumps.
And then the trick started appearing: mind reading, body possession, dreams, and more. These felt like quick solutions to plot, narrative, and story challenges...the kind of things that can be resolved when more time is taken to deeply develop a story, but when you are on deadline, that is not an option and hastiness wins the day. The story loses.
Sophomore slump? Here's hoping for redemption in Book 3.
I know I should not speculate on the circumstances behind the writing of this and just focus on the finished product, but....
This read like an overly hastily produced sequel, published too quickly. Pantomime was a strong, compelling, character-driven story with just the right dose and dash of the supernatural. The strongest parts were those where the characters shined through, particularly the complex and stunning Micah Grey. I was held by the storyline and plot and character development at all times.
Can't say the same about this one.
The plot took way too long to get going. Far too much time was spent on a meandering rehash of what happened in Book #1. A lot more time -- too much -- was spent on the history and "rules" of the story world. The story slowed to a crawl in these data dumps.
And then the trick started appearing: mind reading, body possession, dreams, and more. These felt like quick solutions to plot, narrative, and story challenges...the kind of things that can be resolved when more time is taken to deeply develop a story, but when you are on deadline, that is not an option and hastiness wins the day. The story loses.
Sophomore slump? Here's hoping for redemption in Book 3.
blueloris's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so I was excited to read the second one, but I have to say I was disappointed.
Shadowplay abandons the circus setting that I found so interesting in the first book. Instead of Micah continuing to learn the trapeze, he finds himself living with a magician and studying to be an illusionist. He'll probably end up with a musician in the next book and learn to play the lute or something, since picking up new skills seems to be pretty easy for him.
Long portions of the book are spent describing the magic acts Micah sees and performs in, and for me they just stopped the action entirely. Also stopping the forward momentum of the narrative were the numerous flashbacks to the long-forgotten past of their ancestors.
Then there's the whole political unrest angle. Lam is already juggling a lot of fantasy elements here (ooh, maybe Micah will learn to juggle next!) -- mysterious ancestors, dueling magicians, telepathy and magical powers -- not to mention Micah's gender identity/sexuality; she doesn't quite manage to do all these aspects justice. The class/social issues don't feel integrated into the story enough to be of interest. Maybe it will all come together in the next book, which I do intend to read, but this one just seems all over the place.
Shadowplay abandons the circus setting that I found so interesting in the first book. Instead of Micah continuing to learn the trapeze, he finds himself living with a magician and studying to be an illusionist. He'll probably end up with a musician in the next book and learn to play the lute or something, since picking up new skills seems to be pretty easy for him.
Long portions of the book are spent describing the magic acts Micah sees and performs in, and for me they just stopped the action entirely. Also stopping the forward momentum of the narrative were the numerous flashbacks to the long-forgotten past of their ancestors.
Then there's the whole political unrest angle. Lam is already juggling a lot of fantasy elements here (ooh, maybe Micah will learn to juggle next!) -- mysterious ancestors, dueling magicians, telepathy and magical powers -- not to mention Micah's gender identity/sexuality; she doesn't quite manage to do all these aspects justice. The class/social issues don't feel integrated into the story enough to be of interest. Maybe it will all come together in the next book, which I do intend to read, but this one just seems all over the place.
tellingetienne's review
5.0
I loved this follow up to Pantomime. I stayed up FAR too late finishing the book. I'm hooked and I can't wait for the final book in the series to come out next year. Thank god I don't have to wait very long!
daffz's review against another edition
4.0
Shadowplay was almost as magical as it's prequel. I missed the magic of the circus a little but new characters introduced in this book largely made up for that. Micah was still a great character and I loved his relationship with Drystan. There was just a wonderful atmosphere throughout the entire story.
The only thing I have to complain about is that I felt like the backstory and visions were shoehorned in the story a little awkwardly, it didn't flow as well as the rest.
Still, this is a minor thing. I really loved this book and I'll wait anxiously for the next one.
The only thing I have to complain about is that I felt like the backstory and visions were shoehorned in the story a little awkwardly, it didn't flow as well as the rest.
Still, this is a minor thing. I really loved this book and I'll wait anxiously for the next one.