A review by egelantier
Shadow Magic by Danielle Bennett, Jaida Jones

4.0

a sort of sideways sequel to havemercy, better written and better planned out: still bears it's slashfic roots proudly, still won't pass bechdell test for love or money, but also is immensely readable and enjoyable: i've devoured it in a day and wouldn't mind rereading some day. does the two storylines, four povs thing again: caius and alcibiades do the 'manic trixter and his straight man' thing and mamore with kouje go on sort of frodo-and-sam like loyalty quest (guess which one i loved more), and their lines all twist and turn together, and meanwhile the empire's fate gets decided. it's relationship rather than plot-driven, and watching them all spark off each other is pretty fascinating. caius with alcibiades' storyline unfolds more gracefully; mamoru with kouje's gets rushed and partially unresolved in the end, which is a great pity; it draws heavily on benkei and minamoto yoshimoto legend (to the point of cleverly namedropping it once, even), but sort of drops one of the crucial moments of it and forgets it without explanation.

i also really loved the descriptions of ke-han the defeated empire, both from defeaters' and defeated sides, clash of customs and explanations, the way amorphous creepy enemy of the first book got humanized and given a face - this is one of the best strengths of the book, and it works well.