Surprised by the Fanfare

I’m taken aback by how emphatically enthusiastic the reviews of this book have been. As so many of the other reviewers here mention, I was pulled in by the comparison to Robert Jordan. The story was generally entertaining, but I did have specific issues. (1) I felt the characters lacked depth and pathos. There was no one I felt emotionally invested in. (2) The story was surprisingly and consistently violent. Whole leagues of bodies, some with the heads of the adults re-attached to children. Stabbing up into people’s brains. Cutting people’s private parts out while they are alive and screaming. It was difficult to listen to, and weighed more and more heavily on me as the story progressed. (3) I understand that there is nothing new under the sun, and the overall story was quite different than other books. That being said, some of the points echoed a little too strongly back to Wheel of Time: shadowy bad creatures with dark cloaks that don’t move in the wind, a sword that is not a sword, core character(s) that are reincarnations of major historical legends. Laman (spelled here as Laiman) is not the king, but the king’s chief advisor. I found these repetitions distracting. (4) The actions of some of the characters were extremely implausible.

During the majority of the story it was entertaining enough, and while I grew more disengaged as it progressed, it still kept me through to the end. I may even consider giving the second book a go, although right now I’m uncertain. If you’re a fantasy fan and having trouble finding something to read, and can handle a fair amount of violent images, you may enjoy this; it certainly seems that the vast majority of readers are.

276 people found this helpful

Maybe a fun read for someone younger

I think the author probably thinks he's written a clever story with lots of twists and turns, and a big reveal at the end. I'm sorry to say the plot is actually quite incoherent, the characters are not interesting, their dialogue is stilted, the descriptions of their thoughts, feelings, and reactions are blunt and obvious, leaving little to the readers discretion or imagination. The magic is not interesting, the plot is incoherent and terrible. Michael Kramer does a fine job reading, but that's pretty much irrelevant given what he's reading.

As a fan of NOTW, WoT, LOTR, HP, and many other fantasy series, the high volume of positive reader reviews this book has received had me very excited. I'm very disappointed, and can only conclude that this book mostly appeals to teenagers and big fans of YA who don't particularly need strong character development to be entertained, and who don't care about reading (or listening to) terrible dialogue and prose. If those things aren't important to you, then maybe you won't mind reading this book.

269 people found this helpful

Atrocious. Almost abusive.

There are 2 major deal-breaker violations at play in this author-audience relationship. There are a decent few recording and really distracting grammar errors, but I'm not talking about those.

First and foremost: This series is structurally far more complex than the 'landmark high-complexity' series in this genre (such as Stormlight Archive, etc). Meaning, you are given several times as many character names with vital roles and locations along with their geography, power, & political mechanics to memorize... which is FINE... when well written. - These are by far the worst presented complexities I've ever seen in a successful series. - You don't know what anybody looks like, no reason to care what their names are, no demarkation of any kind by which to remember them amidst the pool of 100 other 5-random-syllable names. - That alone makes the series functionally useless as an audiobook. In text at least you can see the letters of the names pop out for visual recognition. In audio, it's just random streams of meaningless syllables since you were never given reason to invest in or care about the vast majority of vital-role characters.

When you launch your aspirations for complexity this high, you inherit a massive obligation to clarity that simple stories do not carry. You are responsible for introducing cultural differences and landmarks in ways that matter and instill memory like the cultural introductions in LOTR or the landmark histories in Riyeria... not to murmur them once in passing then refer back to dozens of them endlessly as if we were all computers taking dictation.

For the record, The Emperor's Blades is a trilogy in exactly this space that involves nearly the same number of characters, with different names, cultures, religions, continents, and magic systems, and nails clarity perfectly. Go there. The author did the actual story work. You'll LOVE IT. It can be done, and it's nothing short of amazing when it is.

Second: He presents recaps of the prior books... including almost endless information that absolutely wasn't in the previous books. - Meaning: You get to book 3... and the author basically says: Here's what happened in the past... then proceeds to tell you about the book he thinks he's written... including endless information about the world of the priors, that absolutely wasn't in the books. Basically saying, 'I infer these things as the author... so I imagine they made it onto the page.' - They didn't. And you may think that clarifies things... but with the sheer volume of "recap"... which is basically a firehose of names and locations that you couldn't have possibly imprinted the first time... you're no better off than if you just stopped the recap, and started the series over again to see if the information was more retainable from the starting line... which I did... twice... over 3 years... because I couldn't believe the reviews on here. It's sort of like if the recap of Star Wars told you: As you know from having just watched it... Luke flunked out of math class because of the calculator incident... and Baleraform was always the best planet for manufacturing batteries because of the bounty of the following list of chemicals... please try to remember their names as there will definitely be a test: Chlominate, Lindarious-Phazon, Ascilium Scillicate, Renart.... etc. etc.

You are being gaslit while being assigned endless homework. Which isn't as fun as it sounds.

242 people found this helpful

The whole trilogy is fantastic

No spoilers:

As someone who has at least sampled every highly rated fantasy book series, I'm extremely picky. I need originality. I need good character development. I need good dialog. I need intelligent plotlines. And for a series, I need a satisfying plot arc. It's incredibly rare to find a series that has all these things. The Licanius Trilogy delivers, across the board.

This might be the single most satisfying series plot arc I've ever experienced. Masterfully done.

Do yourself a favor: stop reading reviews which may contain spoilers. Get all three books, and prepare yourself for a phenomenal ride.

215 people found this helpful

Brilliant!

Any additional comments?

I read many reviews comparing The Shadow of What Was Lost to Robert Jordan's work. I was almost offended that a new author would be compared to the legendary Jordan. However, after listening to this fantastic debut, I must grudgingly agree with the other reviewers. Many aspects of the world Islington created are indeed similar to The Wheel of Time. However, the story feels very original and I don't feel this is just a copy of Jordan's work.

You will instantly find yourself caring for the characters. The story flows smoothly and the ending instantly makes you want to find the sequel. There are quite a few unanswered questions which I have been speculating on daily since I finished listening. I hope we get some answers in the next installment.

I do have two minor complaints (small enough not to reduce the 5-star rating). The first is I would have liked more physical descriptions of the main characters. There weren't enough physical descriptors to build a good picture of the characters in my mind's eye. The other complaint is that this is only planned as a trilogy. Just with the story lines already started, I could easily see 5 - 6 books without the story dragging. I'm hoping Islington creates another trilogy set in the same world after The Licanius Trilogy is complete.

Michael Kramer, as always, was absolutely superb.

138 people found this helpful

Interesting, if a bit overwrought

I'll confess that this is one of the few times I've can say that an online ad caught my attention. Adverts for this book started showing up in my Facebook feed with the promise that fans of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson would enjoy it. That was enough to get me to take a look, but it was ultimately finding that Michael Kramer, audiobook narrator of Jordan's Wheel of Time and Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series that convinced me to make the purchase.

Islington has certainly studied and taken to heart the style of Jordan and Sanderson, and I appreciated that aspect of the storytelling. One difference is that he is less of a world builder - giving enough background, history, and setting to give context to the story he wants to tells. There are no six page descriptions of every last meal, nor page long genealogies of random characters that we pass by in a hallway one time.

That said, the story does getting overwhelmed somewhat by introducing many major characters and taking them in several directions very quickly. This makes the climax rather more tedious than it should be as all the points of view have to come together at the end. This final section is what ultimately lead me to give this a three star instead of four star rating.

Still, being honest, Jordan's and Sanderson's first works weren't perfect. Islington has produced an interesting world and characters. The epilogue provides a promising look at where this story can go and I'm hooked enough to see how it plays out. I would indeed recommend this to fans of Jordan and Sanderson, with the caveat that we're catching a promising author at his beginning, so it is somewhat unfair to expect him to yet be matching these other authors at their mature best.

124 people found this helpful

Still confused...

Who is the hero? Who is the villain? What year is it? Is this a flashback? Is this group bad? Is that group good? Whats the differen e between essence and khan? Where are they at now? Basically, this book needs refinement.

112 people found this helpful

Time travel done right

I edited this review after reading the final entry in the series. All the frustration and idiocy I found in this book was due to a lack of info. These books intentionally confuse and disorient which I couldnt accept til I knew WHY. Push through to the final entry, it was worth it.

104 people found this helpful

A good start, but not for everyone.

I read many reviews before I bought this book and it was about what I expected. Many people compare this book to Sanderson or Jordan, but while there are similarities I would not say everyone would like both. The book is well written, but it just seems that it is only a set up for the next book. I was a little aggravated at the amount of prophesies and confusing parts of conversation in this book. I understand that people keep secrets and everything, but it is aggravating when every few chapters you are given some cryptic message or a secret that they will understand when the time comes. Other than my few gripes I would say the book is good even if it is a bit confusing at times.

Michael Kramer does a wonderful job narrating as always.

99 people found this helpful

James Islington Has A Great Epic Here

What did you love best about The Shadow of What Was Lost?

I liked the ways the characters moved smoothly and the constant build up of broadening the scope of the story. When they make shadows out of the special people and how the story comes together. It's hard not to want to hear one more hours on your Kindle.

What did you like best about this story?

The surprising Heros. The new mythical world that comes to life and seems so real. I don't want to spoil the book. If you like Sanderson or any other great epic books of adventure. You will love this. James Islington Has story telling talent.

What does Michael Kramer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He's good and I guess he's perfect for long story's. But for me he has little dramatic training. Still for the work and length I still give him 5 star. Great job but limited vocal range. He's a master with the vocal he has to use. In fact he's better in this than Sanderson Way of kings.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A New Mythical World You will Never Forget

Any additional comments?

I just say thank you for books like these. They really are worth having a audible membership.

62 people found this helpful