What do you think?
Rate this book
Death's Lady #3
As Shadow, a Light
Sometimes the past does not let go.
Tenai is determined that no one will use her to break the fragile peace of her world, even if that means she must support and defend the son of her bitterest enemy. But set against four hundred years of fury and hatred, that determination may not be enough.
Daniel has come to know far more about Tenai's adversaries than he ever wanted to - more than she knows herself. Forced into unwilling cooperation with these enemies, Daniel must find a way to defy their plans, protect his daughter, and help Tenai overcome the shadows of her past - before it's too late.
Tenai is determined that no one will use her to break the fragile peace of her world, even if that means she must support and defend the son of her bitterest enemy. But set against four hundred years of fury and hatred, that determination may not be enough.
Daniel has come to know far more about Tenai's adversaries than he ever wanted to - more than she knows herself. Forced into unwilling cooperation with these enemies, Daniel must find a way to defy their plans, protect his daughter, and help Tenai overcome the shadows of her past - before it's too late.
- GenresFantasy
433 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 14, 2021
8 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Neumeier
52 books565 followersRachel Neumeier started writing fiction to relax when she was a graduate student and needed a hobby unrelated to her research. Prior to selling her first fantasy novel, she had published only a few articles in venues such as The American Journal of Botany. However, finding that her interests did not lie in research, Rachel left academia and began to let her hobbies take over her life instead.
She now raises and shows dogs, gardens, cooks, and occasionally finds time to read. She works part-time for a tutoring program, though she tutors far more students in Math and Chemistry than in English Composition.
She now raises and shows dogs, gardens, cooks, and occasionally finds time to read. She works part-time for a tutoring program, though she tutors far more students in Math and Chemistry than in English Composition.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 29, 2024
Sometimes I just need to fully dive into a world so utterly devoted to honor and duty and fealty bound up in ceremony and rite that everything in my own life gets pushed back a bit. This is one of those rest point books for me. I’ll probably always come back to it.
November 24, 2024
After the high-tension cliffhanger ending of book 2, this kicks off without a single pause.
Daniel is in the most horrible situation imaginable, forced to betray Tenai, Mitereh, and everyone else he cares for in this world, or else lose his daughter to an unimaginable fate. On the other hand, Jenna and Emel embark on the riskiest cross-country journey ever trying to reach the king and warn him of his secret enemy. In the background, Mitereh, Tenai and the other political chess pieces continue to maneuver on the board of coming warfare.
The two main story threads following Daniel and then Jenna and Emel stay separate for most of the book. The Daniel one is HORRIBLE. It's agonizing and awful. Even after he thinks he's found a way around the magical strictures placed on him, you never KNOW until so late. I was even looking for signs of a secret Oceans 11 fake-out heist being carried out around him, and nothing seemed to be happening until literally the last second. During a few scenes I was close to screaming with pure frustration!
This is the sole reason I have docked a star, and it's not because it's BAD. Just because it hurt my feelings a lot, and I don't know that I would choose to reread this book again for that reason.
The Jenna and Emel plot was much more enjoyable to follow, though still high-stakes. Their escape and falling in with bandits was very interesting, though I do admit that, as someone who has done 10+ years of various martial arts training, I squint a little bit sideways at how effective Jenna's martial arts training is at allowing her to easily kill people with her bare hands. I have to suspend disbelief because I wasn't personally instructed by a supernatural warrior from another dimension. But still, at times it seems like a bit of a stretch.
Jenna and Emel's relationship is nice, such as it is. Like most of the relationships in this book, it exists almost entirely without words. Instead, it is underpinned by a strongly-woven lattice of history, deeds, ritual, and duty. On paper, I support it. In truth, I don't understand it.
This is because the more time I spend with Emel and the more I heard him talk, the more I like him. Jenna, unfortunately, becomes less real and more vaguely stupid the more dialogue she is given. Her inner world narration is FINE, but for some reason every time she has to speak out loud for longer than one sentence, she sounds like an underbaked fifteen-year-old with a too-steady diet of Instagram and TikTok. It's fortunate that the circumstances of the majority of this book forced her to remain mostly laconic.
The denouement was good, primarily because it provided an end to Daniel's suffering. I also, as usual, really liked Mitereh's creative solutions to problems, and how he dispensed both justice and favor in due course to each person involved.
Tenai, if anything, is even more narratively distant in this book than the last one. We hardly know anything that is going on in her mind, or what lies behind any action she takes. This is even true at the end, when SUPPOSEDLY she had been in on the plot the whole time, but then became poisoned with hatred by the recurrence of war and possibly doing a human sacrifice. This is fine, but I wish we had gotten to see a debrief afterward with Daniel. If anything was lacking, it was again the kind of meaningful conversations between characters that were mostly implied to have taken place, but off-screen.
Daniel is in the most horrible situation imaginable, forced to betray Tenai, Mitereh, and everyone else he cares for in this world, or else lose his daughter to an unimaginable fate. On the other hand, Jenna and Emel embark on the riskiest cross-country journey ever trying to reach the king and warn him of his secret enemy. In the background, Mitereh, Tenai and the other political chess pieces continue to maneuver on the board of coming warfare.
The two main story threads following Daniel and then Jenna and Emel stay separate for most of the book. The Daniel one is HORRIBLE. It's agonizing and awful. Even after he thinks he's found a way around the magical strictures placed on him, you never KNOW until so late. I was even looking for signs of a secret Oceans 11 fake-out heist being carried out around him, and nothing seemed to be happening until literally the last second. During a few scenes I was close to screaming with pure frustration!
This is the sole reason I have docked a star, and it's not because it's BAD. Just because it hurt my feelings a lot, and I don't know that I would choose to reread this book again for that reason.
The Jenna and Emel plot was much more enjoyable to follow, though still high-stakes. Their escape and falling in with bandits was very interesting, though I do admit that, as someone who has done 10+ years of various martial arts training, I squint a little bit sideways at how effective Jenna's martial arts training is at allowing her to easily kill people with her bare hands. I have to suspend disbelief because I wasn't personally instructed by a supernatural warrior from another dimension. But still, at times it seems like a bit of a stretch.
Jenna and Emel's relationship is nice, such as it is. Like most of the relationships in this book, it exists almost entirely without words. Instead, it is underpinned by a strongly-woven lattice of history, deeds, ritual, and duty. On paper, I support it. In truth, I don't understand it.
This is because the more time I spend with Emel and the more I heard him talk, the more I like him. Jenna, unfortunately, becomes less real and more vaguely stupid the more dialogue she is given. Her inner world narration is FINE, but for some reason every time she has to speak out loud for longer than one sentence, she sounds like an underbaked fifteen-year-old with a too-steady diet of Instagram and TikTok. It's fortunate that the circumstances of the majority of this book forced her to remain mostly laconic.
The denouement was good, primarily because it provided an end to Daniel's suffering. I also, as usual, really liked Mitereh's creative solutions to problems, and how he dispensed both justice and favor in due course to each person involved.
Tenai, if anything, is even more narratively distant in this book than the last one. We hardly know anything that is going on in her mind, or what lies behind any action she takes. This is even true at the end, when SUPPOSEDLY she had been in on the plot the whole time, but then became poisoned with hatred by the recurrence of war and possibly doing a human sacrifice. This is fine, but I wish we had gotten to see a debrief afterward with Daniel. If anything was lacking, it was again the kind of meaningful conversations between characters that were mostly implied to have taken place, but off-screen.
July 18, 2021
I very much enjoyed this whole trilogy; the final volume was very exciting in parts and brought matters to a satisfactory conclusion. If I had one quibble, it was that Tenai, the most fascinating character, was mostly off-stage: events transpire through the perspective of the father and daughter pulled out of our world. We see Tenai through her effect on other people and events, kind of like the wind of her passing, but are really given no more insight into her motivations than we discovered in the beginning.
August 26, 2024
I enjoyed this more than the previous installment which felt like it was setting up the story. The endings are satisfying. I still struggled a lot with this world. I think the characters just don't engage me and I find them dull (though Daniel and Jenna have grown on me a bit).
December 20, 2022
https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2022/1...
An action-packed finale to the main trilogy in this series—wars, outlaws, prison breaks, etc. I do like the author's sense of humor. There is some business in this one where one of the main characters—the sassy twenty-two year old, who gets to use her martial arts skills quite a bit—dyes her fair skin and blonde hair to better blend in with the locals, and that gave me a little bit of pause. Is that blackface? Can you have blackface in a fantasy world where it has no social/cultural context? She is also threatened with rape a couple times, but see aforementioned martial arts skills. Her dad is also a POV character and undergoes what amounts to psychological torture, so this in general is a little darker than the first two. But balanced with moments of lightness. B+.
An action-packed finale to the main trilogy in this series—wars, outlaws, prison breaks, etc. I do like the author's sense of humor. There is some business in this one where one of the main characters—the sassy twenty-two year old, who gets to use her martial arts skills quite a bit—dyes her fair skin and blonde hair to better blend in with the locals, and that gave me a little bit of pause. Is that blackface? Can you have blackface in a fantasy world where it has no social/cultural context? She is also threatened with rape a couple times, but see aforementioned martial arts skills. Her dad is also a POV character and undergoes what amounts to psychological torture, so this in general is a little darker than the first two. But balanced with moments of lightness. B+.
February 6, 2024
A successful wrap-up of the plot dangled at the end of the previous book as well as the overall arc of Tenai's healing and halting path forward. Both the Daniel strands and the Jenna + Emel strands were quite gripping and exciting in different ways, and the final confrontation-->resolution/reveal-->swerve towards disaster-->full resolution sequence tied things up nicely. Some very scary magic.
February 1, 2025
Many reasonably satisfying themes from Neumeier's work reappear here - the danger of power, the redemption of the honorable ones who thought their honor lost, and of course intense relationships of fealty and devotion. They are handled more deftly in the Tuyo series, but this book was still enjoyable and compelling. The weakest aspect was the character of Jenna, who only rang true about a third of the time (mostly when she was busy doing things and not subjecting us to too much of her internal monologue).
May 19, 2022
Conclusion of the trilogy (though there's a spinoff novel with a different main character coming soon I believe).
Book two had left us on a cliffhanger so this began with high tension and carried it through until the climax. I especially enjoyed Jenna's plotline. This had a longer than usual denouement, which I usually get impatient with, but Daniel had a really hard time this book and needed the extra chapters so I could be sure he would be all right.
Book two had left us on a cliffhanger so this began with high tension and carried it through until the climax. I especially enjoyed Jenna's plotline. This had a longer than usual denouement, which I usually get impatient with, but Daniel had a really hard time this book and needed the extra chapters so I could be sure he would be all right.
October 8, 2021
A good conclusion to the story. The wrap up parts are surprisingly long, and at the same time I thought they would go a bit farther in time. I hope Neumeier does publish the novella she mentioned in the end notes, because I do want to know what they decide. I would also happily take a story about the people they left behind in our world.
February 27, 2022
Another Neumeier masterpiece…
I believe I will likely attempt to read everything she has ever published. I look forward to whatever else her exceptionally creative and lyrical mind and heart produce in this life.
I believe I will likely attempt to read everything she has ever published. I look forward to whatever else her exceptionally creative and lyrical mind and heart produce in this life.
May 21, 2021
See my review of Book 2.
June 14, 2021
Enthralling
This was a beautiful, enthralling series. The story reminds me of Patricia McKillip with the same lyrical, rich voice. Another favorite!
This was a beautiful, enthralling series. The story reminds me of Patricia McKillip with the same lyrical, rich voice. Another favorite!
May 30, 2024
such a great series, as all of Rachel's are! HIghly recommended!
July 22, 2024
Nice conclusion to the main series. I appreciated both POV's being swapped between- overall an enjoyable read!
aestarii's review
aestarii's review
February 28, 2025
Excellent. This series gave me that feeling that I get with so many of Rachel Neumeier's books, where I'm so engrossed in the story that I forget about me. I love it.
The depth of character, the plotting, the fighting, the sneaking: all brilliant. Also, the fact that the characters never do the predictable things.
Oh, and I loved that there was time after the climax to see how the results sat with all of our main characters. (I hate it in other books when everything gets resolved in two sentences and then the book is over.) Despite Rachel Neumeier's generosity in this respect, I still would be happy for more (books and books more) in this world with these characters. I am exceedingly happy to note that a novella is forthcoming!
(A couple other authors that give me similar feelings: Megan Whalen Turner, Sherwood Smith, W. R. Gingell, and Patrick W. Carr.)
The depth of character, the plotting, the fighting, the sneaking: all brilliant. Also, the fact that the characters never do the predictable things.
Oh, and I loved that there was time after the climax to see how the results sat with all of our main characters. (I hate it in other books when everything gets resolved in two sentences and then the book is over.) Despite Rachel Neumeier's generosity in this respect, I still would be happy for more (books and books more) in this world with these characters. I am exceedingly happy to note that a novella is forthcoming!
(A couple other authors that give me similar feelings: Megan Whalen Turner, Sherwood Smith, W. R. Gingell, and Patrick W. Carr.)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews