Suzannah Rowntree's Reviews > Empire of Shadows

I was blown away by how good this was.

EMPIRE OF SHADOWS has a lot going for it, even before you hit the spectacular resolution. Although it's a hefty size, the book feels like reading a fast-paced Hollywood summer blockbuster movie in the vein of INDIANA JONES or THE MUMMY. While it's a cinematic adventurer-archaeology romp, it still crams an impressive amount of cultural, geographical, and historical detail into the story without ever bogging down, and proves that you can tell this kind of story without resorting to tired stereotyping. It evokes the Lady-and-Scoundrel bickering romance trope forged in Golden Age Hollywood and any Harrison Ford movie amazingly well considering how much respect its male lead has for the female lead's boundaries - I adored finally reading a version of this dynamic that didn't make me want to slap the male lead, and I loved that the romance arc was also a really moving friendship arc at the same time.

But then the resolution hit! And I'm thrilled to report that this book has the kind of ending that lifts an already enjoyable book above itself. The final few chapters are TERRIFICALLY well-written, with an intense sense of catharsis and some absolutely delicious cosmic horror stylings. This is not one of those books that sacrifices artistic power for what GK Chesterton once called "a pot of message". Trying to avoid spoilers here, but I thought that I could predict where the story was going but it did a 180 on me in the best POSSIBLE way. I was particularly impressed with how Jackie dealt with one element of ancient MesoAmerican culture which has quite probably been inflated, but could not have been invented whole-cloth, by colonisers justifying their depredations. Speaking as a historical fantasy author myself, this must have been an incredibly tricky issue to deal with, and I salute the author!

I could go on about all the other things I loved about this book, but I should be getting up and going about my day. There aren't a lot of historical fantasy authors in the indie/self-pub community working at this level of sheer quality and class, so if you enjoy historical fantasy make sure to read this one!