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Shadowplay by Tad Williams
01/04/2008 . Source: Paul Skevington 
pub: Orbit. 656 page hardback. Price: £18.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-291-9. pub: Orbit. 761 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-294-0. Buy Shadowplay in the USA - or Buy Shadowplay in the UK  check out website: www.orbitbooks.net and www.tadwilliams.com
In my review of the first book in this series, 'Shadowmarch', I mentioned how avidly I was awaiting the next chapter and now here it is, after a three year wait and every word of it is classic Tad Williams.
I won't attempt an in-depth synopsis of the previous volume, as much has happened since Williams set his feet back onto the high fantasy campaign trail again. Suffice to say that a darkness is falling over the March Kingdoms and war is upon them from every conceivable angle.
Two royal teen-agers are facing their own unique trial. Barrick is in the north beyond the mysterious shadowline, facing the dangers of this alien world accompanied by the loyal soldier Vansen and Gyir, one of the creatures that have caused so much carnage in Barrick's kingdom. Meanwhile, his sister Briony is fleeing for her life from treachery and worse, aided by her former weapons master Shaso. It's difficult to say which one of the twins got the better deal.
Just as before, Williams creates a masterpiece of fantasy fiction, broadening the scope of the previous book and improving on what was already an excellent formula.
New characters such as Skurn, the obnoxious talking raven, and Jikuyin, the monstrous demi-god from a dead age, fill the pages with a magic that will enthral readers who have followed the twins into the nights of torment that they now find themselves experiencing.
The magic here is, if anything, even more epic and intensive than ever. The complete otherness of Gyir when opposed to his travelling companions, the complicated society surrounding the Autarch in the city of Xis and even the water-dwelling Skimmer folk serve to widen the mythic scope of the work, differentiating it from the mass of inferior material available in the field.
Perhaps as a result of the influx of these strange and inhuman elements, 'Shadowplay' is much grimmer than its predecessor. The novel is filled with lengthy periods of peril, imprisonment and hardship for all of the characters that we have come to care for. Despite this, Williams never makes the mistake of making the twins' situations too similar, even though neither of their positions is particularly pleasant. Barrick's predicament becomes the most extreme of the two, but Williams keeps the readers at a distance through the boy's horrifically pompous and selfish attitude and the remove is just enough to stop the events from becoming too unbearable for the beleaguered audience.
Briony's trials are less horrific, although they are certainly no picnic. She is much easier to like than her brother, which increases the degree to which we can identify with her and sympathise with the pains she endures. Williams is playing a careful balancing act here and he is doing it very skilfully indeed.
He continues to use his less prominent viewpoint characters to great effect, drawing us away from the finer moments of grief experienced by the main protagonists and into the lives of other, less troubled, individuals. Of special note is Qinnitan, freshly escaped from the Autarch's harem and hiding in a strange city whose language she does not speak. Her only consolation is the company of a mute boy, serving to emphasise her isolation in a place where she remains surrounded by danger, forever running the risk that she might be discovered, caught and killed for her crimes against her former homeland. There is also the bitter love story of Matt Tinwright and the Lady Elan, a tragic interlude that sees two innocent people ground down by the massive objects circling their lives that they are incapable of resisting.
'Shadowrise', the book that I assume will be the conclusion of this engaging work, is due to be released within the next few years and so here I find myself again waiting upon the author's grace to alleviate my need for more tales of magic and pain. I'd like to allow the author as much time as he thinks is needed to craft a fitting finale for his second great fantasy epic.
Paul Skevington
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