‘Shadow of Elysium’ Book Review

Mount Readmore Book Review, 2017 77/100

Shadow of Elysium By Django Wexler

Audiobook edition, Narrated by Richard Poe

Finished on 8/22/2017

Goodreads

Description: The wagons travel north across the mountains, carrying cargo of great value: Hamveltai glass and porcelain; Deslandai jewelry in heavy iron strongboxes; fine cloth from the cities of the Old Coast. And Abraham.
Bound and tied, guarded day and night, Abraham has been stolen from his village, from the arms of the man he loved. He is being sent to the fortress-city of Elysium to serve a dark and ancient order, the Priests of the Black. They have discovered the secret he kept all his life: that inside him dwells a demon which allows him to heal…and to kill.
But Abraham is not alone. A young woman named Alex, similarly possessed, rides with him. And as a bond grows between them, they begin to wonder if they can turn the demons that have damned them into their salvation.

Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Short Story, Novella, Flintlock Fantasy, LGBT Fantasy

Two sorcerers must escape from an ancient order of demon-infested priests, lest they be indoctrinated into becoming monsters.

Spoiler-tastic review

This is book 2.5 of the ‘Shadow Campaigns’ by Django Wexler, and is a novella (71 pages or an hour and a half audiobook playtime). DO NOT START THIS SERIES HERE! Start with ‘The Thousand Names’ instead.

This book was good, a quick hour-long listen starring a LGBT protagonist in a Flintlock Fantasy setting (think Napoleonic Era but with demon magic).

This is a short book, so here’s a short review.

Good bits: fairly strong characterization and a good try-fail cycle.

Constructive criticism: I have no clue what was up with Alex. She seems to be foreshadowing to a future book I haven’t read yet.

Don’t go into reading this expecting too much. There isn’t as many grand revelations as to the nature of the world in this story, unlike the other longer stories.

The audiobook narrator did a good job in this one.

Stay Sunny!