Shadowmarch

by Tad Williams

Reviewed by Coral

The northern kingdom of Southmarch lies in between two great evils: the Xand Empire to the south and the Qar lands to the North.

Ruled by an ambitious Autarch, the Xand look to claim more lands than ever before. With a vast army at the Autarch’s command, they seem an unstoppable force.

After years of war, the Qar retreated beyond the Shadowline – a mystical border they placed between themselves and the human realms – centuries ago. But in recent years, things have started to cross over the line into the human world and the Shadowline itself may be creeping forward, slowly reclaiming lands that once belonged to the Qar.

Caught on the front line of this battle are twins Barrick and Briony, who see the impossible task of stopping the Qar and freeing their imprisoned father.

At more than seven hundred pages, this book took me awhile to get through. The first thing I said when I finished the book was ‘I have no idea what just happened’.

A lot of this book felt pointless. There were a couple of subplots that could have been eliminated completely.

Because of the summary, there was one character in Barrick and Briony’s story whose death was pretty much a certainty from the first page. But it took more than one hundred pages before the actual death, with not a lot happening in the meantime.

I disliked Chert, Opal and Flint’s subplot. Considering how many nasty things have been crossing the Shadowline in the book’s world, you would think that Chert and Opal would be a little more cautious about mysterious Flint who looks like a normal child when he is dropped off by four mounted Qar soldiers. But no, Opal is so desperate to have a kid that she decides there can’t possibly be anything unsafe about this kid and takes him home with them.

I also don’t really understand the whole rooftopper plot. Centuries ago the humans went to war with the Qar, blaming them for their misfortune and yet the rooftoppers, who sound kind of faerie like as well, somehow survived this war?

I didn’t like Briony. First, she is the exact same character that I’ve read dozens of times. Even though there is more than one way to be strong, we always seem to get the idea that strong women characters are the ones who reject everything even remotely traditionally feminine. You can still be strong and like wearing dresses. Secondly, she is just rude. She insults servants, loyal and not so loyal subjects. She may be the co-ruler with her brother, but after a certain point, the people who were loyal to you are going to turn against you (in their heart if not in actual deeds) if all you do is yell and insult them.

We got a brief glimpse into the Autarch’s world with the character of Quinnitan, who I did like. Chosen as the newest wife of the Autarch, seemingly out of nowhere and thrust into the strange world that is his harem, I guess. As interested as I was to know what was happening with this character, the story only left me frustrated because we didn’t get any answers. Because of how cut off she is from what’s happening around her – and because she is the only character through whom we can see this world – we never get any information at the larger world of the Autarch. Why did he choose her to be his wife? Why is she being sent to priests every day? There are whispers of a rebellion in the Autarch’s court, but even that story doesn’t go anywhere because Quinnitan doesn’t see what’s happening, only reacts to it.

And, although I really want to know more about her story, she wasn’t enough to save the book for me.

Grade: D