<![CDATA[Shadowbridge]]>

false <![CDATA[Shadowbridge]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189985489m/1896805.jpg 1896805 1 Sprung from a timeless dream, Shadowbridge is a world of linked spans arching high above glittering seas. It is a world of parading ghosts, inscrutable gods, and dangerous magic. Most of all, it is a world of stories. No one knows those stories better than Leodora, a young shadow-puppeteer who travels Shadowbridge collecting the intertwining tales and myths of each place she passes through, then retells them in performances whose genius has begun to attract fame . . . and less welcome attention. For Leodora is fleeing a violent past, as are her two companions: her manager, Soter, an elderly drunkard who also served Ledora's father, the legendary puppeteer Bardsham; and Diverus, her musical accompanist, a young man who has been blessed, and perhaps cursed, by the touch of a nameless god. Now, as the strands of a destiny she did not choose begin to tighten around her, Leodora is about to cross the most perilous bridge of all - the one leading from the past to the future. Shadowbridge is the first novel in a two-book adventure. Praise for Gregory Frost... “A rather stunning new fantasy novel….Shadowbridge achieves a kind of Florentine grace and balance rare in modern fantasy, interpolating tales within tales, playing ingenious games with point of view, and offering more than a few passages of surpassingly lovely prose. It's a far more important novel than its almost generic-sounding title would suggest….For all its painterly beauty, Shadowbridge is a tough-minded novel that confronts some disturbing issues, and that is remarkably efficient in the telling; even though it's only the first half of a duology to be completed next spring, it gets as much done in barely over 250 pages as many other fantasies do in big-brown-bag trilogies… Frost has a lot of explaining to do, and it's not likely that anyone who reads this compelling and original novel will fail to follow it into the second volume. Frost could be on his way toward a masterpiece.” –Locus "Shadowbridge is a labyrinthine web of causeways, spiraling out across a vast shallow sea, whose cultures are blends of our own history and mythology. Frost's considerable powers of imagination and description ground the disparate locales and societies of his world through story - those lived, told to and by young Leodora in her journey of self-discovery. Beautifully written and realized." --Jeffrey Ford, author of THE EMPIRE OF ICE CREAM “Orphaned 16-year-old Leodora, a talented puppeteer and storyteller, is forced to hide her identity and gender as she travels the spans and tunnels of the ocean-crossing Shadowbridge in Frost’s exciting first of a diptych. Stubborn and god-touched, Leodora feels nearly friendless until she meets a youth with similar gifts. Diverus, an enslaved simpleton, is endowed with intelligence and uncanny musical abilities when an unpredictable deity visits his span. When Diverus plays and Leodora performs, their synergy creates magic and brings them instant fame. Only Leodora’s mentor, the perpetually drunken Soter, realizes that their brilliance attracts dangerous chaos energy, and he must protect the young pair while keeping long-held secrets about the deaths of Leodora’s parents and the dangers of her talent. Frost (Fitcher’s Brides) draws richly detailed human characters and embellishes his multilayered stories with intriguing creatures–benevolent sea dragons, trickster foxes, death-eating snakes and capricious gods–that make this fantasy a sparkling gem of mythic invention and wonder.”–Publishers Weekly “Shadowbridge is a world constructed on the spans of bridges, so vast that no one can cross every bridge, in which occasionally gods walk the earth and drop their gifts into the hands of the unsuspecting. Leodora is a traveling puppeteer storyteller known as Jax to protect her identity. Hers is a story of events that began with her speaking to a god. As in conversations with gods in many other stories, the most important thing is left unsaid. From walking the spans to collecting the strange tales of every place she visits to picking up a god-touched musician for her act, Leodora’s journey is filled with the brilliant details of Frost’s masterful world building. The tale starts taking on tension as Leodora’s fame grows and she begins attracting dangerous attention, the kind last attracted by her predecessor, the legendary Bardsham. Leodora’s traveling companion and manager, Soter, traveled with Bardsham, too, and clearly knows more of his fate than he’s telling. He drops hints sometimes, when distracted, but never quite tells Leodora the whole story. Frost has created a world containing all manner of fantastic story and the promise of a fascinating history as Leodora moves into her destiny and the unknown future.Booklist (starred review)One of fantasy's most challenging thinkers, who also knows how to tell a top-notch story. Karen Traviss, New York Times bestselling author of City of Pearl 1898384 15 1 2007 Shadowbridge total:114|5:27|4:37|3:37|2:11|1:2| 114 418 268 45 5 5 false false Wed Mar 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 17 11:09:35 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 12:57:23 -0700 2008 Shadowbridge is about a watery world where a giant bridge goes on forever, branching off into different spans and spirals, held together by an unknown magic and the whim of the Edgeworld gods. No one knows where it ends, or if...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Apr 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 01 14:48:46 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 03 07:41:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 20 00:35:09 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 12:46:42 -0800 2009 1
Shadowbridge is an epic sort of tale, and within it are the yarns of dif...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 06:08:54 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 06:13:56 -0700 2009
The world Mr Frost has built is also interesting: it seems to be mainly water, with some land here and there, but with an infinite number of bridges (and spans, and spirals) upon which various people live. Each span has its own...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 08 20:42:33 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 19:45:26 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 20:42:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Nov 30 08:24:52 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 05 13:29:59 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 15:37:24 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 15:37:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Mar 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Feb 20 11:18:46 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 12 05:41:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 19:37:49 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 13:18:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 05:40:28 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 10:48:10 -0800 2009 Otherland. At times the story was borderline creepy, but never crossed that line.

This book ends abruptly; I s...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon May 25 23:12:41 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 23:14:50 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 19:10:21 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 19:12:55 -0700 2009 Tried and failed. The book may be fine, but the audiobook reader sounded like she was seven years old. I only lasted a few minutes before realizing I wasn't going to be able to get past it.]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 21 18:51:44 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 18:51:44 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri Jan 23 10:38:41 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 18:50:20 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Wed Feb 18 09:16:42 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 09:16:42 -0800 2009 http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2007/12/sh...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 21 17:37:09 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 07 11:49:49 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 03 10:06:58 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 10:10:25 -0700 2009 ]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 22 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 24 15:35:30 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 15:35:49 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Tue Sep 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 24 17:03:33 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 09 08:55:32 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Feb 11 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 26 04:38:12 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 04:53:35 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1896805