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108th out of 115 books
—
19 voters
The Council of Shadows (Shadowspawn #2)
New from the New York Times bestselling author of A Taint in the Blood.
Adrian Brézé defied his own dark heritage as a near-purebred Shadowspawn for years, until his power-hungry sister Adrienne kidnapped his human lover Ellen.
Now, Adrienne is dead, and the Council of Shadows is gathering its strength. To stop the Council from launching an apocalypse, Adrian and Ellen mu...more
Adrian Brézé defied his own dark heritage as a near-purebred Shadowspawn for years, until his power-hungry sister Adrienne kidnapped his human lover Ellen.
Now, Adrienne is dead, and the Council of Shadows is gathering its strength. To stop the Council from launching an apocalypse, Adrian and Ellen mu...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
May 3rd 2011
by Roc Hardcover
(first published April 12th 2011)
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On the whole, the concept behind the Shadowspawn books is a potentially interesting take on the werewolf/vampire trend: the legends are more true than not, and stem from a racial memory of super-predators who used to rule and prey on humans before being overthrown. Now, of course, they're making a comeback.
The actual science (such as it is) seems more than a little sketchy, but it's interesting to see someone actually take a stab at explaining why vampires/werewolves have the abilities and limi...more
The actual science (such as it is) seems more than a little sketchy, but it's interesting to see someone actually take a stab at explaining why vampires/werewolves have the abilities and limi...more
Well, this is a book of fairly unhappy compromises as "urban fantasy" meets science fiction with some human police procedural elements thrown in for those who were bored by the other bits. Its all a bit of a shame because, with a better focus, I suspect this could have been genuinely entertaining. A lot of thought has gone into constructing this "world" but it's mostly wasted.
http://opionator.wordpress.com/2011/0...
http://opionator.wordpress.com/2011/0...
THIS IS A GOOD BOOK BY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE AUTHORS. PROBABLY I COULD HAVE GIVEN THIS BOOK FOUR STARS BUT I FELT THAT THE BOOK LACKED SOMETHING. THE CHARACTERS WERE VERY GOOD AND ARE DEVELOPING FINE. BUT I FELT THAT THIS WAS AN INTRODUCTORY STORY TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE CHARACTERS AND THAT THERE WAS A LIMITED PLOT WITH MUCH MORE TO COME I HOPE. FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT LIKE THIS TYPE OF READING I RECOMEND THIS BOOK, I ALSO HOPE THERE IS MUCH MORE TO COME.
The Shadowspawn race that S M Stirling has created is an intriguing hybrid of werecreature/vampire/socerer type. Virtually all of the Shadowspawn race is just plain evil, with the exception of Adrian. The rest of the good guys are too good. I personally prefer characters to be morally ambigous, shades of good and bad, not extremes, as in this novel. The action is the best part of the book. Overall, I thought the book was ok.
Basically more of the same of book 1. The bad guys are too bad, the good guys are a bit unbelievable. I do like how murky the moral issues are at times. That and the action is really what it has going for it.
I still have some weakness where I still personally felt this was 4-star. I'm kind of a sucker for Stirling, same as I tend to be for Modesitt JR. We all have our weaknesses.
I still have some weakness where I still personally felt this was 4-star. I'm kind of a sucker for Stirling, same as I tend to be for Modesitt JR. We all have our weaknesses.
Quick read, well-plotted with some nice twists, good action. Looking forward to book three.
Quibbles: lots of gourmet food and wine scenes which don't mean much to a plebe like me. The cop plotline took a long time to join up (it starts six months out of sync with the main plot) and I wasn't sure what it really added.
Quibbles: lots of gourmet food and wine scenes which don't mean much to a plebe like me. The cop plotline took a long time to join up (it starts six months out of sync with the main plot) and I wasn't sure what it really added.
I really wanted to like this series. I'm a big fan of his Emberverse books; unfortunately these just don't quite match up. It's still an entertaining read, but I think it's missing something. Like a previous reviewer said, the bad guys are too bad and the good guys are too good.
I liked this better than the first book...but it still seems like S.M. Stirling is jusat cashing in on the "vampire" craze. Though his "shadowspawn" creatures are not really vampires, they do drink human blood. Not terrible, but not his best work.
Have been a fan of Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time and The Change novels but just can't seem to really enjoy the Shadowspawn series. It has too much S&M and violence that just didn't move the plot along enough.
Part 2 in a S. M. Stirling vampire series. So perhaps a bit better than your typical vampire book but not better enough. And definitely a book 2 - no beginning and no ending - so if you don't remember book#1 it is a bit irritating. And two much violent sex for my taste whether on or off screen. 3.5 of 5.
I tried to read this book -- got 50 pages in and gave up. It failed my have to like the people to bother spending time with them test, badly.
Very entertaining - borders a bit on porno, though, with the S&M crap which I could do without.
There were some nice phrases used in the writing
Oh cliffhanger ending, how I detest you!...
I managed to make it all the way to page 36 in this book and then just couldn't drum up the desire to keep going. I didn't like the first book... I shouldn't have held on to this second one. It's going back to the library for now. Maybe I'll try again someday, but probably not. There's too many books I actually DO want to read!
Ok, this instalment was better written and plotted than Book 1 - it's still not up with the Change novels for me, but I did enjoy it, and I'll be keeping an eye out for Book 3
Still not as good as his Island in the Sea of Time books or the Emberverse ones, but this was much better than A Taint in the Blood, and I will read the third book in this trilogy when it comes out. As always, I liked his snarky humor -- I cracked up at his references to The Matrix and to the Terminator movies. It still feels like something of a retread of his Draka series.
I just couldn't stay interested. So it is going back to the library only half-read.
Stirling continues his entry in the urban fantasy/vampire romance genre. Delightfully twisted and not for the faint of heart.
Just picked up a copy for my library and gave this another read. Remains strong on a second read, I like the way he deliberately plays with the vampire romance tropes.
Just picked up a copy for my library and gave this another read. Remains strong on a second read, I like the way he deliberately plays with the vampire romance tropes.
Jun 13, 2011
All Things Urban Fantasy
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Shelves:
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reviewed-by-abigail
Read my review on Tor.com
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/04/an-s...
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/04/an-s...
May 21, 2013
Nevey Berry
marked it as to-read
May 18, 2013
Pam
marked it as to-read
May 16, 2013
Laura
added it
May 12, 2013
Scott
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2013
Jordan
marked it as to-read
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Stephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.
More about S.M. Stirling...
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