Flaring with a miasma of original Magical Lore -- often a rarity to the modern-genre, in such cases as the Vir and Ka`kari -- punctuated by well-crafted (And often starkly clashing) characters, intertwined by other more delicate stories and other, conflicting persona’s, with a typical peppering of twists and Assassin-esque betrayal, Shadow`s Edge deserves its place upon the praise-gilded shelf of unique diversity and modern genius of recent years, and a crisp break from the more Tolkienesque-like Fantasy.

A truly enjoyable book; a perfection-honed blade within the Fantasy genre itself, mercilessly gutting many of its other rivals to the shadowy side of Fantasy, and earning the by-no-means clichéd and eased passage, towards the glimmering dais of many of the True greats of this Genre we all know and dearly love of recent years.

Any negativity? Nothing I would rate as tipping the book over the precipice of Excellence Incarnate into the realms of 4 Stars. And despite some other reviews as to the commonplace usage of profanities, I find it to be rather amusing, and add a much-needed element of snappy, dark and vulgar humour to the tone, setting many character`s apart by race, livlihood and class, and gifting them with a unique originality that is often lacking in other works.

However, the undertaking of creating an entire ''World'' for characters to ''Play about-in'' put crudely, is one perhaps not done to complete satisfaction. Although there seem to be many distinct regions, habited by there own races, brandishing unique cultures, deities, magical lore and martial style`s, the depth in several of these, is not pursued to an extent that totally justifies their creation. In other words, as I would like to see more insight into ''The Freeze'', the Pirate Isle`s and Ceura, although I do expect the latter to have its own history detailed in Beyond the Shadows due to Garuwashi`s ownership of Curoch, and the inevitable clash between he and Kylar.