Shadow Unit 11

Shadow Unit #11

by Emma Bull, Leah Bobet, Chelsea Polk

The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit hunts humanity's worst nightmares, but there are nightmares humanity doesn't dream are real. The BAU sends those cases down the hall. There, Stephen Reyes and his team pursue criminals transformed by a mysterious force: the anomaly. Welcome to Shadow Unit, a series created by award-winning authors Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear.

Contains "The Small Dark Movie of Your Life" by Leah Bobet, Walking Back To Houston" by Chelsea Polk, "Bulletproof" by Emma Bull, "Down the Rabbit Hole" by Sarah Monette, and more.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Crime, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 27, 2012

About the author

Emma Bull is a science fiction and fantasy author whose best-known novel is War for the Oaks, one of the pioneering works of urban fantasy. She has participated in Terri Windling's Borderland shared universe, which is the setting of her 1994 novel Finder. She sang in the rock-funk band Cats Laughing, and both sang and played guitar in the folk duo The Flash Girls while living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Her 1991 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel Bone Dance was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. Bull wrote a screenplay for War for the Oaks, which was made into an 11-minute mini-film designed to look like a film trailer. She made a cameo appearance as the Queen of the Seelie Court, and her husband, Will Shetterly, directed. Bull and Shetterly created the shared universe of Liavek, for which they have both written stories. There are five Liavek collections extant.

She was a member of the writing group The Scribblies, which included Will Shetterly as well as Pamela Dean, Kara Dalkey, Nate Bucklin, Patricia Wrede and Steven Brust. With Steven Brust, Bull wrote Freedom and Necessity (1997), an epistolary novel with subtle fantasy elements set during the 19th century United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Chartist movement.

Bull graduated from Beloit College in 1976. Bull and Shetterly live in Arizona.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Small Dark Movie of Your Life" by Leah Bobet is the long installment here, and is narrated entirely from the pov of the now semi-retired Sol Todd, who happens to witness a suspicious death while in NYC for a book-signing. It's in a journalistic-record format which isn't my favorite but made a nice change. Hard to say how good the story was since I was spoiled on the (very important to the series) ending.

On the website this is the end of Season 3

"Walking Back To Houston" -- I don't know who Chelsea Polk is or how she got involved in this project or why she assumes that all readers would know all these terms from WoW and other online stuff. I liked the basic plot idea with eBay but the characters didn't quite ring true to how they're normally written.

"Bulletproof" by Emma Bull -- Interesting mythology, interesting idea with the gamma's cognitive/perceptive differences. Wish it had been longer and more developed. Also, one of several installments that kind of makes me mad at how little the team cares about "normal" crime and its victims. The father isn't the anomalous one so who cares that he physically and emotionally abused his wife and son and possibly murdered the au pair.

"Down the Rabbit Hole" is written as a livejournal entry; is it a story by one of the characters? or an alternate reality? It doesn't seem like Travis can be the alternate identity of either of the other Vilettes we know. Good story, but I'm confused. Maybe I should reread this, and also listen to the songs in case they are clues.

[Rebeka · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not actually bad at all. Like the rest of the series, it's amazing. I'm just too stung by the death of one of the characters to be able to give it more stars. Petty? Yes. But I'm upset about who they killed and I'm sulking and crying and oh my god!

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double and raise the angst in this overall series with the death of a character, an essential member of Shadow Unit, and a life line for more than one person. This was a shock. This was hard, perhaps the hardest hurdle to deal with in this entire series, making this the most traumatic book in a sequence of books where an anamoly is triggered by trauma, compelling its host to kill. What a relief to depart from linear structure, the character death, and go back to a time when the team was together, and yet this emphasized the hole where that character had been. Carrying on with that emptiness will be hard, yet I want to see them carry on. Certain members are stepping up to support the others, showing an inspiring strength in the face of tragedy. Others are coping in surprising ways, challenging the status quo. I’m going to miss the deceased, but I want to continue Shadow Unit, stay with those whom remain. Hopefully, there was also be more flashbacks, reminding us of what was.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ow. No spoilers, but jeez guys, that one really hurt!

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My last one (though there appear to be some new things appearing on the website) so I didn't devour it. Plus, it was harder to devour. I enjoyed VERY much the idea of being down the rabbit hole. Sometimes just walking outside is like that. Plus the story that came with the title was good.

More please!

[Lotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so the whole of my review is a huge spoiler, be warned. So, the death of Daphne Worth. Wow, That really came as a sudden and unwelcome surprise. I know the writers have been mean to characters in the series so far (Vilette, Reyes, Gates), but this. Somehow, you expect main characters to be safe. It goes to show, nobody is safe.

[Bob McConnaughey · Rating 4 out of 5]

the latest in an excellent series of "weird" procedurals - each volume contains 3 or 4 novellas on an an FBI unit charged w/ tracking/cracking crimes committed by unsubs w/ "weird" talents.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this series doesn't pull its punches, but that also makes it sometimes torturously heartbreaking.

[Nikii · Rating 5 out of 5]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[Jill Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Monette is excellent. The Polk reads like a fanfic outline.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally cleared space on my schedule to try and get caught up with the Shadow Unit team. The team suffers a big loss with Worth being killed. The volume sort of rotated around that loss and the characters reactions during and after the event. There is continued character development and even a couple of flashback stories that provide a peek at the characters before the loss. Now I need to find the time for volumes 12 and 13.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 4 out of 5]

addictive

[~Anita~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG they killed.....

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

this one is. a heartbreaker