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Shadow Unit #14
Shadow Unit 14
Two new novellas about the Shadow Dark Leader - by Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull Due North - by Leah Bobet
163 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2014
4 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Emma Bull
83 books690 followersEmma 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 18, 2017
Like many of the stories, these installments both suffered from being solved a bit too easily. I'd prefer some longer investigations where the team doesn't get the right person immediately.
"Dark Leader" by Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull.
Well written, really liked the lightning aspect and the character of Suze, but felt the subplot with seemed implausible. I was willing explain that as caused by her anomaly. But then the authors had to be all predictable and because apparently we just can't ever have smart, confident, comfortable-with-their-sexuality women who do science hanging around being happy, they have to be punished somehow. (Plus there seems to be a rule that Chaz's relationships never go anywhere.)
The "dark leader" is a sky-to-earth movement of charge, which is not luminescent, which separates the strokes that form a lightening bolt.
"Due North" by Leah Bobet
Interesting idea, but again, not explored enough, especially the perspective of the people who went north. Is Canadian "mythology" i.e. collective popular culture really so different from U.S.? Well, I guess we don't have the idea of "going north" because Canada's up there!
Tom Thomson, "Hot Summer"
Also, did some time elapse that wasn't included in the stories? Everyone seemed to age and extra year or two...
"Dark Leader" by Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull.
Well written, really liked the lightning aspect and the character of Suze, but felt the subplot with seemed implausible. I was willing explain that as caused by her anomaly. But then the authors had to be all predictable and because apparently we just can't ever have smart, confident, comfortable-with-their-sexuality women who do science hanging around being happy, they have to be punished somehow. (Plus there seems to be a rule that Chaz's relationships never go anywhere.)
The "dark leader" is a sky-to-earth movement of charge, which is not luminescent, which separates the strokes that form a lightening bolt.
"Due North" by Leah Bobet
Interesting idea, but again, not explored enough, especially the perspective of the people who went north. Is Canadian "mythology" i.e. collective popular culture really so different from U.S.? Well, I guess we don't have the idea of "going north" because Canada's up there!
Tom Thomson, "Hot Summer"
Also, did some time elapse that wasn't included in the stories? Everyone seemed to age and extra year or two...
August 8, 2015
Can't. Stop. Reading.
September 12, 2021
Short one, but two good stories, especially the Bobet about Canada.
February 23, 2017
Definitely felt shorter than the last few entries - still enjoyable stories, though I miss Daphne! To be cliched, it does feel like her character's departure took some of the life of the series with it.
Read
November 26, 2014Volume 14 of this series, and I just cannot emphasize enough how much an achievement it is on part of all the individual writers involved as well as the “show runners” Emma Bull and Elizabeth Bear to have kept Shadow Unit alive and fun to read throughout over such a long stretch.
This volume comes without any bonus material at all, presenting just two long stories. I’m missing the vignettes, but not quite as much as I was expecting to, because their usual functions are either to give us background on the Abnormal Crime Task Force’s history or glimpses into the private lives and minds of the team’s members, and the latter is here done by the two regular episodes, “Dark Leader” by Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull, followed by “Due North” by Leah Bobet. They are both very quiet and introspective episodes, with not much outward tension but rely mostly on character and psychological tension.
“Dark Leader” is an enjoyable read, but mostly “business as usual” for the ACTF (or, as it’s often fondly called by its members, the WTF), and for me at least this volume’s highlight was “Due North”, my favourite contribution by Leah Bobet to the series. The episode mimics TV shows in having an A plot and a B plot, both of which are only thematically connected – the theme being community, what it takes to create one, and what sacrifices are made to keep one alive, and it’s hard not to see both threads as a commentary on the WTF team itself that by now has become home and family for many of its members.
All in all, this is an almost contemplative volume, but none the less impressive for that. It marks the calm before the storm which is looming on the horizon in form of the much-dreaded final Volume 15…
This volume comes without any bonus material at all, presenting just two long stories. I’m missing the vignettes, but not quite as much as I was expecting to, because their usual functions are either to give us background on the Abnormal Crime Task Force’s history or glimpses into the private lives and minds of the team’s members, and the latter is here done by the two regular episodes, “Dark Leader” by Elizabeth Bear, Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull, followed by “Due North” by Leah Bobet. They are both very quiet and introspective episodes, with not much outward tension but rely mostly on character and psychological tension.
“Dark Leader” is an enjoyable read, but mostly “business as usual” for the ACTF (or, as it’s often fondly called by its members, the WTF), and for me at least this volume’s highlight was “Due North”, my favourite contribution by Leah Bobet to the series. The episode mimics TV shows in having an A plot and a B plot, both of which are only thematically connected – the theme being community, what it takes to create one, and what sacrifices are made to keep one alive, and it’s hard not to see both threads as a commentary on the WTF team itself that by now has become home and family for many of its members.
All in all, this is an almost contemplative volume, but none the less impressive for that. It marks the calm before the storm which is looming on the horizon in form of the much-dreaded final Volume 15…
October 22, 2025
An old ally and former team member cannot resist pointing Shadow Unit in the direction another potential case, only to join them in their investigation. Esther Falkner passes the torch of leadership on to Nikka Lau; while Lau finds a hand reaching out to her for help, again and again. Chaz Villette gets far too close to the power of the elements and is mentored by Solomon Todd, as the two men pursue an investigation of their own. All of Shadow Unit faces government cuts, cuts which hamstring their work, even as the need for their work grows.
Change and legacy were major themes of this volume, even for the gammas Shadow Unit hunted. Little of the overall arc emerged. There’s only one book left, leaving me wondering how much will be resolved within it, how much closure there will be. The character remain rich, engaging, fundamentally themselves, even as they grow and change. It’s very satisfying to watch them do so.
Change and legacy were major themes of this volume, even for the gammas Shadow Unit hunted. Little of the overall arc emerged. There’s only one book left, leaving me wondering how much will be resolved within it, how much closure there will be. The character remain rich, engaging, fundamentally themselves, even as they grow and change. It’s very satisfying to watch them do so.
August 3, 2015
I love this series of books because they are short reading. Each part has a different author and style and it a consistent world. There are plenty of mysteries to keep one engaged and This book in particular gave some clues as to the contagion (not a spoiler) If liked X-files before it became the "great conspiracy" you will love these books.
April 28, 2014
169 pages gone in an afternoon! These stories always fly by too fast. Longer stories this time and good character growth. Things are changing in the story world, but these two novellas make me think everyone can still come out okay.
May 31, 2014
Finally! The option for selecting this book was available for much longer than the actual book. Enjoyed the stories (there could have been more) and the way things have changed. If only a TV series were this engaging - not possible, I am fairly sure.
May 5, 2014
this is a really fine series....read in order...written half as screenplays, half as stories. resembles X-Files type stories. absorbing and interesting forays into the human psyche.
September 20, 2015
I don't want this to end!
OH CHAZ!
OH CHAZ!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews