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Feast of Shadows #1
Feast of Shadows: Part 1
One part mystery. One part savagery. Three parts magic.
Years ago, driven by greed, men penetrated the last soft places on earth. Out of the clear-cut jungle—out of nowhere—a man appeared, eyes rimmed in blue. The last shaman. A man who could make magic.
Across five stories, five victims of the inexplicable narrate strange encounters with an enigmatic titan, a man without a past. Caught in his decades-long battle with an unseen foe, each is given the power to alter human history—or end it forever.
Agony in Violet
As his marriage crumbles around him, a brilliant medical scientist searches for the source of a horrific illness that leaves its victims ashen and wasted. With no apparent connections between them, his only clues are the strange symbols that appear near the bodies after death. When a child is stricken, old traumas resurface and the good doctor turns in desperation to a curious consultant, who reveals that not every labyrinth has walls, and that the horrors you face there are always your own.
Curse of the Red Dagger
A troubled addict, pregnant with a billionaire’s baby, disappears without a trace. Determined to save his child, he offers a bounty of one million dollars to anyone who can find her, including the down-on-her-luck art school dropout who broke into his private club on a dare. Stumbling upon a trail of death, she finds everyone connected to the disappearance has fallen to mysterious circumstances. As her own fate closes around her, her only chance to save everyone she loves is to sacrifice herself to an ancient and insatiable power.
To the White of the Bone
A mangled body floats to the surface of a reservoir with nothing to distinguish the victim save for a binding knot branded under her tongue. The case is routed to the NYPD’s resident occultist, an uncompromising homicide detective whose history of unusual and uncertain results has left her career in shambles. Dodging an inquiry into a fatal shooting and pursued by a homicidal witch, she contemplates a devil’s bargain to stop the killer, who just may be the Lord of Shadows.
Part urban fantasy, part hard-boiled whodunit, FEAST OF SHADOWS is a five-course occult mystery and the most devilish meal you’ll ever read.
The complete epic conundrum is available in two parts.
Years ago, driven by greed, men penetrated the last soft places on earth. Out of the clear-cut jungle—out of nowhere—a man appeared, eyes rimmed in blue. The last shaman. A man who could make magic.
Across five stories, five victims of the inexplicable narrate strange encounters with an enigmatic titan, a man without a past. Caught in his decades-long battle with an unseen foe, each is given the power to alter human history—or end it forever.
Agony in Violet
As his marriage crumbles around him, a brilliant medical scientist searches for the source of a horrific illness that leaves its victims ashen and wasted. With no apparent connections between them, his only clues are the strange symbols that appear near the bodies after death. When a child is stricken, old traumas resurface and the good doctor turns in desperation to a curious consultant, who reveals that not every labyrinth has walls, and that the horrors you face there are always your own.
Curse of the Red Dagger
A troubled addict, pregnant with a billionaire’s baby, disappears without a trace. Determined to save his child, he offers a bounty of one million dollars to anyone who can find her, including the down-on-her-luck art school dropout who broke into his private club on a dare. Stumbling upon a trail of death, she finds everyone connected to the disappearance has fallen to mysterious circumstances. As her own fate closes around her, her only chance to save everyone she loves is to sacrifice herself to an ancient and insatiable power.
To the White of the Bone
A mangled body floats to the surface of a reservoir with nothing to distinguish the victim save for a binding knot branded under her tongue. The case is routed to the NYPD’s resident occultist, an uncompromising homicide detective whose history of unusual and uncertain results has left her career in shambles. Dodging an inquiry into a fatal shooting and pursued by a homicidal witch, she contemplates a devil’s bargain to stop the killer, who just may be the Lord of Shadows.
Part urban fantasy, part hard-boiled whodunit, FEAST OF SHADOWS is a five-course occult mystery and the most devilish meal you’ll ever read.
The complete epic conundrum is available in two parts.
568 pages, Paperback
First published July 19, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 6, 2019
The Minus Faction is what won me over to Rick's writing. Feast of Shadows is the same, but more of it.
Thematically, of course, it's very different. Where Minus Faction might be Rick's take on Comic book superheroes, this book is his take on ... what do they call it? Urban fantasy? With a dose of horror, cosmic and otherwise.
With the second part now out, it's easier to understand this as a whole work.
Each course is a relatively self contained story with an overarching connecting plot, and each is told from the perspective of a different character. Consequently, Rick has the freedom to play with different storytelling styles and matches them perfectly to the respective protagonist.
The actual main character, the focal point of the overarching plot, is not each course's protagonist. That makes the entire work a tad less accessible; you have to keep switching out of the comfortable, worn-in pair of shoes into a new pair. However, walking in so many different characters' shoes for a few miles is certainly making for an interesting read.
The last course turns what started as more urban fantasy into a cosmic horror-fantasy epic. It fits the protagonist like a glove, but feels as if the special perspective she brings to the book allows a massively larger world than the other protagonists could even imagine to explode onto the scene. My biggest complaint and compliment here is that the world painted in this course is too large even for the extraordinary length of this part.
But while that feels at times as if Rick simply lost control of his imagination here, he manages to collect all of the important threads from all courses into a truly stunning symphony where, in the end, they form the puzzle pieces to a complete picture.
Other authors would have chosen a simpler setup, and there are good arguments to be made for that. For example, the Wheel of Time series is infamous for spinning off ever more characters and story threads and losing itself completely in that. While it occasionally seems as if Rick might veer in that direction - and apparently he has been battling with that a bit - the end makes it worthwhile. There's something exceedingly satisfying in having been a bit confused, only to realise that no, it actually all makes sense together, it was just too large to easily see.
At the end of the day, Feast of Shadows is darker than your average Fantasy, and heavier due to its structure. But the characters' individual, momentary concerns are convincing and pull you easily through the pages. It's only when setting the book down to ask yourself what it is you're actually reading that this issue raises its head. With both volumes now out, luckily you won't need to have that problem until the very end.
I consider this masterful. One can consider mastery when you avoid issues by understanding how to keep things simple, and that's a choice. But to purposely wade into a complex plot and character arrangement and then pull it off is a different, more daring kind of mastery.
Those are books that explode when handled improperly.
Thematically, of course, it's very different. Where Minus Faction might be Rick's take on Comic book superheroes, this book is his take on ... what do they call it? Urban fantasy? With a dose of horror, cosmic and otherwise.
With the second part now out, it's easier to understand this as a whole work.
Each course is a relatively self contained story with an overarching connecting plot, and each is told from the perspective of a different character. Consequently, Rick has the freedom to play with different storytelling styles and matches them perfectly to the respective protagonist.
The actual main character, the focal point of the overarching plot, is not each course's protagonist. That makes the entire work a tad less accessible; you have to keep switching out of the comfortable, worn-in pair of shoes into a new pair. However, walking in so many different characters' shoes for a few miles is certainly making for an interesting read.
The last course turns what started as more urban fantasy into a cosmic horror-fantasy epic. It fits the protagonist like a glove, but feels as if the special perspective she brings to the book allows a massively larger world than the other protagonists could even imagine to explode onto the scene. My biggest complaint and compliment here is that the world painted in this course is too large even for the extraordinary length of this part.
But while that feels at times as if Rick simply lost control of his imagination here, he manages to collect all of the important threads from all courses into a truly stunning symphony where, in the end, they form the puzzle pieces to a complete picture.
Other authors would have chosen a simpler setup, and there are good arguments to be made for that. For example, the Wheel of Time series is infamous for spinning off ever more characters and story threads and losing itself completely in that. While it occasionally seems as if Rick might veer in that direction - and apparently he has been battling with that a bit - the end makes it worthwhile. There's something exceedingly satisfying in having been a bit confused, only to realise that no, it actually all makes sense together, it was just too large to easily see.
At the end of the day, Feast of Shadows is darker than your average Fantasy, and heavier due to its structure. But the characters' individual, momentary concerns are convincing and pull you easily through the pages. It's only when setting the book down to ask yourself what it is you're actually reading that this issue raises its head. With both volumes now out, luckily you won't need to have that problem until the very end.
I consider this masterful. One can consider mastery when you avoid issues by understanding how to keep things simple, and that's a choice. But to purposely wade into a complex plot and character arrangement and then pull it off is a different, more daring kind of mastery.
Those are books that explode when handled improperly.
July 16, 2019
I received a pre-release review copy of this book; when the author was looking for reviewers I remembered reading and really enjoying The Minus Faction. The Amazon synopsis starts with One part mystery. One part savagery. Three parts magic. It’s broken into 5 stories over 2 books.
This is written as series of novellas with three separate mysteries and three different protagonists in Part One (and an interlude). There's no "extra' bits, nor gaps and each protagonist is consistent to themselves. Starts a little like the Sin de Jour series in that it seems like it will revolve around a chef/restaurant but quickly carves a different path. The magic referenced is shamanist so no elves or trolls but there are zombies.
This is a book I needed to read twice. The first time I was pulled through the story to find out how each element is resolved. The second to catch which characters are pop up throughout the book and how and how they act on their existing knowledge. I can’t wait for the second book to see how it all ties together.
This is written as series of novellas with three separate mysteries and three different protagonists in Part One (and an interlude). There's no "extra' bits, nor gaps and each protagonist is consistent to themselves. Starts a little like the Sin de Jour series in that it seems like it will revolve around a chef/restaurant but quickly carves a different path. The magic referenced is shamanist so no elves or trolls but there are zombies.
This is a book I needed to read twice. The first time I was pulled through the story to find out how each element is resolved. The second to catch which characters are pop up throughout the book and how and how they act on their existing knowledge. I can’t wait for the second book to see how it all ties together.
October 27, 2019
Phenomenal! I can't wait for the second course.
June 2, 2021
Crazy rich world
Rick Wayne has created a complex believable mythos interconnected with the world we live in. It is quite original. When we see things from the legends of our world they have unexpected explanations that seemlessly weave a new mythos. Characters are full fleshed and introduce themselves over time. Some we care about, some terrify. Some both. The cast is HUGE but none of them are throwaways. If you like myth and magic and being startled and having your brain and heart both fully engaged, read this.
Rick Wayne has created a complex believable mythos interconnected with the world we live in. It is quite original. When we see things from the legends of our world they have unexpected explanations that seemlessly weave a new mythos. Characters are full fleshed and introduce themselves over time. Some we care about, some terrify. Some both. The cast is HUGE but none of them are throwaways. If you like myth and magic and being startled and having your brain and heart both fully engaged, read this.
May 23, 2021
Well written, no doubt about that.
It's just too slow, too descriptive for me.
It's just too slow, too descriptive for me.
April 13, 2021
I have to say, this book is phenomenal and have never read anything like it. Generally speaking, it is a collection of different occult mysteries set in New York City but the stories are so bizarre and original that I wouldn't classify it as a typical mystery. What I loved about it without giving too much away, is that each mystery has a different narrator and style, and when woven together, tells a larger mystery involving a chef and shaman. Think part Rashomon and part Sherlock Holmes mashed with bits of the twisted occult. The first mystery is my probably favorite but the second one has the strongest emotional impact. Just a warning though, the last course seems to end with a cliff-hanger so I hope the second part will be released soon.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews