Of Shadow and Sea

The Elder Empire: Shadow, Book 1

The Consultant’s Guild has served the Aurelian Empire for over 1,000 years, working in the darkness to hunt dissension and eliminate traitors.

Now, the Emperor is dead.

For Shera, an assassin in the employ of the Consultants, the Emperor’s death is the beginning of a nightmare. Powerful forces hunt the Heart of Nakothi, a cursed artifact that can raise a second Emperor...and corrupt him in the process.

But some desire power at any cost.

The Guild of Navigators, an infamous collection of swindlers and pirates, has been paid a fortune to secure the Heart. Their only lord is greed, their only loyalty to gold, and they would sell the Empire’s freedom for the promise of a quick coin.

In the shadows, a woman works to set the world free.

On the seas, a man seeks to raise a lunatic to lord over mankind.

Will you walk the shadows here with Shera? Or will you explore the seas with Calder, in the parallel novel Of Sea and Shadow?

©2014 Hidden Gnome Publishing (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Overall, I did not like the story or narrator

I liked Calder and his perspective better.

I found these characters less interesting than their counterparts.

Miss

There's nothing original about writing a single story from multiple character viewpoints. Splitting each volume into two books isn't somehow innovative — it's just a gimmick to get you to buy more books.

That's it. There's nothing else new about it whatsoever, and the split isn't even done particularly well. There are no stunning reveals or twists. No big surprises from seeing the story from a new perspective. Just a different character.

It's pretty undeniable that it would read better if presented chronologically instead of having to jump back to the beginning of the story you just (halfway) read to start again.

Not terrible otherwise, but not amazing. Decent popcorn fantasy. Just not nearly worth paying six credits for. That's highway robbery.

missing a little something

I usually like more description of the characters and world. I feel like this is am outrigger or prequel that requires knowledge of a previous book to get the idea of where we are and when. Sometimes its nice go let your imagination go, but when you go from a human to an alienesque creature, or what you assume should be, you want to know where it came from, why it's there, and what it looks like more than that it has a raspy voice and long nails.

other than that I think the action was good andi really wanted to see the main character get her empathy back.

excellent, worth the listen.

I enjoyed the book. good story, good characters, I enjoy books written with multiple timelines.

Slightly less dark Warhammer

This book as well as it's sister novel (I get what he's going for with two separate books but, really, they should just be one book) are pretty decent. If you like Eldritch horror I'd give it a read. Solid characters and story, but nothing really special. Good world building and society, I like the approach to eldritch powers. Overall it's good but not amazing.
My one major issue is the draw from Warhammer lore (God-Emperor and reskinned chaos gods with minor variations)