Knight's Shadow (The Greatcoats, 2) Paperback – Box set, May 3, 2016

This book suffered from some of the same flaws as book one, but on balance, I enjoyed the bulk of it enough to keep reading when I ought to have been doing other things. Books like that usually get at least 4 stars from me.I'll go ahead and mention the flaws right now. One relates to the main POV character's wife's fate from book 1. He (Falcio) is forced to relive it during an extended torture sequence. It was a trope-ish reason for Falcio to go nuts in book 1, and it doesn't really change anything here. I am a little bit tired of the extended torture sequences in this series, to be honest.The other relates to the character Ethalia. She is the stereotypical prostitute with a heart of gold (and apparently some magical powers). She makes her wishes clear in book one and Falcio keeps ignoring them and she keeps coming back to help him anyway. (And although he professes to love her, or tells herself that, the whole thing seems to be a stretch after their brief encounter in the first book.)Moving on. There were some good things about this book, too, and they mostly overrode the bad things for me. The pace was pretty frantic, which is probably mostly what kept me reading. Falcio was dosed with a slow-acting poison in the first book and has some problems as a result in this book -- each morning when he wakes up, he spends a bit of time paralyzed. The paralysis time gets longer and longer and when he is awake, he gets shakier and shakier. He relies on drugs to remain awake, fearing to fall asleep, and he spends most of the book preparing for death. Although of course there have been marathon sessions of no sleep in other fantasy novels, I think the take on it here is original and gives Falcio some interesting limitations.Another thing that is done well is the shifting of alliances. There are quite a few revelations in this book -- about characters' parentage, about who is arming some villagers, about the secretive order of assassins known as the Dashini, etc. Falcio and his friends are actually forced to work with some of the Dukes against an enemy whose nature they don't figure out until close to the end -- even after the Dukes were terrible to Falcio, his friends, and the people of the land leading up to the point of collaboration. But events unfold in a way that, to me, makes sense.There are not as many flashbacks in this novel as in the last one. I prefer it this way. (As an aside, the lack of flashbacks and the dropping of banter among the main trio of Falcio, Kest, and Brasti makes this book remind me much less of the Lies of Locke Lamora than the previous book did.) You do learn some about the past, including why Kest decided to take up the sword. You learn a few of the Greatcoats' secret missions assigned by the King before he died. And there are hints of additional mysteries, such as the setting up of some historical relationship between the bards (Bardatti), Greatcloaks (Trattari), and Dashini assassins. I get the sense that this will be explored further in future volumes, and to me, the set-up is interesting. I hope the payoff will be, as well.There are some loose ends here, but overall the story was fairly well-contained. It was not, in my opinion, a weak second book (too many series have second books that are total filler, but I don't think that's the case here). I think of the loose ends more as set-up for future books in the series.Other than the lack of flashbacks (there are a few) and the lack of attempts at banter, the writing is mostly the same as book one. I didn't find anything particularly irritating about it. It just did its job -- telling the story. The world building is also basically the same as book one, though I get the sense that at least some concepts will be further explored in book three (and I am looking forward to it).As for character development, I don't know that Falcio shows a lot. He has always been able to pull through, even in some pretty terrible situations. Kest loses some bravado and makes a serious personal sacrifice and we also learn something about his past, so I'd say there's development and transformation there. Brasti strikes out on his own for awhile and, although he doesn't change much, I like that we learn more about him and that he takes a more active role in directing things. Dariana is a new character and she makes some interesting choices in the book, but we learn why near the end. At first, she is not likable in many ways, but with her upbringing, it makes sense. We also learn the Tailor is much more manipulative than previously thought. So although Falcio is the main focus and doesn't stray too far from what he was in the first book, he is sympathetic, and we do see character development with some of the side characters. I applaud this; secondary characters tend to get ignored in many books so it is nice to see a focus on them here.Anyway, as I mentioned, there were a few things I didn't care for, but this book was exciting enough to me to keep reading (finished it in a few days) and immediately start the next one, so overall, I am giving a fairly high rating.

***My name is Falcio val Mond, one of the last of the King’s Greatcoats, and if you listen very carefully you might still be able to hear me screaming.***I thought that Falcio went through some trials in the first book but that seems like kids play in comparison to what he endured in this one. The man is this great tragic hero that is beaten and bruised and betrayed at every corner but he has this great will of spirit and just gets up time and time again to just keep going, keep inspiring and keep kicking ass even when every odd is against him.“That on your best day—on your very best day—you could never beat me.”“I do know that,” I said, “and thanks very much for reminding me.”“Then why all this pretense? Why go through the motions?” He sounded genuinely interested.“Because, you . . .” I reached for the worst insult I could think of and settled on, “you stupid son-of-a-Saint, I’ve been beaten and tortured and killed eight times. I’m tired and weak. My best friend sits trapped in that stupid circle, despising himself. The daughter of my King is possessed by ____ through magic, which I hate, by the way, and the woman I love has just set herself up to be killed horribly in a manner that I can’t stop replaying in my head, over and over.”“I don’t understand your point.”“My point is, you feckless thug, this isn’t my best day. It’s my worst. So I’m going to use it to put you down.”It’s so hard not to root for a man that at his core is so good and want him to win against the impossible odds and all the horrors of the world.This book has so many dark moments. You would kind of think that would make it sad or depressing. But it isn’t. Sabastian De Castell incorporates great amount of humor to go along with all the terrible happenings so that while yes things are tense and just when you think they can’t get worse they do there is still a balance of humor that makes you love the characters and the story.Dariana was my favorite addition to the cast. She is completely insane and a skilled fighter who uses everything to her advantage. She fights like a crazy person acting the damsel in distress running away only to turn around and gut someone bigger and stronger than her. You are never quite sure what crazy thing she will say next or who she’ll kill for that matter. Plus she doesn’t seem to follow directions very well be they from the First Cantor or not.“I have a question,” Dariana said after I was done. She was sitting cross- legged on my bed, quite unconcerned that the dirt on her boots was rapidly transferring itself to my blankets.“What?” I asked.“Do you have any plans that don’t involve telling Valiana and me to run away and hide somewhere while you—?”“— while he tries to get Kest and me killed?” Brasti finished. “No. That’s pretty much the crux of all of Falcio’s masterful stratagems, so you might as well get used to it now.”Kest and Brasti were still fantastic and I adore the love and loyalty of the Trio of men. The Three Musketeer’s feel of all for one and one for all really shines through with them. Kest gets a little more page time since he is dealing with some of the repercussions of the last book. It seems being a Saint comes with a few obstacles of its own.What This Book Has:➜ - Fanstastic Dialogue➜ - Interesting Blend of Gods, Saints and Magic.➜ - Plots, Sub-plots and twist galore➜ - Three dimensional characters that you really care about➜ - Glorious villains that I thought couldn’t become even more despicable but they do and brutal ways you will absolutely never see coming.➜ - More flashbacks to the former King and hints about what his final strategy was➜ - SHOCKING MOMENTS, like I couldn’t believe that just happened moments.➜ - Times that make you want to stand up and cheer *hazzah*This was a great second installment to a series. There is no drop off, if anything it is so much better than the first book. The only reason I haven’t started into the next one already if because there isn’t an audiobook for the series and so it takes longer for me to read.Thanks again to my good friend Eon♒Windrunner♒ for bringing this series to my attention.

Is this book perfect ?No.Does it have characterization, plot and verisimilitude (as you can get it in fantasy, suspension of credibility or not) issues ?Yes.Is it enjoyable without making you feel dumber after reading it ?Yes.Does it have indeniable charm ?On the Brasti scale of charm that goes from Donald J. Trump to Brasti Goodrow, I've measured it at almost-Brasti.

Lo compré para ir practicando la lectura en inglés, y ampliar vocabulario. El tema y ambientación me gustaba, así como las críticas que he leído del mismo. Como aún no lo he leído, voy a aportar lo que he percibido hasta ahora.Se trata de un libro tamaño bolsillo, en torno a unas 600 páginas. Es la continuación del título "Traitor's Blade", y la portada creo que ha mejorado con respecto al primer tomo, aunque de estilo similar. El papel es fino, reciclado, y la tipografía tiene un tamaño adecuado para su lectura sin cansar la vista.

A must read for all fans of the Musketeers- this series captures the action, intrigue, wit and comraderie of the original characters, with a fantasy twist. Would recommend for fans of authors such as David Eddings or Terry Pratchett.

THIS IS THE TYPE OF BOOK I PICK UP AND ONLY FINISH WHEN EVEN THE AUTHOR'S NOTE IS READ*No. I mean, seriously, this book! Get it! There's politics (Dukes and nobles and somwhere in between a dead King lurks around), marvelous fantasy (with usually hated, yet conveniently placed magic, crazy religions [you can be a Saint and Gods are mortal, y'know] and a stray island which seems to be beautiful), lovable characters (to mention our three main Trattari: strong, calm and literally-loyal-to-death Kest; charming, womanizing, sometimes-slow-on-the-uptake Brasti; and Falcio who-always-talks-and-gets-into-fights yet somehow, geez, is still alive [and a bit insane, but that may be an occupational hazard]) and between hard and fast rides to get that one girl back safe and sound, trying not to die in yet again another duel (they just happen, I SWEAR) and quite a bit torture, we get just so many laughs - may it be Brasti, again, or just a situation where you think that would never happen or can get any worse--- well, you see, now we said it. Go figure.I may not own a lot of books, but this, GREATCOATS, is just so worth every tiny copper you put in. It's incredibly balanced, has a very nice pace and if you thought about getting that other book from that other author --- do everyone a favour and grab this one first.*PS: When I say read everything, from the front to the back, then just do it. You may be surprised, even if you think you know it all.

Bien