Spells strictly forbidden – review of the book “Shadow of the Lost World”

Terrifying volume

 The first thought after opening the package with the book: “When will I find the time to read this brick?”. Believe me, almost nine hundred pages of the novel impress even the most extreme reader. It is also worth mentioning the quality of the edition itself, as Fabryka Słów did a great job. It’s been a long time since I have seen such a nice cover, which itself promises a great story in the atmosphere of good old fantasy. It gets even better once you start reading it. These horrific at first hundreds of pages flit in no time as the reader is immersed in James Islington’s story. The Australian writer managed to do something that I have not experienced in a long time. He created a deep, engaging and innovative fantasy, which is really impressive in the times of redundancy and renewing old motifs.

 A bit like Hogwarts!

 At the very beginning of the novel, we meet Davian – a young Gifted (a man with magical powers) who studies magic at school for exams that determine his future. I don’t know about other readers, but at that point the novel immediately began to remind me of Hogwarts stories. How much did my impression change when the first crimes happened here … The book, which I approached as a typical representative of a young adult , quickly turned into a perfect example of dark fantasy. Davian and his friend must immediately evacuate the “safe” sanctuary when death and destruction remain behind their backs. The fate of the whole world depends on their missions, or at least this is the version that young travelers hear. Nothing is as it seems at the beginning, no one can be trusted, and the hero may turn out to be the one who seemed to be the weakest.

Predictable this Davian …

Let’s start with the one drawback of the Lost World Shadowwhich I noticed while reading. These are slightly shallow, one-dimensional characters. Moreover, James Islington has a rather annoying tendency to mix up the narrative in such a way that once we observe the action through Davian’s eyes, then we turn to the mind of his friend, Wirr. It is difficult to get close to the characters, as they are rather not very characteristic, at least when it comes to the foreground ones. The other heroes fare slightly better compared to them. It is worth mentioning, however, that the writer managed to avoid redundancy, which is really difficult these days, especially in the case of fantasy literature. Islington has two more volumes of his trilogy to develop the characters of the main characters, so we should not delete Davian just yet.

 A world that has not been in fantasy for a long time

Glory goes to Islington for the land he created in the Shadow of the Lost World . The dark, culturally rich continent, full of cruel and prejudiced inhabitants, makes the reader eager to learn all its secrets. Of course, at the beginning of the book, we get a map that is classic for fantasy literature, which allows you to find out where the characters are while reading. What makes the world of Islington different? First of all, it is really brutal. I did not expect it at the beginning of reading, and after a while my expectations were collided with the bloody wall of reality in the Licanius Trilogy. Unexpectedly cut throats, cruel monsters murdering people without reflection, murders in the service of faith to a given deity. The novel is full of the shocking and unexpected violence that is so abundant in the history of the world we live in every day. We should not be happy about this fact, but undeniably such a plot of the book gives it a huge dose of realism, although a very dark version of it.

Works of art between chapters

One should also mention the element without which the reading of the Polish edition of Shadow of the Lost World would not be the same. These are illustrations by Dominik Brońek. Dark, shades of gray drawings play a great role in building the atmosphere of this novel. The Polish edition, for which Fabryka Słów is responsible, is a real gift for both readers and James Islington himself. The wonderful cover and unique illustrations enhance the positive impressions of communing with the novel.

Give us a follow-up!

Shadow of the Lost World is the type of novel that initially terrifies with its volume – only to then mercilessly draw the reader in. The poor person who reads must then follow the fate of the heroes with flushed face until the last page. Clearly outlined politics of fictional states, intricate court intrigues, magic and fencing duels – James Islington gives us all this in an unprecedented form. Now we can only wait for the next volumes of the Licanius Trilogy .