Fallen Heroes

Unseen Shadows

by Barry Nugent

A stalker of demons and legends, a pair of master criminals, a teenager on the brink of madness and a man forever cursed with the desire for vengeance. They are all pawns in a plan set in motion over nine centuries before their birth. Pursued across the globe by enemies both human and supernatural they must overcome their mistrust of each other and uncover the truth before it destroys them all. 'Fallen Heroes is a stylish debut filled with sparkling characters in a skilfully drawn adventure that heralds the arrival of a bright new talent.'- James Barclay

Genres: Fantasy, Thriller

Paperback

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

I'm Barry Nugent, an author of supernatural adventures and the creative force behind the Unseen Shadows Universe, which expands the world and characters from my novels across multiple platforms.

I'm also the co-host on the Geek Syndicate podcast, that takes a humorous look at pop culture. The success of the podcast led me to present two documentaries for the BBC.

I live in sunny Northampton (well sometimes it is) with my wife and two cats. We've done our fair share of travelling which has definitely helped with the globetrotting aspects of my stories.

Reviews

[Liis]

DNF @ 34%
started off good... when 'fantasy' element kicked in, I just didn't feel it anymore. My bad!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book and looking back I'm not entirely sure what happened. It focuses on a group of fallen heroes and criminals attempting to save the world from a cult that dates back to the age of the crusades. It's an interesting mix of action-adventure and fantasy, kind of reminding me of the work of Jonathan Maberry.

The best part of this is the characterisation. You've got Ben, known as renowned thief The Hand and his ex-navy partner Steph, Luther, spy for TORCH, the Reverend, a former vicar turned vigilante and Napoleon Stone, an investigator of the unknown. There's also assorted others and each one is a well out together and believable character, and most of them are quite likeable despite their flaws.

The trouble with this book is the ensemble cast. It wastes no time getting into the main plot and cleverly brings the character together eventually but I felt we needed longer to know some of the characters. I was struggling to remember who was who and I also found that with some of the dialogue it was really difficult to work out who was speaking.

The other issue I had was that I don't really know what happened. The fantasy elements seemed fairly unnecessary- it would have been better if they had just been a powerful cult without the fantasy powers.

It's good fun and is not that far away from being a great novel but it doesn't quite work as well as it could do.

[thistle]

Good characterization and a fair bit of wit. I'm not sure what to make of naming the ancient evil Cademus (we shall fall! hurray for us?), but as thrillers go this one kept my attention fairly well. One could read it as a supers game, which enables handwaving away most of the plot holes endemic to thrillers in general. There's room for a sequel. There's room for line editing (grammar).

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun action paced supernatural thriller with a host of memorable characters trying to save the world

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/ha...

[Ben Aaronovitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like mad pulpy goodness that's full of wit and invention than this is the book for you.