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Fifth Millenium
Shadow's Daughter
After Megan's father's entanglement in court politics leaves her family penniless, they are forced to move into literally the lowest section of the city. It takes backbone the strength of steel to find triumph in adversity, and in F'talezon it takes more--it takes magic. But Megan learns to survive--and becomes a hero in the process.
323 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 2, 2012
Wonderful world setting, and you really get to know the characters like you have been friends and familiy with them for years. So much depth and emotion is in this story that you find yourself really relating to the characters and rooting for them to pull through and avoid the tragedies that befall them. An excellent book to curl up with, and you won't want to put it down.
August 12, 2022
3.5 stars, rounded down.
I feel like I need to add a trigger warning: this book contains the physical and sexual abuse of children - it's not detailed but is present, so if you find this sort of thing troubling give this book a swerve.
I read most of the Fifth Millennium books way back when. This one is about the childhood of one of the two main characters, Megan (later Megan Whitlock) and shows us how she became the character she does. Re-reading it now, I was struck by how unrelentingly grim it was. I swear, from Megan getting picked on by bullies when she starts school at age four (why do all MCs get picked on at school? Why aren't they ever part of the popular set?), the story just gets worse and worse for her. There were times when I was thinking 'come on, author; give this kid a break!'
In all honesty I wasn't too keen on this one; it was just too grim and downbeat for me; Robin Hobb is another author who isn't afraid to hurt her characters, but at least Fitz had the Fool and Nighteyes in his corner to give him moment of love and laughter; apart from one or two kindly teachers and her younger cousin, once her parents die Megan has no one, and seeing her life descend from that of a normal, happy child to... well, what it becomes is pretty depressing and in all honesty it's not exciting misfortune, if that makes sense: some characters lose it all in ways that have you on the edge of your seat; this was more of a constant grinding down, and things getting worse and harder to bear.
Unless you're the kind of person who has to read every volume in a series, I would say you could skip this and Snowbrother without missing anything. The main volumes, Saber and Shadow and The Cage, stand perfectly well on their own.
As an aside, I think the cover by Larry Elmore is absolutely gorgeous; he did a lovely job with all of these books, and it was certainly one of the main reason why I originally picked them up.
I feel like I need to add a trigger warning: this book contains the physical and sexual abuse of children - it's not detailed but is present, so if you find this sort of thing troubling give this book a swerve.
I read most of the Fifth Millennium books way back when. This one is about the childhood of one of the two main characters, Megan (later Megan Whitlock) and shows us how she became the character she does. Re-reading it now, I was struck by how unrelentingly grim it was. I swear, from Megan getting picked on by bullies when she starts school at age four (why do all MCs get picked on at school? Why aren't they ever part of the popular set?), the story just gets worse and worse for her. There were times when I was thinking 'come on, author; give this kid a break!'
In all honesty I wasn't too keen on this one; it was just too grim and downbeat for me; Robin Hobb is another author who isn't afraid to hurt her characters, but at least Fitz had the Fool and Nighteyes in his corner to give him moment of love and laughter; apart from one or two kindly teachers and her younger cousin, once her parents die Megan has no one, and seeing her life descend from that of a normal, happy child to... well, what it becomes is pretty depressing and in all honesty it's not exciting misfortune, if that makes sense: some characters lose it all in ways that have you on the edge of your seat; this was more of a constant grinding down, and things getting worse and harder to bear.
Unless you're the kind of person who has to read every volume in a series, I would say you could skip this and Snowbrother without missing anything. The main volumes, Saber and Shadow and The Cage, stand perfectly well on their own.
As an aside, I think the cover by Larry Elmore is absolutely gorgeous; he did a lovely job with all of these books, and it was certainly one of the main reason why I originally picked them up.
September 14, 2012
I picked this one up at a garage sale. It was a great surprise, it's been years since I read it, but I still fondly think of the strong character in the story. It's getting near a re-read time, so I can't get into specifics, but anyone looking for a good fantasy book would like this one. It also has a great strong female protagonists.
January 17, 2024
Without a doubt the best book in the series. Unfortunately I feel like it (mostly) declines from here, but this book alone is incredible.
July 20, 2018
Excellent origin story for Megan.
May 30, 2015
Good Points:
· Interesting universe
o Supposed to be a post-apocalyptic universe in the year 5000? So Wiki tells me. Magic/psionic abilities.
· Poly couples!
o I will be honest, I picked this book up because it was on a polyamorous reclist and I’ve been craving poly. Despite the fact that Megan, our main, isn’t directly involved in a poly relationship and neither her parents or aunt are there are several mentions of other characters who are in poly relationships. To the Zaks, at least, poly and queer relationships are part of life.
o Quads seem to be relatively mainstreet with triads and at one point a six-person marriage mentioned (but Megan might just have been using that as an exaggeration).
· Despite the awful things happening around her and to other people Megan makes it most of the way through the book before awful things begin directly affecting her.
· Supportive parents/teachers.
Bad Points:
· I keep forgetting how young Megan is.
o It’s not a problem at first, we start out the book when she’s around 4, but as the book goes on Megan’s voice becomes more mature and it’s hard to remember that she’s, oh, prepubescent when she loses her virginity.
§ It’s only oral but still.
o She’s still a pre-teen when she’s raped.
o Pretty sure, though I can’t find the page, that she’s 14 when she bears her first child which means she ends the book at the ripe old age of 16.
o Oh and she maims a guy when she’s like 12.
· Megan’s rape doesn’t happen till about 75% through the novel and I, stupidly, thought that after all of the awful things that had already happened to her she’d be safe from that but no, no, I should have known better.
Triggers:
· Abuse (physical and emotional from Megan’s aunt to her cousin and later to Megan herself)
· Alcoholism
· Drug addiction
· Kidnapping/Loss of Child
· Slavery
· Pedophilia
· Rape (specifically the rape of a minor)
· Unwanted Pregnancy
· Interesting universe
o Supposed to be a post-apocalyptic universe in the year 5000? So Wiki tells me. Magic/psionic abilities.
· Poly couples!
o I will be honest, I picked this book up because it was on a polyamorous reclist and I’ve been craving poly. Despite the fact that Megan, our main, isn’t directly involved in a poly relationship and neither her parents or aunt are there are several mentions of other characters who are in poly relationships. To the Zaks, at least, poly and queer relationships are part of life.
o Quads seem to be relatively mainstreet with triads and at one point a six-person marriage mentioned (but Megan might just have been using that as an exaggeration).
· Despite the awful things happening around her and to other people Megan makes it most of the way through the book before awful things begin directly affecting her.
· Supportive parents/teachers.
Bad Points:
· I keep forgetting how young Megan is.
o It’s not a problem at first, we start out the book when she’s around 4, but as the book goes on Megan’s voice becomes more mature and it’s hard to remember that she’s, oh, prepubescent when she loses her virginity.
§ It’s only oral but still.
o She’s still a pre-teen when she’s raped.
o Pretty sure, though I can’t find the page, that she’s 14 when she bears her first child which means she ends the book at the ripe old age of 16.
o Oh and she maims a guy when she’s like 12.
· Megan’s rape doesn’t happen till about 75% through the novel and I, stupidly, thought that after all of the awful things that had already happened to her she’d be safe from that but no, no, I should have known better.
Triggers:
· Abuse (physical and emotional from Megan’s aunt to her cousin and later to Megan herself)
· Alcoholism
· Drug addiction
· Kidnapping/Loss of Child
· Slavery
· Pedophilia
· Rape (specifically the rape of a minor)
· Unwanted Pregnancy
September 10, 2024
As a young writer, Shadow's Daughter taught me that there really were no boundaries when it came to character. First, the main characters were women in what were primarily male roles. Next, they were more than competent (pretty mind bending at the time). Third, the female protagonists were lovers. That last one was the first time I had read anything anywhere that featured main characters who were gay. All these years later, I remember the big reveal about their relationship. I sat back and said, "Whoah ...! You can do that ...?" Then went back to read that part again, just in case I misread it. I've come to expect similar elements from Meier that push the envelope and give the rest of us permission to do the same. Recommended!
September 4, 2015
I read this book when I was in high school over a decade ago. I barely remember what happened in it or anything. I just remember it was good and I wanted to read the sequel. I waited and waited and the library never got the sequel and I never saw it in the bookstore either. Today, I decided to search for it and see if I could at least find it and mark it as something to read at some point. It took minutes (it helps that I never forgot the title of the sequel I wanted to read).
I <3 Goodreads. :)
I <3 Goodreads. :)
July 27, 2012
Too much pseudo-Russian to no purpose. Good character development
but life changing events seem to happen w/o purpose.
but life changing events seem to happen w/o purpose.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews