Shadow of the Knife

Celaeno #1

by Jane Fletcher

Militia rookie Ellen Mittal is well aware that the world cannot be reduced to simple questions of black and white, but she has no idea of just how complex and dangerous her life is about to become. The most vicious gang in the Homelands, led by the infamous Butcher, is extending its operations to Roadsend. By her oath as a member of the Militia, Ellen is sworn to uphold the rule of law, no matter what the cost to herself. But as the body count starts to rise, Ellen finds her task made all the harder by a wall of silence from ordinary citizens, a commanding officer with her head in the sand, and the attentions of an attractive young farmer who is probably not who she claims to be.

Ellen must work out who to trust, because if she gets it wrong she might easily lose her heart, or her life.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Lesbian, Queer, Science Fiction, Romance, Lesbian Fiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2008

About the author

Jane Fletcher is a GCLS award-winning writer and has also been short-listed for the Gaylactic Spectrum and Lambda Literary awards. She is author of two ongoing sets of fantasy/romance novels: the Celaeno series—The Walls of Westernfort, Rangers at Roadsend, The Temple at Landfall, Dynasty of Rogues, and Shadow of the Knife; and the Lyremouth Chronicles—The Exile and The Sorcerer, The Traitor and The Chalice, The Empress and The Acolyte, and The High Priest and the Idol.

Her love of fantasy began at the age of seven when she encountered Greek Mythology. This was compounded by a childhood spent clambering over every example of ancient masonry she could find (medieval castles, megalithic monuments, Roman villas). Her resolute ambition was to become an archaeologist when she grew up, so it was something of a surprise when she became a software engineer instead.

Born in Greenwich, London, in 1956, she now lives in southwest England where she keeps herself busy writing both computer software and fiction, although generally not at the same time.

Reviews

[Lex Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

2017 April Edit: Goodreads has finally put these books in correct chronological order. This is a prequel, so technically book 1, even though it was written long after the others. I thought this book was the least successful of the series, with not a great ending. So people could skip this and start with book 2 Rangers. If you do start here, just don't give up on the series if you don't care for this. The rest of the series is so much better!

This is the first book of this series that I have read. Since it was suppose to be a prequel I thought I'd start here. Not sure if it was the best idea or not as there was not much world building and "why's" answered. However, I really enjoyed the book and would have given it 5 stars if not for the last 1/4 of it. For me it fell down from there. I just could not understand why Ellen was so obsessed with Hal. Why her love was beyond reason to what horrific things she was enduring. It just wasn't believable and annoyed me. Not to mention the ending was pretty disappointing. I am going to give the other books a chance, since the majority of this book was good. But, If they all take a nosedive in the end like this, I probably won't get through this series.

Edit: I have just finished book 2 in chronological order Rangers at Roadsend. And I am so glad I went with reading the books in chrono order. Some of the story-lines left hanging from Shadow was now answered in Rangers. Plus so much character motivation of why people did what they did in Rangers is because of things that happened in Shadow. So the story of Rangers flowed perfectly for me and I really enjoyed it! Also, the book of Rangers ends in the Temple. And the next book Chronologically is The Temple at Landfall, so I really think I'm onto something with this chronologically reading order. I would recommend other new readers to read the books this way also! If you want the chronological order, Jane Fletcher has it on her website.

[Alealea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely one of the best story of the serie !
There was no mystery (not really) for me because I read them on publication order, so already knew the main events and minor characters.
It didn't spoil the reading at all.
The main character was so interesting ! She does some pretty complicated choices and it's hard to believe she's what ? seventeen ? eighteen ?
The romantic relationship was very hot ! Sparks and all.

But the end is heartwrenching. And beautiful.

I really wished there was more. I guess I will just add the whole serie in my yearly rereading list for now ;)

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unlike the previous Celaeno books, Shadow of the Knife isn't as romance-heavy. It also doesn't feature a Ranger as a protagonist, which is surprisingly refreshing. But it doesn't focus on the more SF aspects of the series and fails to mention 1.) the method of reproduction in this world (i.e. Through an Implanter) and 2.) why there are only women in this world. This often leaves the newcomers to this series confused, especially if they have not read the previous books in the series before deciding to pick up this one. In fact, the author has made the premise for this series quite solid before. Perhaps that is why she has decidedly excluded the tedious explanations (since this IS the fifth book of the series) since her fans no longer needed the explanation. This, too, is refreshing.

The Butcher and her gang was mentioned before in Rangers at Roadsend, though really as a backstory of Katryn's backstory. This means that, chronologically, this is set before the third book and before Bergstrom's tragic downfall. It focuses on Ellen, Valerie Bergstrom's friend in the Militia, and her instrumental role in the Knives defeat. The romance in this book in unlike that of any other in the series. It is not as light and as sweet and as hell-bent towards Happily Ever After. Shadow of the Knife is easily the most dark and tragic of the Celaeno series. Because of this, I should have hated Shadow of the Knife right from the get-go. But I don't. I hate that I love this book. I really do.

[Red Haircrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I’d read books by Jane Fletcher before, I initially had difficulty getting into this novel. Granted, it was the fifth book released in the Celaeno series but it actually takes place earlier in the timeline, so it’s a “prequel” of sorts. I usually don’t have a problem accepting new ideas, scenes and storylines, and didn’t with “Shadow of the Knife”. In fact, I actually like being “dropped” into a new world and have to figure things out as I go. Don’t be put-off by the series numbers however, for each are stated as being capable of “standing alone.”

One thing I really appreciate about Jane Fletcher’s writing is the level of professionalism and attention to detail which keeps the plot focused. No random scenes or occurrences are simply inserted for effect, nor are emotions too extreme to accept. Sometimes there are aspects of the characters I might find personally exasperating, or a facet of the romantic scenes which I question, but I respect the writer’s vision.

The pace is progressive, balanced, with no real lags in action and a very fine climax after a clear build-up in action. I found main character, Ellen Mittal believable in the face of the escalating violence and deceptions, though I found her love interest, Hal, more compelling. I liked the intrigue of a kind of anti-hero, and the thought-provoking ending would certainly inspire readers to read the other books in the series. I eventually found “Shadow of the Knife” to be well-worth the read.

Originally posted at the review/interview site http://flyingwithredhaircrow.wordpres...

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here are the interesting parts of this book:
- there don't seem to be any men in the society at all, not even as minor characters, relatives etc
- queerness is assumed, everyone has 2 mothers, everyone dates women, etc
- women are villains and heroes and everything else
- it's sort of swashbuckly and fantasty/scifi-ish

so you'd think i'd like it right? but sadly the writing is rather poor. most of the book seems to be exposition & narration, although interestingly (or, rather, NOT interestingly) there's no exposition of why there are no men around, how exactly the women are having kids, etc. Which seems like it would be the most interesting part to me, not all this silly stuff about people stealing sheep. i don't care about sheep.

I wish i could give it an extra half star for effort though.

[Bitterblue]

Last part was poop.

[Amanda Rosado · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought the plot was wonderful, the universe full of hinted-at lore, and the characters were great - except for the protag and her love interest. I have never in my life heard of a case of Stockholm syndrome as severe as this. While at first I could chalk up the protag's unwavering devotion to her youth, near the climax of the book it becomes completely unbelievable, harmful, and to me personally, disgusting. I have never been so disappointed by how a protagonist reacted to torture, nor how a love interest reacted to the protagonist being tortured.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, the love interest is a real lowlife

[Veronika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d say this is a solid 3.5. I think I only got really into it in the second half of the book, the characters didn’t impress me much but I did grow fond of the main character and one of her militia colleagues.

I decided to read the series in chronological order so this was the first book in the line for me. The mystery got pretty engaging eventually even if at the beginning “grand theft sheep” didn’t sound too exciting.

I wish there were more tidbits to help figure out how the world works. I know it’s a planet full of women, living in medieval-like society but possibly with some advanced technology that allows “cloning” and “imprinting” and some fantasy-like elements. There’s a mention of several branches of the military, a goddess seems to be worshipped, the planet has multiple moons but there’s not much else that I gleaned off. Maybe you get more when you read the books as they were published. This is why I usually prefer a culturally diverse cast because it gives the writer a way to work in some good old-fashioned exposition without it coming off as forced.

The one thing I didn’t care for much was the romance. I didn’t really see a reason for the characters to fall for each other except that they found each other hot and there were some consent dynamics that I would have found intriguing to read about if this was a longer book with more room for self-reflection but here they felt just kind of mentioned in passing and brushed off. Then again, it does leave you with something to think about.

I’m really curious to see if the other books dive more into the inner workings of an all-female society so I’m still definitely planning to start the next book.

[zilby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for the series (no spoilers):

I loved this series and it's definitely one I'll reread! The world is populated with women due to a botched colonization attempt (sort of), and has reverted to a somewhat medieval level of development (basically standard fantasy level).

Each book has a self contained plot, and the later books have an overarching story that develops through them. Characters reappear between books, but each book has a new protagonist (and romance) to explore different aspects of the world. Each book also has a romance, and while it's fairly central it doesn't interfere with the plot (and often combines with the plot really effectively!) Which is a lot of words to say that they're just really good and I liked them! And also they work really well as a series, and I really wish there were like eight more books in the series.

I also can't express how refreshing it was to read a book with lesbian relationships that were treated realistically and normally. So much of the time they're treated as sexy secrets, or angsty coming out stories or just ridiculously idealized ("most pure precious form of love uwu") - and that's before you even get into homophobic nonsense. In this world, they're just the only type of relationship that exists, and just as good and bad as any other type of relationship: sometimes they're great and other times they suck, and sometimes they're settled and stable and other times they're a total disaster. I credit the author being an older lesbian for this - she clearly knows what's up. (To be clear: I'm also a lesbian.) Usually I find romances in books very irritating, and these books were such a breath of fresh air.

The first (chronological) book wasn't that great - I'd recommend either skipping it or reading it after the 2nd book. It's basically a prequel to the events of the 2nd book and doesn't really have an impact on the rest of the series.

3 stars for the first book, 4 stars for the others, but 5 for the overall series. I think the third was my favorite, though possibly I just liked that main character/romance the best. Highly recommended!

[Anitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was really bizarre for me. I admit this was my first attempt at reading a lesbian fantasy novel (albeit accidentally), so I'm not really sure what I should have been expecting.
I should probably explain that the Celaeno universe is all female.... even down to the animals I think, there is a lot of reference to cloned sheep and with humans there are birth mothers and 'gene mothers'.
The love story was also bizarre, **SPOILER ALERT** Ellen seemed uncomfortably addicted to the woman who betrayed her, to the extent where they even had sex after Ellen found out the depth of her betrayal. This kind of turned me off the main character for the rest of the novel, but having to think back on it for this review, I wonder if it made me so uncomfortable because it reminded me too closely of real life, where some women go back to their abusers more often than not. **END OF SPOILER**

Other that all of that, this was a fairly standard military fantasy, smart kid from a poor background joins the local police force, finds her superiors incompetent so almost single-handedly cracks a major crime ring with just her wits and superhuman ability to bounce back from being beaten up.

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I have to say, if you're thinking of starting this series and you're going to start with this one because it's the first chronologically: don't. Definitely read this series in the order that they were published. At the very least, read The Temple at Landfall first and then do what you want. This book has no set-up for the over arching world/story and if you drop into it here you'll probably end up confused and annoyed.

As for the actual book, I'm honestly too sad to write an actual review but overall: I really liked it. I loved the characters, (yeah, both of them) I loved the plot, and as always, I love this world.

I was hoping sooooo badly for a surprise a happy ending and I was so gutted when I didn't get it. I definitely liked Hal less when I realised she as actually fully invested in her cousin's gang, but I still really do love her as a character, and I wanted her to try to run away with Ellen soooo badly. But the way everything was set up, it couldn't have happened. God, poor Ellen. :( GOD this book made me so sad.

Really glad that I read this series.

[Commander · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a wild ride. As I expect the author wamted, the ending drew a few tears from me,the book was good enough to make me read it all in the span of three days, but the ending did not leave me satisfied at all, it is a "sad" ending, but not in the sense one or I in particular would want. Hal betrayed Ellen, she lied to her, she used her, she somewhat abused her. The fact that Ellen bore more love than hate for Hal at the very end is unrealistic and sounds more like a trope thing than a tool to make a sad ending to a sad story. I'm going to read the next book in the series, and I really hope the ending is different.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as I found the rest of this series to be almost okay, I hated this one. The relationship depicted raised many red flags screaming abuse from the beginning, and devolved into Stockholm syndrome in the last part, in an effort to depict the love interest as not utterly evilTM despite her choices in life, which fails miserably in its simplistic-ness and superficiality. I was also never involved in the main conflict, and found all the supposed twists to be obvious almost as soon as they were introduced.

[Rahnuma Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 star
this book surely the slow book i mean I have struggle to read it... but the problem is with me I hardly leave book unread and this book make me some how angry or I can say irritated haha but after 170 or so I like the book that the only time I read it with intrest without yawning 😂 so it's over all nice I guess hehe I don't know when I'm going to read other from this series for sure

[Artemis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tragic love story, the deception, the uncertain fate... God, this ending is killing me.

[CK529 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book overall until it got to the end. I'm just not buying the romance part of it at the end at all.

[Dide · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 star rating
Having read one of this series prior, I have to admit this author knows her craft. There is much intrigues, memorable characters and plots to keep you going to the very last page.

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love lesbians

[wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

sad. bad ending

[Angharad James · Rating 5 out of 5]

definitely one of my favourites in the series it constantly keeps you guessing

[Inky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Torture sucker punch. A sick book disguised as romance until late in the story. There should be a list. In fact I will make a list.

[Jami · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading Shadow of the Knife early 2010, and after putting it down for several long spells, I finally managed to finish it in the beginning of December. So, in theory, I feel like this is a book I should like. There are lesbian protagonists and antagonists, action, murders, a bit of suspense, some romance, believable characters. With regard to the plot, the book is technically correct, all of the story elements fleshed out appropriately. The climax was pretty intense, and the book didn't end happily ever after. Those are all points in the book's favor, so why did I still feel so disinterested about the story in general?

One of the immediate things you notice about the world Fletcher has created is that all the characters in this land are female. Not just female, but lesbian. Interesting. Okay, I figured, I'll play along provided you eventually explain this odd phenomenon later. And that became one of my major expectations. Women can't reproduce naturally, so it was difficult for me to suspend my disbelief and be comfortable with the fact that there are no men, and reproduction involves some type of outside intervention. Maybe this is explained in one of Fletcher's other books, for even though Shadow is marked Book 1 of the Celaeno Series and comes first on the timeline, it's not the first book published in the series, making it more of a prequel. Nonetheless, it's one of the only things I wish she could've resolved, and it doesn't get addressed.

The main conflict of the story -- stolen sheep and the murder of minor characters I don't care about -- never grabbed me that much. I even had a hard time caring a lot about the protagonist, Militia rookie Ellen Mittal. So for some reason I just couldn't get as interested in her life and drama as I should have been. I felt lukewarm about her attraction to Hal, and I had a strong suspicion right from the beginning that Hal wasn't who she claimed to be, thereby making any flirtatious scenes between the two of them a little boring and inconsequential. The sexy bits were nice, and eventually we learn that Hal does have true feelings for Ellen, despite her initial deceptions . . . but it wasn't enough to save the book overall. Things picked up a little in the end, and as twisted as this may sound, I got more interested during the torture scenes. Probably because this was the first time it felt like Ellen was in true danger, that she might not survive, and all the while Hal's betrayal was tormenting her mind.

On the writing itself: it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either. It's hard to put my finger on what would improve the prose, since like I said, the book is technically correct, but it seems to be missing that extra spark. Ultimately, for my own experience, I'd give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. But I also have to acknowledge that part of the reason why I didn't enjoy this book is because it wasn't quite the book I wanted to read, and to some degree I can't fault the author for that.

[F. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the whole series apart from this one. I’d recommend reading them all, and in order of publication. Not in chronological order. If I had started with this one, I’d have given up on a wonderful series of books and not read any of the others.

The reason I dislike this one so much is how awful the characters are. I wanted to take the protagonist by the shoulders and shake her before sitting down and having a long talk about healthy relationships. Sadly neither I - nor anyone in the book - got to have that talk. Very frustrating.

[Codrus · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars, and while I'm not sure it's my favorite Jane Fletcher book, it is her best written. It does not follow the usual trope; you'll think it is, but it will not.

For those seeking closure, see inside the spoiler.

I think Hal truly loved Ellan, not because I want it to be so, but for two reasons. First, Hal made a mistake the way she stood on the porch, frozen, trying to think of how to save her love who had turned and was now coming to her doom. Hal absolutely could not let The Butcher know what she really felt for Ellan, because Ellan would have died as an object lesson: Don't get involved emotionally with the marks! And Hal knew this.

There was only one hope she had of seeing her love survive what was about to happen, and that was to be the best actress she had ever been. She even had to fool Ellan, or Ellan may have done something foolish, such as not leaving alone. I even think Hal was willing to die with her love having the incorrect belief that her loved was returned--just so long as her love, Ellan, lived in some way; a monumental sacrifice who's act evinces that it really is love.

The second supporting reason is the fact that Hal never told Ellan of the escape ruse. There isn't another good reason for her having not done this other than as an effort to save her love, because for any other reason she would have told Ellan. Hal also likely knew she was going to be watched or at the center-point of things too much for her to be sneaking out or hiding. She knew she was going to be dying, so she wanted just one thing.

Lastly, the chances of Hal having survived are nil, not with the Ranger's best trackers there, like Ash. The trackers would have combed the whole valley to make sure none of the gang got away. Combine that with the number of Rangers that descended upon it, there really is no way.

In closing, personally, I would have looked at the bodies to see if Hal was among them--I would have just had to know!--but I can understand Ellan's choice. In her way it would be two or three years after the event that Ellan would finally have to begin to admit that Hal was not alive, for if she had been she likely would have showed back up once things had cooled. Those first years would be the worst, and her believing Hal could still be out there somewhere, breathing and alive, would have helped immeasurably, taking benefit from time's healing hands before finally having to face the devastating pain.


I think the author did a good job of creating this situation which had us thinking for days afterward. Consider a moment: if this book had ended with the usual happy ending trope, it would have been forgotten within the time it took to reach for a next book. So, while I always want happy endings, this was well done.

[Voronwer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reason I'm not giving this a two is mainly because I'd rated books that were far worse than this with two stars so it didn't feel fair clumping it in with those. That said, this was the least engaging book for me in the series. Strange because it actually lacked the eyerolling world building expositions from the former books. Sadly, that just proved how lazy and how much of a cop-out it is to build up a fantasy world and then decide you don't want to do the fancy world building so you come up with a handwavey way of just borrowing everything from our world (like tic-tac-toe and American football).

I admit that a lot of my desire to continue reading vanished when I realised that the book would deal with an event previously talked about in one of the books. So you already know how this will turn out and how part of the conclusion won't happen in this book. The author does manage to deal with it and keep the plot interesting enough without giving you too much of an "I know what will happen" feeling (at least in the 'I already read this' way).

It was nice getting to see more of the Militia in this book and I think that's the part that I liked best. Still, the book failed to truly engage me. I liked the characters well enough, but I fell some disconnect with the romance story. Especially when it advances and we get the sex scene and love declarations during Ellen's abduction. Those scenes really didn't sit well with me and were far too unbelievable. I'm sorry, but when someone has been tortured, is sore and has injuries everywhere, then I don't think a sex scene fits very well. I get it, I do. The author wants to show that the feelings can't be helped and that it's the one nice thing in a shitty situation, but... No, just no. Especially not when it starts out feeling forced. That's when I zoned out and failed to remain invested in this book.

[Alena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes. Latest one in Jane Fletcher's Celaeno series, and so far the best I've read.

Chronologically it takes place before the others, but it's the latest one she's written.

It's a really gripping tale of intrigue and crime, taking place in the town of Roadsend. The evil fought in this novel comes in the shape of Mad Butcher and her Knives, a gang of thieves and murderers who already terrorized another town and are now expanding their business to Roadsend. The main character is a young Militia woman still on probation who gets tangled up in a web of lies and deceit that's very well written. We learn a lot about her and her family and thus more about the life on this planet.

What tickled me most was that romance was not the main aspect of this story. It's not entirely without, but you also don't know after the reading the first pages that the characters featured so far are going to end up together at the end of the book.

I'm a bit hesitant to read the remaining two books I have left, as according to the back blurb they're heavy on the romance again (I thought Fletcher dealt well with the story-telling in the previous books I've read, but they were a wee bit too centered on romance for my taste, especially when comparing them to this one). But if this latest is a promise of more to come in this series I'm really looking forward to it.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the other books in this series, and I did like this book, but reader beware, etc. The themes of this book are significantly darker than the other Celaeno books and the relationship is as well.

The whole story is told from Ellen's point of view, and it's a story we already know bits of: The Butcher and her Knives and the ambush of the 12th.

The problem is that there's rape, and I don't just mean the attempted rape that is clearly presented for what it was, but rape where the narrator (Ellen) is conflicted but doesn't think of it as rape. She's under extreme duress and says stop at least twice and is told, while being touched in ways that feel good after having earlier been physically abused, threatened, humiliated, and then forced into back-breaking labor, that if she says stop one more time then the other will stop. This is not freely given consent, but it's also easy to see why Ellen herself can't think of it in those terms. No where does an objective voice weigh in on it at all and what the narrator does think about it seems to be very conflicted but with a desire to protect the other, all of which are disturbingly understandable given everything she's gone through.

The author does not excuse this behavior and, I believe, handles it well if uncomfortably.

It's a good book, but read at your own risk.

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good introduction to this author and this series universe. Quite 'deep' and detailed universe. Solid characters. Good bit of action/mystery/etc. Someone looking for romance should look elsewhere, though there's a bit of that mixed in.

I was quite happy with the story, at least I was until I suddenly realized that I rather liked how everything turned out. Then realized there was somewhere between 30 to 40% more of the book to read. That's . . . almost never a good sign, heh. And yeah, things turned . . . well, turned. Things rapidly shifted into a new angle and a bit of torture and the like invaded the land.

Still, I enjoyed the book. Felt like a solid 4 star book up to that point, and was so after that bit of nastiness.

I already own the rest of the books in the series, and nothing I read will keep me from reading the next.

December 17 2016

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one fourth in the Celaeno series, but it comes first chronologically (in terms of the over-arching and crossing storylines in the series as well as in terms of publication).

This one is a bit of a surprise. I'm glad I didn't read this one first. More and better sex scenes than the previous few that I read, but not a happy ending. I actually loved that about it, but maybe not what most are looking for when they go and pick up a lesbian romance.

Also, this is the first one I read that didn't have an awesome world-building epilogue at the end, and that's become my favorite part of the books.

Still, a great read - it's another mystery plot line, and this one related to the mystery in Rangers at Roadsend. I'm really glad actually that I read that one first, and then this one as a sort of prequel, instead of in the correct order.