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Swift-Shadow Murders
A sorcerer missing. A man murdered. A noble heir missing. All these travesties have struck the land of Arvois where Seonag and her young brother have ventured in the hopes of finding their dear friend Marculf. As they set out to find their long lost friend who left some months before their own arrival, the last thing that the lovely young woman expected was to find true love in those parts with the noblest knight to ever wander through the green County of Arvois.
179 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 22, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 5, 2025
What first drew me to The Swift-Shadow Murders was the cover—and because I knew the author had a good reputation of being an avid historian and an anti-modernist. After all, who wouldn't want to read of fair maidens wooed by brave knights, fierce jousting tournaments, and ogres with a reputation of benevolent and powerful sorcerers?
THE SETTING
What is interesting to mention is that, though this is clearly a fantasy book, the mythological elements don't wander too far off historical reality. The setting is a mythological version of Gaul, the Roman province that encompassed much of modern France, which is here called the Kingdom of Gallia (Le Royaume de Gallia). We also have a mythologized version of England called Brittia, and the island that Brittia belongs to is called Bretwealda.
Our two main characters are from the island of Bretwealda. They are in fact from the northern kingdom of Norwend. Norwend is to the north of Caledonia.
NEW MYTHOLOGICAL RACES
Within this mythological world we might encounter popular fantastic races like elves, dwarves, and ogres. But also, the author, in a bold and welcomed move, introduces new races like the tigruns (feline-folk), the ratvians (rodent-folk), and the wolframs (canine-folk). When I asked Chaput about these new mythological races he replied:
“The idea was to expand the number of races, if only to add our own little touch to the genre and to have fun. We like cats and dogs, so put 'em in. The idea was to also force us to expand the history we're building so that it is larger and more spanning than before. Each race has its own origin point and own history so of course this means that adding a new race means we need to invent a backstory, mythology, customs, traditions and how they interact with the world around them.”
PLOT
We find ourselves following the adventures of beautiful maid Seonag and her younger but brave brother Ruaidhri, as they venture into Gallia on a rescue mission to find their mentor and teacher, the ogre sorcerer Marculf. Marculf is rumored to have been kidnapped by the legendary brigand Vifombre, whose ghost has been rumored to have come back after decades of being presumed dead. In their quest to find Marculf, Seonag and Ruaidhri end up at the court of Comte Pierre D’Arvois, during the customary jousting tournament he holds every year. And so it goes, that as the dark shadow of Vifombre looms over the land, our two young protagonists find themselves in the midst of the excitement of the town of Arvon, where festivities are taking place. Their skills at striking alliances and finding favor with the Comte and the brave knights in attendance will prove crucial in order to rescue their mentor and friend.
INSPIRATION
The story was inspired by the novel of Ivanhoe, along with the desire to write a mystery, with the narrators being Ruaidhri, his sister Seonag and also their mentor, the sorcerer Marculf.
Interestingly enough, the author also credits the stories of Scooby-Doo for the mystery aspect of them.
We have a total of 4 POVs throughout the story.
ISSUES
As much as I loved the story and the characters, it pains me when indie authors fall flat when it comes to delivering their work in a professional and polished manner. Unfortunately the book is riddled with editing/proofreading issues. Many sentence are full of unnecessary repetitions that don't help the reputation of independent authors at all.
One glaring example:
“At present, he ceased to look for any means of escape and instead searched for the means by which he might seize the means by which he could defeat the brigand.”
When I pointed this out to Chaput, his answer was:
“The editing was rushed, on account of the editor not having much time at the time, and my being busy at the time also.”
This is something that should not occur in our good indie books. If indie authors want to be taken seriously and have paying customers glad to give them their support, the presentation of the book should be as top notch as any book we can get at the local book shop.
CONCLUSIONS
This is a compelling story with new mythology written by a student of history which renders homage to European culture. The story is original and with enough plot twists to keep readers flipping pages. The characters, like the beautiful Seonag, her younger and brave brother Ruaidhri, the woodcutter Agustin (whom the siblings will meet on the way to the court of Comte Pierre, and who is as big a man as he is gentle at heart) will captivate readers of all genders and ages.
1) The mystery factor—who is the menacing brigand Vifombre? A phantom of the Vifombre who terrorized the lands many decades ago, returned in spectral form or a mere imposter?
2) The romantic side-story—Seonag can't seem to keep her eyes off of knight Salomon!
3) The love of a father—Comte Pierre will stop at nothing when his daughter Augustine gets kidnapped by Vifombre.
All of these elements come together in an exquisite ‘play-like’ novel.
The only (and big) issue here is the atrocious editing/proofreading, since this process was clearly rushed when it should not have been.
The author hints that we may see more of our two siblings in action in future adventures:
“I hope so, though they're supposed to be side-kicks and friends to the real lead Marculf, my plan is for there to be a new novel following him, maybe a prequel to this work.
The siblings would appear in that work. Ruaidhri I plan to have appear if in a very minor role in Book 2 and 3 of my Gemstone trilogy, along with his mentor Mathieu.”
I highly suggest picking up a copy because though I cringed at the typos, word repetitions, and what not, the essence of the story is stellar and the author is able to capture the true spirit of European mythos without any modern euphemisms.
And besides, you have pretty young girls swooning at the sight of valiant knights! How can we go wrong with that!
💜
THE SETTING
What is interesting to mention is that, though this is clearly a fantasy book, the mythological elements don't wander too far off historical reality. The setting is a mythological version of Gaul, the Roman province that encompassed much of modern France, which is here called the Kingdom of Gallia (Le Royaume de Gallia). We also have a mythologized version of England called Brittia, and the island that Brittia belongs to is called Bretwealda.
Our two main characters are from the island of Bretwealda. They are in fact from the northern kingdom of Norwend. Norwend is to the north of Caledonia.
NEW MYTHOLOGICAL RACES
Within this mythological world we might encounter popular fantastic races like elves, dwarves, and ogres. But also, the author, in a bold and welcomed move, introduces new races like the tigruns (feline-folk), the ratvians (rodent-folk), and the wolframs (canine-folk). When I asked Chaput about these new mythological races he replied:
“The idea was to expand the number of races, if only to add our own little touch to the genre and to have fun. We like cats and dogs, so put 'em in. The idea was to also force us to expand the history we're building so that it is larger and more spanning than before. Each race has its own origin point and own history so of course this means that adding a new race means we need to invent a backstory, mythology, customs, traditions and how they interact with the world around them.”
PLOT
We find ourselves following the adventures of beautiful maid Seonag and her younger but brave brother Ruaidhri, as they venture into Gallia on a rescue mission to find their mentor and teacher, the ogre sorcerer Marculf. Marculf is rumored to have been kidnapped by the legendary brigand Vifombre, whose ghost has been rumored to have come back after decades of being presumed dead. In their quest to find Marculf, Seonag and Ruaidhri end up at the court of Comte Pierre D’Arvois, during the customary jousting tournament he holds every year. And so it goes, that as the dark shadow of Vifombre looms over the land, our two young protagonists find themselves in the midst of the excitement of the town of Arvon, where festivities are taking place. Their skills at striking alliances and finding favor with the Comte and the brave knights in attendance will prove crucial in order to rescue their mentor and friend.
INSPIRATION
The story was inspired by the novel of Ivanhoe, along with the desire to write a mystery, with the narrators being Ruaidhri, his sister Seonag and also their mentor, the sorcerer Marculf.
Interestingly enough, the author also credits the stories of Scooby-Doo for the mystery aspect of them.
We have a total of 4 POVs throughout the story.
ISSUES
As much as I loved the story and the characters, it pains me when indie authors fall flat when it comes to delivering their work in a professional and polished manner. Unfortunately the book is riddled with editing/proofreading issues. Many sentence are full of unnecessary repetitions that don't help the reputation of independent authors at all.
One glaring example:
“At present, he ceased to look for any means of escape and instead searched for the means by which he might seize the means by which he could defeat the brigand.”
When I pointed this out to Chaput, his answer was:
“The editing was rushed, on account of the editor not having much time at the time, and my being busy at the time also.”
This is something that should not occur in our good indie books. If indie authors want to be taken seriously and have paying customers glad to give them their support, the presentation of the book should be as top notch as any book we can get at the local book shop.
CONCLUSIONS
This is a compelling story with new mythology written by a student of history which renders homage to European culture. The story is original and with enough plot twists to keep readers flipping pages. The characters, like the beautiful Seonag, her younger and brave brother Ruaidhri, the woodcutter Agustin (whom the siblings will meet on the way to the court of Comte Pierre, and who is as big a man as he is gentle at heart) will captivate readers of all genders and ages.
1) The mystery factor—who is the menacing brigand Vifombre? A phantom of the Vifombre who terrorized the lands many decades ago, returned in spectral form or a mere imposter?
2) The romantic side-story—Seonag can't seem to keep her eyes off of knight Salomon!
3) The love of a father—Comte Pierre will stop at nothing when his daughter Augustine gets kidnapped by Vifombre.
All of these elements come together in an exquisite ‘play-like’ novel.
The only (and big) issue here is the atrocious editing/proofreading, since this process was clearly rushed when it should not have been.
The author hints that we may see more of our two siblings in action in future adventures:
“I hope so, though they're supposed to be side-kicks and friends to the real lead Marculf, my plan is for there to be a new novel following him, maybe a prequel to this work.
The siblings would appear in that work. Ruaidhri I plan to have appear if in a very minor role in Book 2 and 3 of my Gemstone trilogy, along with his mentor Mathieu.”
I highly suggest picking up a copy because though I cringed at the typos, word repetitions, and what not, the essence of the story is stellar and the author is able to capture the true spirit of European mythos without any modern euphemisms.
And besides, you have pretty young girls swooning at the sight of valiant knights! How can we go wrong with that!
💜
November 12, 2025
The Swift-Shadow Murders is what I can determine a classical historical fantasy novel based in a fantasy version of medieval France. The story surrounds the mysterious legend of Vifombre the dark knight who once terrorized the lands of Norencia and now has returned from the grave. It follows the siblings Seonag and Ruaidhrí as they search for the ogre wizard Marculf.
The Good: The Author has intrinsic knowledge of French medieval history and a firm understanding the of the feudal government system that I have not seen before. His writing is incredibly unique and throws the reader into a realistic but fantastical world. There are a multitude of fantasy races from the classical dwarves to the Author's own cat-like Tigrun. The world building is incredible and the characters cultures and the narrative itself is compelling and well thought out.
The Bad: There is a multitude of grammatical errors throughout the book. It needed another draft and line editing before release. I did find however that as the story went on the errors began to become less frequent or noticeable. The beginning pages seem to throw a lot of information at the reader and would have benefited from some developmental editing to draw the reader in as I found myself glazing over a lot of the details.
Overall: The Swift-Shadow Murders is a 5-Star book that is brought down by editing issues. It is a unique and compelling read in a setting which is familiar but completely different from what you would usually find in a fantasy novel. The realism of the court of Pierre d’Arvois was intriguing and Vifombre is a menacing character. I very much recommend this book if you are a lover of historical European fiction and traditional fantasy.
The Good: The Author has intrinsic knowledge of French medieval history and a firm understanding the of the feudal government system that I have not seen before. His writing is incredibly unique and throws the reader into a realistic but fantastical world. There are a multitude of fantasy races from the classical dwarves to the Author's own cat-like Tigrun. The world building is incredible and the characters cultures and the narrative itself is compelling and well thought out.
The Bad: There is a multitude of grammatical errors throughout the book. It needed another draft and line editing before release. I did find however that as the story went on the errors began to become less frequent or noticeable. The beginning pages seem to throw a lot of information at the reader and would have benefited from some developmental editing to draw the reader in as I found myself glazing over a lot of the details.
Overall: The Swift-Shadow Murders is a 5-Star book that is brought down by editing issues. It is a unique and compelling read in a setting which is familiar but completely different from what you would usually find in a fantasy novel. The realism of the court of Pierre d’Arvois was intriguing and Vifombre is a menacing character. I very much recommend this book if you are a lover of historical European fiction and traditional fantasy.
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