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Taking Shield #0.5
Passing Shadows
Li Liang has found a berth to suit her: chief pilot and first officer of the all-female crew of an old space freighter, the Sappho. Then one ordinary, unremarkable morning, Liang retunes the Sappho’s communications systems just in time to catch the breathless, terrible accounts from Mars of the total destruction of Earth.
Earth’s a cinder. The unknown alien race that destroyed it has left Mars, too, in flames and is ravening outward from the solar system, devouring every human colony on the way.
Liang’s one of the few survivors, racing ahead of the Devourers, rescuing as many frightened, shocked people as she can. Will Liang and the pitiful remnants of humanity find a new haven, somewhere to start again? Or will she, too, echo the dreadful last message coming out of their dead home?
They’re coming. Oh God, they’re coming.
Earth’s a cinder. The unknown alien race that destroyed it has left Mars, too, in flames and is ravening outward from the solar system, devouring every human colony on the way.
Liang’s one of the few survivors, racing ahead of the Devourers, rescuing as many frightened, shocked people as she can. Will Liang and the pitiful remnants of humanity find a new haven, somewhere to start again? Or will she, too, echo the dreadful last message coming out of their dead home?
They’re coming. Oh God, they’re coming.
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First published December 12, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 21, 2018
Rating: 4.5* of five
Oh my. Yes, Author Butler has done it, she's done my poor old man's heart muscle permanent injury this time.
Remember how much I liked the first four books? If not, refresh yourself by reading up on the pleasures of Bennet and Finn's world coming crashing down around their ears as they, fine fighting men that they are, do their dead-level best to mitigate or even prevent it from happening. That was Author Butler's first assault on me.
The second was making Bennet and Finn fall head-over-heels in love with each other. Despite Bennet's long-term relationship with Joss, Finn's love-'em-and-leave-'em history, Bennet's career in the spy corps, Finn's posting to Bennet's anti-gay father's ship....
And now, with this lovely tale of Liang and Alice and Matt and his loves...well...the damage, she is irretrievable. Because now we find out what happened to Earth, what this has done to the survivors, how the men and women of Humanity's diaspora likely lost their belief in the monotheistic gawd I so ridicule them for bothering themselves to believe in in the first place. I mean really, how could one take seriously a gawd that allowed the original home of your species to get utterly blown into ash and smithereens?
Of course the question of how they found and resurrected the Egyptian pantheon will niggle at me until Author Butler gets sick of my emails alternately demanding and supplying ideas for that lacuna's filling-upping. My current favorite: Bennet, retired from Shield, takes Finn, retired from Fleet, on a honeymoon to an archaeological dig on a newly relocated planet where Humanity stopped for a while and left behind clues about the Egyptian pantheon's recrudescence.
Hijinks ensue.
Hmm? Well, whadda y'all think?
Yeah, Author Butler's quiet about it too. *sigh*
Anyway. This novella is an afternoon's read, it sets the stakes for Bennet and Finn's world, and it contains this author's trademark homophile characters complete with real-life reasons to do what the plot tells them to. I like the series. I like the prequel. I suspect the Devourers have not vanished from Taking Shield. And I am eager to get the next full novel.
Like, REAL SOON. *glowers Blightyward*
Oh my. Yes, Author Butler has done it, she's done my poor old man's heart muscle permanent injury this time.
Remember how much I liked the first four books? If not, refresh yourself by reading up on the pleasures of Bennet and Finn's world coming crashing down around their ears as they, fine fighting men that they are, do their dead-level best to mitigate or even prevent it from happening. That was Author Butler's first assault on me.
The second was making Bennet and Finn fall head-over-heels in love with each other. Despite Bennet's long-term relationship with Joss, Finn's love-'em-and-leave-'em history, Bennet's career in the spy corps, Finn's posting to Bennet's anti-gay father's ship....
And now, with this lovely tale of Liang and Alice and Matt and his loves...well...the damage, she is irretrievable. Because now we find out what happened to Earth, what this has done to the survivors, how the men and women of Humanity's diaspora likely lost their belief in the monotheistic gawd I so ridicule them for bothering themselves to believe in in the first place. I mean really, how could one take seriously a gawd that allowed the original home of your species to get utterly blown into ash and smithereens?
Of course the question of how they found and resurrected the Egyptian pantheon will niggle at me until Author Butler gets sick of my emails alternately demanding and supplying ideas for that lacuna's filling-upping. My current favorite: Bennet, retired from Shield, takes Finn, retired from Fleet, on a honeymoon to an archaeological dig on a newly relocated planet where Humanity stopped for a while and left behind clues about the Egyptian pantheon's recrudescence.
Hijinks ensue.
Hmm? Well, whadda y'all think?
Yeah, Author Butler's quiet about it too. *sigh*
Anyway. This novella is an afternoon's read, it sets the stakes for Bennet and Finn's world, and it contains this author's trademark homophile characters complete with real-life reasons to do what the plot tells them to. I like the series. I like the prequel. I suspect the Devourers have not vanished from Taking Shield. And I am eager to get the next full novel.
Like, REAL SOON. *glowers Blightyward*
March 25, 2020
This is the prequel (centuries-earlier) to the excellent Taking Shield series and answers some questions from that series--namely, what happened to Earth? This collection of three connected novellas answers that question and wow, is it grim. The stories are well done and interesting, but it's grim stuff. The final story is quite upbeat and hopeful, so it ends on a high note, but I had to take a long pause after the second story because it was all so depressing. I found that I didn't really connect with the characters so much, but I still enjoyed reading about their adventures. How nice to have the main character be a queer WOC. It's good, but not my favourite by this author.
December 13, 2016
(Originally reviewed for Love Bytes Reviews.)
I have some good news and some bad news. I’m going to start with the good…and we’ll get the other somewhere below…maybe…in an off-hand way. I’m still trying to decide what I feel.
Passing Shadows is a interesting set of three interconnected stories, providing quite detailed snippets into the life of a woman who witnesses the destruction of Earth by unknown aliens.
The first story really made me feel like I was there watching the events unfold. I felt what the main character, Li Liang, was thinking when she heard Earth go ‘off-line’ and then when she heard the details from Mars. I felt for her and the crew of the Sappho, a sort of broken down old space freighter crewed solely by women. I read along eagerly, guessing as it went what the disposition of the rescued civilians would be and then we came to a little mouth on breast action…and I thought to myself, well this is interesting.
Then I flipped the page…and I was abruptly pulled two years into the future. The breast was long gone. Suddenly, Li Liang is no longer on the Sappho, instead she is assigned to the ‘Alexander’ the Earth military ship leading the great flotilla through space with the last survivors. That was when I started getting rumbles of Battlestar Galactica (classic…not remake) in the back of my mind. The story kind of had similarities with the ragtag group of survivors off across the universe. But I digress. In this second one they discovered a planet with a long dead civilization…complete with bombed out buildings and an ancient library and art museum and I thought to myself, well this is interesting.
Then I flipped a page…and I was again abruptly pulled forward, another three years (I think), into the future and Li Laing had now been promoted to a position of some authority, and she was now in on the highest levels of discussions when they meet a living alien race. Again, I thought to myself, well this in interesting. This time I flipped the page and it was done.
So, let me tell you. I really enjoyed the three stories, which were each very well written, as I would expect from this author. I was okay (maybe…I’m still not that sure yet myself) with the jumps in time. What I wasn’t okay with was all the stuff that I felt I missed in between those jumps. We have a character who we think at first is a lesbian, but then turns out to be a bisexual, which was great, particularly since the guy is also a bisexual, and it sounds like a lot of the background characters were as well. And then she was back with a woman and saying she was predominantly into women. Again, fine with me, I hate labels.
I would so have liked to see more development here though. What is here is as well written as the rest of the books I’ve read from this author. I really like Li Liang. But my problem was, that that was it. The story went no further. I’d like a whole lot more. Dare we hope that this is the start of a new series? I, for one, would love to see where they go. Does this tie in with the Earth being long dead at the beginning of the Taking Shield series? We will have to wait and see!
I’m going to recommend this book. I liked the stories, even though they needed more in my opinion.
I have some good news and some bad news. I’m going to start with the good…and we’ll get the other somewhere below…maybe…in an off-hand way. I’m still trying to decide what I feel.
Passing Shadows is a interesting set of three interconnected stories, providing quite detailed snippets into the life of a woman who witnesses the destruction of Earth by unknown aliens.
The first story really made me feel like I was there watching the events unfold. I felt what the main character, Li Liang, was thinking when she heard Earth go ‘off-line’ and then when she heard the details from Mars. I felt for her and the crew of the Sappho, a sort of broken down old space freighter crewed solely by women. I read along eagerly, guessing as it went what the disposition of the rescued civilians would be and then we came to a little mouth on breast action…and I thought to myself, well this is interesting.
Then I flipped the page…and I was abruptly pulled two years into the future. The breast was long gone. Suddenly, Li Liang is no longer on the Sappho, instead she is assigned to the ‘Alexander’ the Earth military ship leading the great flotilla through space with the last survivors. That was when I started getting rumbles of Battlestar Galactica (classic…not remake) in the back of my mind. The story kind of had similarities with the ragtag group of survivors off across the universe. But I digress. In this second one they discovered a planet with a long dead civilization…complete with bombed out buildings and an ancient library and art museum and I thought to myself, well this is interesting.
Then I flipped a page…and I was again abruptly pulled forward, another three years (I think), into the future and Li Laing had now been promoted to a position of some authority, and she was now in on the highest levels of discussions when they meet a living alien race. Again, I thought to myself, well this in interesting. This time I flipped the page and it was done.
So, let me tell you. I really enjoyed the three stories, which were each very well written, as I would expect from this author. I was okay (maybe…I’m still not that sure yet myself) with the jumps in time. What I wasn’t okay with was all the stuff that I felt I missed in between those jumps. We have a character who we think at first is a lesbian, but then turns out to be a bisexual, which was great, particularly since the guy is also a bisexual, and it sounds like a lot of the background characters were as well. And then she was back with a woman and saying she was predominantly into women. Again, fine with me, I hate labels.
I would so have liked to see more development here though. What is here is as well written as the rest of the books I’ve read from this author. I really like Li Liang. But my problem was, that that was it. The story went no further. I’d like a whole lot more. Dare we hope that this is the start of a new series? I, for one, would love to see where they go. Does this tie in with the Earth being long dead at the beginning of the Taking Shield series? We will have to wait and see!
I’m going to recommend this book. I liked the stories, even though they needed more in my opinion.
December 4, 2017
2017 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: Passing Shadows Anna Butler
1) I've been a science fiction fan since I read The War of the Worlds at the age of 12, and this is sci fi done extremely well. Li Liang is a compelling character, and the three interconnected stories here are fast-paced and packed with emotion.
2) Wonderfully evocative world building in this apocalypse-in-deep-space sci-fi short reads offering. Plenty of emotion carried forward by a superior writing style. When the author finishes building this world into novel-length books, it will be stunning.
1) I've been a science fiction fan since I read The War of the Worlds at the age of 12, and this is sci fi done extremely well. Li Liang is a compelling character, and the three interconnected stories here are fast-paced and packed with emotion.
2) Wonderfully evocative world building in this apocalypse-in-deep-space sci-fi short reads offering. Plenty of emotion carried forward by a superior writing style. When the author finishes building this world into novel-length books, it will be stunning.
June 20, 2017
I've been a science fiction fan since I read The War of the Worlds at the age of 12, and this is sci fi done extremely well. Li Liang is a compelling character, and the three interconnected stories here are fast-paced and packed with emotion.
January 24, 2022
For a story that started with such devastation, the ending was beautifully hopeful. I normally don’t like first person POV, but it worked out well in this case with a narrative that was sharp, wry, and perfectly suited for the emotions at hand.
March 8, 2017
Very fast-paced and entertaining post apocalyptic military sf with a bi/queer POC protagonist and sundry other queer characters. This has a Battlestar Galactica feel to it and ebook pages zip by pretty quickly. Apart from some minor formatting issues (I have a review copy that was probably intended for a different ereader than the one I'm using), my only complaint is that this series of linked short stories isn't longer. I would happily spend more time in the company of the characters and see more of their adventures. I hope the author does more with them, particularly Li Liang.
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January 5, 2017Rating and Review to come
January 9, 2017
Original review on Molly Lolly
Four and a half stars!
Oh my gosh there’s so much emotion in these short stories. I adored reading these three stories showing the history of how Earth went dark and the flight of the humans that were left in the Shield series. My heart was pounding throughout each of the stories as we find out what’s happening, get scared as people are evacuated, and worry as they make contact with multiple planets over the course of their years in space. Li Liang was a character I connected with immediately. All three stories are from her point of view and you really connect with her right from the beginning. Watching her grow the longer they’re running was wonderful. Seeing her relationships evolve in each store was so sweet. It also wasn’t the focus of the story which I loved because we get more story and more world development. By the end of the third story I’ve got major hope for these characters. You know they eventually find somewhere to land and set up a new civilization or there wouldn’t be a Shield series. But I now also want to see more Li and Alice, know if Matt ever sees past the sunflowers, find out how long it takes them to get to where they’re going, do the P’Nat’r help and what happens to the Devourers? I feel I’ll always want to see how Ms. Butler takes the characters and expands the world she created. And that’s a glorious thing.
Four and a half stars!
Oh my gosh there’s so much emotion in these short stories. I adored reading these three stories showing the history of how Earth went dark and the flight of the humans that were left in the Shield series. My heart was pounding throughout each of the stories as we find out what’s happening, get scared as people are evacuated, and worry as they make contact with multiple planets over the course of their years in space. Li Liang was a character I connected with immediately. All three stories are from her point of view and you really connect with her right from the beginning. Watching her grow the longer they’re running was wonderful. Seeing her relationships evolve in each store was so sweet. It also wasn’t the focus of the story which I loved because we get more story and more world development. By the end of the third story I’ve got major hope for these characters. You know they eventually find somewhere to land and set up a new civilization or there wouldn’t be a Shield series. But I now also want to see more Li and Alice, know if Matt ever sees past the sunflowers, find out how long it takes them to get to where they’re going, do the P’Nat’r help and what happens to the Devourers? I feel I’ll always want to see how Ms. Butler takes the characters and expands the world she created. And that’s a glorious thing.
December 6, 2016
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. I consider myself lucky to have read Passing Shadows by Anna Butler. It is the prequel to her excellent Taking Shield series. In Passing Shadows the protagonist is Liang, a female space pilot, who witnesses the destruction of Earth. What follows is an elegy to the world we know, even though Liang decries her own thinking as bad poetry. What I liked most about the three stories in the book is the emotional arc they take the reader on, from sorrow to tentative exploration of things new to hope and the discovery of things the same. I enjoyed also Liang’s sometimes embattled relationship with Matthias, the major of the surviving Earth warship, that follows an arc not unlike that of grieving for the lost Earth. If the reader has not yet devoured the Taking Shield series, this is a great introduction to Butler’s wonderful space opera world.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews