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Shadowlands #2
Broken Shadow
The sky is falling, and only one dilettante scientist can save the world, in the startling finale of the Shadowlands duology
Rhia Harlyn risks death for science. Accused of heresy for promoting an unorthodox cosmology, she must defend herself, her work and her House alone. If only she could rely on her feckless brother Etyan, transformed through the combination of an occult scientist’s experiments and the harsh rays of the skyland sun. But she knows she cannot.
When Dej, Etyan’s half-alien lover, finally uncovers Etyan’s dark secret she runs off into the perilous skyland. She is looking for peace in a world that has rejected her; what she discovers instead will change everyone’s lives.
Meanwhile, overhead, the very stars themselves are shifting. Rhia is about to find herself proved disastrously right...
File Fantasy [ Unnatural Science | Making Contact | Lost Secrets | Out of Darkness ]
Rhia Harlyn risks death for science. Accused of heresy for promoting an unorthodox cosmology, she must defend herself, her work and her House alone. If only she could rely on her feckless brother Etyan, transformed through the combination of an occult scientist’s experiments and the harsh rays of the skyland sun. But she knows she cannot.
When Dej, Etyan’s half-alien lover, finally uncovers Etyan’s dark secret she runs off into the perilous skyland. She is looking for peace in a world that has rejected her; what she discovers instead will change everyone’s lives.
Meanwhile, overhead, the very stars themselves are shifting. Rhia is about to find herself proved disastrously right...
File Fantasy [ Unnatural Science | Making Contact | Lost Secrets | Out of Darkness ]
432 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2019
7 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Jaine Fenn
44 books78 followersTruth may be stranger than fiction, but it's also far harder to track down. Jaine Fenn has had numerous short stories professionally published, some of which appear in the collection 'Downside Girls' and has won the British Science Fiction Association Short Fiction award. Her Hidden Empire space opera sequence, published by Gollancz, starts with the novel 'Principles of Angels'. Her Shadowlands science fantasy duology is published by Angry Robot.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 14, 2019
The follow up to Hidden Sun is full of intrigue, suspense, and still keeps building on the fantastic characters and world that I really enjoyed there! This time with a big heaping of political intrigue, testing times for our main character and hints of a much bigger world outside this small one we've been in so far...
June 5, 2019
I remember finding Dej to be a bit of a pain in the first book, but her personality grew on me. I loved how her and Rhia evolved as characters and that two strong women really carried the plot along.
October 28, 2020
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.25 of 5
I wasn't a big fan of the first book in this series, but I already had the second book loaded on my Kindle and decided I would move forward with it, keeping an open mind as best as possible. Fortunately, for me, I did enjoy this book more than the previous volume.
Rhia Harlyn has her eye in the skies as she studies and reports on her observations about the nature of their world and the sun. But this gets her in a bit of trouble. She is accused of heresy for her ideas and her life's work will be destroyed. She may be put to death as well.
Rhia's brother, Etyan, is still kind of a big goof, not living up to his responsibilities (he is heir to the Harlyn estate) as his transformation (see last book) has him half Skykin. But since his girlfriend, Dej, is all Skykin, this isn't a problem for him. The two of them have a quiet place in the forest where they can travel to and from the Skylands as they please. (The Skylands are giants shades in the sky to protect the earth, and where the Skykin dwell.)
Rhia's research brings her in more direct contact with the Skykin, who have some knowledge and answers to some of Rhia's questions - proving her research correct (not that it will help her with the backward thinking of her society). But some of the answers are to questions she hadn't even considered asking, which could lead to disaster.
I definitely felt much more connected to this story and to the characters in this book, and could follow the events much better. I actually became interested in the science of what was happening, and the obvious correlations to our own distrust of science throughout history (and calling scientists heretics for reporting something counter to common belief).
Despite my renewed interest, I still felt that the book moved too slowly. I recognize that this comes from reading a lot of (too many?) best-seller-style books, or action-style narratives, but non-the-less, I was still bored off and on here. Where did 400+ pages go in this plot?
At the moment I am up in the air (pun intended) as to whether or not I would request the next volume in the series (assuming there will be one).
Looking for a good book? Broken Shadow by Jaine Fenn improves on the story begun in Hidden Sun and becomes much more interesting, but still takes a bit too long to get through.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
I wasn't a big fan of the first book in this series, but I already had the second book loaded on my Kindle and decided I would move forward with it, keeping an open mind as best as possible. Fortunately, for me, I did enjoy this book more than the previous volume.
Rhia Harlyn has her eye in the skies as she studies and reports on her observations about the nature of their world and the sun. But this gets her in a bit of trouble. She is accused of heresy for her ideas and her life's work will be destroyed. She may be put to death as well.
Rhia's brother, Etyan, is still kind of a big goof, not living up to his responsibilities (he is heir to the Harlyn estate) as his transformation (see last book) has him half Skykin. But since his girlfriend, Dej, is all Skykin, this isn't a problem for him. The two of them have a quiet place in the forest where they can travel to and from the Skylands as they please. (The Skylands are giants shades in the sky to protect the earth, and where the Skykin dwell.)
Rhia's research brings her in more direct contact with the Skykin, who have some knowledge and answers to some of Rhia's questions - proving her research correct (not that it will help her with the backward thinking of her society). But some of the answers are to questions she hadn't even considered asking, which could lead to disaster.
I definitely felt much more connected to this story and to the characters in this book, and could follow the events much better. I actually became interested in the science of what was happening, and the obvious correlations to our own distrust of science throughout history (and calling scientists heretics for reporting something counter to common belief).
Despite my renewed interest, I still felt that the book moved too slowly. I recognize that this comes from reading a lot of (too many?) best-seller-style books, or action-style narratives, but non-the-less, I was still bored off and on here. Where did 400+ pages go in this plot?
At the moment I am up in the air (pun intended) as to whether or not I would request the next volume in the series (assuming there will be one).
Looking for a good book? Broken Shadow by Jaine Fenn improves on the story begun in Hidden Sun and becomes much more interesting, but still takes a bit too long to get through.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
February 2, 2019
The world is divided into city states protected by giant skyborne sunshades, and the surrounding skylands, inhabited by the skykin who are bonded with a symbiote which changes them so they can resist the unfiltered sun's radiation. This picks up the story begun in Hidden Sun. It's two years later. In Shen, Rhia is still hidden away in her garret in the Harlyn town house, making her observations, corresponding with other natural scientists in other shadowlands, and working on her own theory that their world travels around the sun, not the other way round. Etyan, her younger brother and the heir to the Harlyn lands and fortune still refuses to own up to his responsibilities. Since he was changed by a (mad) scientist in the first book, he's halfway to being skykin himself, which is just as well because his girlfriend/lover, Dej, is all skykin, though estranged from them. Etyan and Dej are keeping out of the way of polite society in a self-built shack in the Umbral forest so they can come and go to the Skylands as they please. Etyan has been cleared of his great crime in a court that was bound to find a noble 'innocent', but the deed still haunts him. And when Dej discovers his secret her reaction is devastating.
When Rhia is accused of heresy for her scientific ideas she stands in danger not only of losing her life's work, but her life itself, if the court finds her guilty. Being the cousin of the ruling Duke can't save her. But it turns out that the night sky holds something far more devastating than losing her work.
Just when you think you know what this book is about, it becomes something else entirely. Old friends turn into enemies and enemies have to work together. Rhia knows part of it, the skykin know a lot more. Yah-boo-sucks to all those who shoved the Shadowlands books into the fantasy pigeonhole. Though Ms Fenn was playing a long game this book finally outs itself as true science fiction. Highly recommended, but start with Hidden Sun for the best effect.
When Rhia is accused of heresy for her scientific ideas she stands in danger not only of losing her life's work, but her life itself, if the court finds her guilty. Being the cousin of the ruling Duke can't save her. But it turns out that the night sky holds something far more devastating than losing her work.
Just when you think you know what this book is about, it becomes something else entirely. Old friends turn into enemies and enemies have to work together. Rhia knows part of it, the skykin know a lot more. Yah-boo-sucks to all those who shoved the Shadowlands books into the fantasy pigeonhole. Though Ms Fenn was playing a long game this book finally outs itself as true science fiction. Highly recommended, but start with Hidden Sun for the best effect.
February 7, 2019
This doesn't seem like sci-fi until well into the plot, which is perfectly fine. I'm sure I missed some level of enjoyment since I didn't read the previous book. But I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Very intelligent dialog and plot. Sophisticated characters and an interesting premise kept me engaged. There are some nice twists, and a solid ending. Recommended.
I really appreciate the ARC for review!
I really appreciate the ARC for review!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews