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The Bard from Barliona #2
A Song of Shadow
Every player in Barliona has heard of the Gray Lands—the land of the dead. Few have managed to travel there and speak with the heroes and villains of old. And of this miniscule number, only one bard has managed to bring the souls of the dead back to the world of the living: The Bard of Shadow. Now it is up to her to determine the future of her race. Shall the Biota race become full-fledged members of Barliona or will they oppose all that lives?
520 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 19, 2018
73 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 23, 2019
Even if you accept that stuff was lost in translation... The story just wasn't very interesting.
I love the world of Barliona and all of the Way of the Shaman books... But this is boring... Sorry
I love the world of Barliona and all of the Way of the Shaman books... But this is boring... Sorry
August 28, 2023
A Song of Shadow
The Bard from Barliona, “Album #2”
By E. Dmetrieva & V. Mahanenko
Overview:
A fair amount of real life discussions pontificating life, the universe, and everything transpires in this series, the most I’ve heard from any LitRPG novel in fact.
“A Song of Shadow” attempts to expand upon the underworld of Erebus, where souls go to either be consumed by Chaos or released back to the land of living — as first described in “The Way of the Shaman” book 7. This then ties into how Shadow Powers work as well as a deeper dive into Bardic abilities that I’ve ever read in a LitRPG.
The Good:
o The Intermundis: the place where Shamans, Warlocks, Necromancers, and Bards can call upon their requisite souls for casting their spells was a neat concept. Likening Bards’ songs to eulogies of past heroes was interesting.
o Did not expect a Summoner specialization of Lorelei’s Bard class, usually it’s reserve for Warlock classes. It wasn’t altogether disappointing though, especially since the author took the time to explain the Intermundis, how it relates to the Bard’s songs, and how the songs relate to the souls of the dead.
The Meh:
o The relationship between the Intermundis, Erebus, and the Gray Lands was confusing at best.
o Couldn’t figure out why Eid slayed Lorelei in the Intermundis, even after re-reading.
o Mahanenko influenced Dmietrieva’s vegetarian cursing from book 1 after all: “they can go to cold pasta hell”. (Mahanenko littered his WOTS series with hell epithets.)
o This book wound up being way too political for my tastes.
Conclusion:
This book would have been great if it was anything like book 1. It had potential but then veered off track in politically boring and uninteresting ways.
2 ⭐️
The Bard from Barliona, “Album #2”
By E. Dmetrieva & V. Mahanenko
Overview:
A fair amount of real life discussions pontificating life, the universe, and everything transpires in this series, the most I’ve heard from any LitRPG novel in fact.
“A Song of Shadow” attempts to expand upon the underworld of Erebus, where souls go to either be consumed by Chaos or released back to the land of living — as first described in “The Way of the Shaman” book 7. This then ties into how Shadow Powers work as well as a deeper dive into Bardic abilities that I’ve ever read in a LitRPG.
The Good:
o The Intermundis: the place where Shamans, Warlocks, Necromancers, and Bards can call upon their requisite souls for casting their spells was a neat concept. Likening Bards’ songs to eulogies of past heroes was interesting.
o Did not expect a Summoner specialization of Lorelei’s Bard class, usually it’s reserve for Warlock classes. It wasn’t altogether disappointing though, especially since the author took the time to explain the Intermundis, how it relates to the Bard’s songs, and how the songs relate to the souls of the dead.
The Meh:
o The relationship between the Intermundis, Erebus, and the Gray Lands was confusing at best.
o Couldn’t figure out why Eid slayed Lorelei in the Intermundis, even after re-reading.
o Mahanenko influenced Dmietrieva’s vegetarian cursing from book 1 after all: “they can go to cold pasta hell”. (Mahanenko littered his WOTS series with hell epithets.)
o This book wound up being way too political for my tastes.
Conclusion:
This book would have been great if it was anything like book 1. It had potential but then veered off track in politically boring and uninteresting ways.
2 ⭐️
January 29, 2024
Bard of Barliona concludes as Song of Shadow puts Lorelei in the position to determine the future of her Biota people, while the Empire of Shadow rises. The first two aspects focus on Lorelei's ability to explore Erbus, the underworld of souls for Barliona. This is something seen in Way of the Shaman's Clan Wars briefly. It is an interesting albeit confusing/unclear menagerie of areas. Throughout we see Lorelei ally herself with Geranika, the Lord of Shadow. It is fun to see the bad guys, but at best Lorelei is chaotic neutral because as she puts it, "It's just a game." I think we could've leaned into that evil side a bit more. The final act culminates into the Biota getting caught up in a war between Kartoss and the Shadow Empire. We see a familiar face from the Way of the Shaman series which was a delight.
Interspersed throughout all the game plots is a surprisingly large amount of real life events. Lorelei goes and meets up with one of her Barliona friends IRL. There is a stronger focus on Russian culture and the military in Song of Shadow compared to Way of the Shaman. While it didn't resonate with me overly much, I did not mind it.
The ending to Song of Shadow is pretty actiony and epic. Although it does end a bit abruptly. A third novel could've helped transition Lorelei from where she ends up at the end of Shadow and where we see her in Clan Wars. All that aside, 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
Interspersed throughout all the game plots is a surprisingly large amount of real life events. Lorelei goes and meets up with one of her Barliona friends IRL. There is a stronger focus on Russian culture and the military in Song of Shadow compared to Way of the Shaman. While it didn't resonate with me overly much, I did not mind it.
The ending to Song of Shadow is pretty actiony and epic. Although it does end a bit abruptly. A third novel could've helped transition Lorelei from where she ends up at the end of Shadow and where we see her in Clan Wars. All that aside, 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
December 6, 2018
Another great story in the world of Barliona (contains spoilers if you haven't read the way of the shaman)
Our new protagonist in Barliona starts her adventure as a renegade biota picking up from the last book and through her ingenuity becomes quite powerful for her level, though not overpowered which she realizes soon after letting her head get a little too big. The part in most impressed about is that even though I know from reading The Way of the Shaman that Geranika is actually the good guy, the way the story is told and the way Lorelei feels towards the denizens of the forest still made me root for his downfall. Which was funny everything's i realized it as I would remember that he's the good guy so he should win, but the story telling kept steering me to believe as Lorelei did and hope for his defeat. A sign of a great story teller.
Also, like with the end of Way of the Shaman, this book ended without revealing what the Protaganist's reward was for their final act in the book. Sure does like the cliff hangers, huh?
Our new protagonist in Barliona starts her adventure as a renegade biota picking up from the last book and through her ingenuity becomes quite powerful for her level, though not overpowered which she realizes soon after letting her head get a little too big. The part in most impressed about is that even though I know from reading The Way of the Shaman that Geranika is actually the good guy, the way the story is told and the way Lorelei feels towards the denizens of the forest still made me root for his downfall. Which was funny everything's i realized it as I would remember that he's the good guy so he should win, but the story telling kept steering me to believe as Lorelei did and hope for his defeat. A sign of a great story teller.
Also, like with the end of Way of the Shaman, this book ended without revealing what the Protaganist's reward was for their final act in the book. Sure does like the cliff hangers, huh?
September 19, 2025
Shadow Bard
Book 2 of The Bard of Barliona series. This concludes the series and was an interesting story. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this story. That said it was a collaboration and so not the same as his solo books. The story was good but there it is best this stayed a small series. Overall, I enjoyed it but struggled to fall in love with the story. I would recommend it to strong fans, but not for everyone and there is some language.
Book 2 of The Bard of Barliona series. This concludes the series and was an interesting story. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this story. That said it was a collaboration and so not the same as his solo books. The story was good but there it is best this stayed a small series. Overall, I enjoyed it but struggled to fall in love with the story. I would recommend it to strong fans, but not for everyone and there is some language.
December 12, 2018
Love this series so much. All the twist and turns and characters you meet. The author really knows how to make you feel like your in the story and actually apart of it. Can't wait to read the next book!
November 20, 2018
Great addition to the series. Now I wait for the next book 😆. I really have enjoyed the expanding relationship and growth of the main characters.
November 25, 2018
Super awesome
I liked it a lot, and am excited to see what the next book is about and where it takes kiera
I liked it a lot, and am excited to see what the next book is about and where it takes kiera
June 25, 2019
Great!
This series should be mandatory reading for lore nerds. It is slower that Way of the Shaman but still a great bit of litrpg that I am thoroughly enjoying.
This series should be mandatory reading for lore nerds. It is slower that Way of the Shaman but still a great bit of litrpg that I am thoroughly enjoying.
December 5, 2019
Lots of little details that took me out of the story. Overall good job tho
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews