Shadows

The Wind's Children #1

by Emma Miles

An orphan in the City of Slums Tobias dreams of freedom and the stories of his Grandmother; tales of elves, dragons and Gods. But every fairy tale has its dark side and every hero its nemesis and whilst dreams can come true, so can nightmares. One bright light stands between him and the shadows; Artheiwyn, warrior-scout of a long vanished people. Whilst admired by some she is shunned by others, for no female should learn the magic of the Wind Elves.

552 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2012

About the author

I often get asked when I knew I was a writer; the answer is always. A writer is what I am, it’s in my soul. There have been times in my life when I couldn’t write, and times when my writing has been the only thing that kept me going. I think I always longed for something deeper from life, something more meaningful, and I found it in my imagination and in the music of words.
It was poetry which first caught my attention, and whilst my younger cousins called for ghost stories it was animals I first wrote of. I think I gravitated toward fantasy because of the freedom it gives, I could create my own worlds and decide my own rules. My Wind’s Children trilogy was born from an image that came to me whilst daydreaming, of a young man sitting alone below a bridge. I didn’t know who he was; it turns out neither did he, but we found out together.
I’m now working on my seventh book and love writing more than ever, it’s an addiction, an obsession, but one I now share with my wonderful writing family. My beta readers, my editor, and you, my readers, having you with me on my journey means the world to me.
I write as much as I can around work, but I also try to squeeze in a ridiculous amount of hobbies! I’m a wildlife photographer and do a little archery. I paint, sculpt with clay, withies and driftwood, preferring to be outdoors if I can. I still have a love for the theatre, having started out in life studying backstage crafts, and a great love for language. I speak a little French, Romanian and Italian, ma non molto bene!

Thanks for reading this. If you read any of my books and love them, please come say hello and tell me, you’d be surprised at how much that means to an author.
Take care of yourself.
Em x

Reviews

[Diedra Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating story that really pulls you into the author's world! The beginning is so dark and gritty. You're immediately introduced to a couple of children who are living miserable lives inside of a prison city. Suddenly the dream of getting out becomes a reality, and a rescue attempt is made - allowing one of the boys to escape. He's thrust into a new reality about his Elvish heritage, and soon discovers that the world outside the City is just as dangerous as the one he escaped.

[Aaron D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has changed the way I see myself as a reader. I am disappointed in myself. I gave up after struggling to read it for 3 weeks. I got to 30% and then decided to go no further. Perhaps it was not my thing? I'm not sure.

I feel really bad about this because I have great admiration for the author who I feel is a proper fantasy author skilled in world building. It felt it was in the same league as The Lord of the Rings which I loved. The writing was good and descriptive and I saw no errors. There was lots of action and peril. The world was full and complicated, perhaps too complicated for me. I had the same trouble with the Lord of the Rings. I had to read it twice before the numerous names started to settle in my brain. The difference was reading Lord of the Rings had never been a struggle in the same way. Was it because I was reading the e-book which for me meant it was almost impossible to look up a glossary, or any of the footnotes which occured every so often? There were amounts of text and words in ‘elvish’ which I had to guess at the meaning. It was like watching a foreign film with white subtitles on an almost white background.
I wish I knew what made this book unreadable for me. I feel if I knew this I could become a better writer. I know that the last straw was turning up to a stronghold of elves doing elvish things like singing and dancing, telling stories and being introduced to about 20 new characters, all with fairly unpronounceable names.
If you like elves and you can cope with lots of weird names you may well love this book. I was just waiting for Steffan to reappear because I thought the story needed a character like him. Also I just checked, there were only 516 pages. I had to check because I was beginning to suspect the book had 1500 pages because however long I read the % of the novel barely moved.

[Renee Marski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A interesting start to the series

This book really reminded me of an epic adventure fantasy like Lord of the Rings. You have a fellowship that goes on a quest together and as they travel they come upon trials and enemies. They also make friends along the way. I feel that the end was exactly what was needed.

Actual rating of 3.5 but there were some grammar things that really pulled me out of the story. I also struggled with the sheer amount of characters and separating or identifying with them because there really wasnt one main character but many. But i really did enjoy the story as a whole.

[Charles Gull · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 out of 5 Stars for this Tolkienesque MacGuffin quest with just a twist of originality.

Read my full, spoiler free, review on my website.