Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Company of Strangers #4

Shifting Loyalties

Rate this book
AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY

The four hundredth anniversary of the city of Fioretti’s founding brings Sienne’s family to Fioretti, with news that changes her life and threatens her association with her companions, as well as her relationship with Alaric. To escape her fate and Perrin’s vengeful father, the friends accept a job that takes them far from the city, to the eastern mountains.

The job seems simple. A struggling community of settlers needs scrappers to clear out a ruin where something dangerous lurks. But the companions soon discover that nothing is as they expected. What the settlers actually want proves complicated even for these experienced scrappers. And a confrontation with a terrible enemy may end in someone’s death.

A thrilling tale of duty, honor, and the choice between the two.

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 6, 2019

65 people are currently reading
97 people want to read

About the author

Melissa McShane

94 books861 followers
Melissa grew up a nomad, following her family all over the United States, and ended up living in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains with her husband, four kids, and three very needy cats. Her love of reading was always a constant during those uncertain years, and her love of writing grew out of that. She wrote reviews and critical essays for many years before turning to fiction, and was surprised at how much she liked it. She loves the fantasy genre and how it stretches the imagination.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
79 (41%)
4 stars
82 (42%)
3 stars
24 (12%)
2 stars
5 (2%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Sherwood Smith.
Author 168 books37.5k followers
Read
August 7, 2019
Finished over lunch like a runaway train zooming into the station.

Each of these books could be read on its own--there is adequate re-introduction of the main characters, and major past events get enough of a reminder for readers to get the gist--but I believe that it would be a disservice to the overarching storyline to skip around.

One of the pleasures of the series, besides the pulse-pounding adventure and seeing how our doughty scrappers figure out how to get out of crazy danger this time, is the character development. As we learn about the backgrounds of our scrapper team, we see the growth of the characters themselves.

So this time, Sienna the wizard receives a shocker: her family catches up with her. And they have a not-to-be-refused offer. Meanwhile, the team is contacted by a couple of guys who have the money to hire the team for a purpose that seems to have a hidden agenda. Or two.

Watching the story unfold was extra cinematic in this volume, with a couple of truly terrifying incidents, contrasted with the intensity of family dynamics. I thoroughly enjoyed how, in effect, there are two climaxes--one the expected adventure climax, but the second is just as gripping as Sienne is poised between the life she has made for herself, and the one that loyalty and even honor seem to demand.

A grace note is Perrin's continued story, which is not resolved here, and promises more to come.

We learn a bit more about my favorite crotchety avatar, Averran--and we meet the wise, interesting Octavian again.

Another bonus, the mystery warrior Kalanth at last seems to be opening up.

A satisfying resolution to this still has many tantalizing threads dangling for the next volume.

Copy courtesy author.
Profile Image for Jacob Proffitt.
3,311 reviews2,154 followers
August 6, 2019
I really should standardize this disclaimer, if only because I'll eventually run out of ways to say that I promised to love, honor and obey the author. Well, okay, those weren't the actual words of the ceremony, but it was 28 years ago and frankly, my memories of that day are hazy at best. I strive for both honesty and clarity in my reviews, however, and that stands for these, as well. Still, if you want an excuse to discount the praise, you need look no further than our relationship to find one.

I love this story. It is my favorite of the series (the final book is a culmination and impossible to evaluate on its own, so even though it's as good, it's hard to compare when designating "favorite"). This one starts with the team coming home with a fantastic haul only to run smack into a wall of familial complications. Sienne's family has finally found her and meeting them makes it clear that this amorphous dreaded "bad thing" that has hung over her head for so long is both worse and better than her imagination made it seem. It's complicated, is what I'm saying, and in ways that threaten to destroy the team like no monster ever could. And then Perrin's family issues come in to put the cat truly among the pigeons and the team takes a side-job just to have a break.

And that side job turns into a big pile of complication on its own and anything I say would be spoilers (and rob readers of a delightful journey of discovery and tragedy and death and oh my!). This novel has two classic monsters from RPGs in it, and they turned out so delightfully terrifying that I'm having to actively suppress my temptation to burble about it.

Okay, I can't resist because in some of our games, I've run encounters with before and I never managed to mine even a fraction of the depth Melissa managed with this story. And yeah, some of that is because she owns the narrative in a way that's impossible with the collaborative style of RPG game-play. But some of it, too, is that Melissa understood and communicated the heart of that terror in a deeper and more meaningful way and was able to create a better impact as a result. I just loved that!

Anyway, there are great character developments in this story, including with Alaric and Sienne's relationship. And the plot is wonderfully convoluted and twisty and tense while still hanging together so very well. And I wish I could detail how engaged I was with Sienne's relationship with her parents without spoiling things all to pieces.

Sigh. So this is five stars and I really hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

A note about Chaste: Sienne and Alaric are in an explicitly sexual relationship and issues of pregnancies and children are central to the story. But there's no explicit sex or even any explicit language, though there's a scene that occurs in the afterglow, er, if you will. I consider this still chaste, but others may be stricter in their interpretations.
Profile Image for Melissa McShane.
Author 94 books861 followers
Read
February 26, 2025
This is probably my favorite of the series. Though I believe the series comes to an excellent climax in book 6, Call of Wizardry, this one has so many elements I love that I'm really excited for people to read it. Sienne's past, and her family, finally catch up to her. Perrin's family drama achieves new heights of tragedy. The companions get hired for a job that isn't at all what it appears, dragging them across the country to an encounter with one of my favorite magical monsters. It's an exciting adventure, but beyond that, it's also full of emotional peril and terrible, heart-wrenching choices.

When I started planning this series, I thought there would be five books, one for each character. But it immediately became clear that Perrin's story couldn't be told adequately in a single book. So I've been drawing out his character arc across all the books, and I think it worked out well. Now that he's mostly gotten his alcoholic demons under control, it's time to crank up the tension by bringing in his family--but I can't say any more, except that everything that happens to him in this book is another step toward that final resolution.

The other reason I needed six books was that Sienne's story needed two volumes. Her background was revealed in Company of Strangers, and in this book, she confronts her past. I owe my husband for a key insight that seemed like just a different plot twist than the one I had planned, but turned out to be key to the plot.

One reader pointed out that because there were different silhouettes on each cover, he expected each book to be from a different POV and was surprised when it was just Sienne. That's a reasonable expectation, and I'm sorry if anyone else was caught by it. I just thought the silhouettes would make a dramatic focal image. (Keep watching to see what's on the cover of book 6, after I've run out of companions.)

Anyway, I am really very excited to see if people love this one as much as I do!
Profile Image for Bryan Brown.
269 reviews9 followers
September 10, 2019
The disclaimer from the previous stories still stand. I know the author and her family, and I like them.

This continues to be a character driven story, and it really shows. The plot is straightforward and clearly telegraphed so there were no surprises to detract from focusing on the characters. I found out how much I liked these characters because I cried three different times during the story.

This story is told again from the point of view of Sienne and this story spent a lot of time focusing on the family and personal issues she had brought into the story. As a character Sienne has matured a lot over the course of the series. She is more level headed and understanding of her emotions and values. I don't think she is much of a critical thinker though because several situations and eventualities that seemed obvious to me never occurred to her. Nevertheless there were two very poignant moments involving Sienne that I found bringing me to tears.

Alaric is an important part of the Sienne story so he gets plenty of time too. The overall series story is his and in each book progress is made towards resolving, hopefully, his backstory.

Perrin is still one of my favorites. He is maintaining sobriety and growing in his willingness to consider the viewpoints and motivations of others rather than assigning what he thinks they are or should be. A note about the sobriety, I complained that it wasn't dealt with well, and I still hold to that, although there are considerations that I didn't take into account, mostly how much time passes between stories. Maybe he's going to some AA group when they aren't adventuring, I don't know. Perrin was the third moment of the story that brought me to tears. Other than to mention it involves his backstory, of which we know a little now, I won't say any more for fear of spoiling it for others.

Kalanath, and Dianth only had minimal roles in this story but were present and I was pleased to discover some of Kalanath's history and backstory. He was always hesitant to talk about his home land and his own culture, and a lot of that was covered near the end of this book as a framework to set up the next one. I'm looking forward to learning more.

While Dianth was only a pocket rogue in this story the reason to like these books is the interaction of the whole team even the ones with less "screen time" in each story. They still feel like a group of friends, telling a story about a group of friends. It is really satisfying on both a story level and on a sort of meta-level because it reminds me of playing role playing games with my friends.

Have you not started this series? Why not! Go buy it. I can recommend them highly. Melissa McShane is now in the position of having fans, myself included, who go "WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE!!!!!" I guess that is what authors are looking for.
Profile Image for Jana Brown.
Author 12 books53 followers
September 10, 2019
I have no idea how I haven't reviewed this already. Bad me!

My disclaimer: I know the author. I beta read for her. My opinions are mine though. I don't get enough brownies to fib. :)

Soo...this is my favorite book in the series. I enjoy the way it's written with two fairly major arcs going on that tie into and around each other. I enjoy watching the characters continue to grow both as a group and as people. The use of the major scary creature is highly freaky and the fall out from defeating it makes me cry every time and this was my third or fourth read. It's not the only place where I'm brought to tears, and I find it a pretty good reflection of how good the writing is and how invested I am when I have a major emotional reaction.

Sienne must deal with her family. Perrin must continue to deal with the loss of his. This book is about hard choices and about following your heart and doing the right thing and what happens when those two things aren't necessarily one and the same.

Book 5 can't come out soon enough.
Profile Image for Elaine.
Author 2 books6 followers
August 18, 2019
Once again, Melissa McShane delivers an excellent tale of action, adventure, and magic in this fun fantasy series!

The wizard Sienne and the rest of her scrapper team have just discovered some very valuable treasure, so they're riding high when Sienne's noble family tracks her down at last. She's spent the last year avoiding them because her parents refused to let her marry her former love, instead arranging a marriage between him and Sienne's older sister, their heir. Once Sienne reunites with her family, she learns about the major changes that have occurred in the time since she last saw them, which throws her current life into upheaval.

In the midst of Sienne's family drama, the team have another problem and it's best if they make themselves scarce for awhile. So, they take a job from a pair of men who live in a settlement in the wilderness. On the journey to their home, Sienne and the others learn the quest is not at all what it seems. Soon, they're up against a terrifying howler (which is apparently based on the Wendigo legend).

**Minor Spoilers Ahead**



**End of Spoilers**

Finally, the denouement of the book itself is fraught with hard choices and sacrifice. Each book in the series has had a sort of double climax. At about three quarters of the way through, the team faces the creature or person they thought was the big bad of the book. Then, just as everyone is starting to relax from that battle, the real villain or problem rears its head. This book is no exception, but the second climax here is all about emotional stakes, so the final resolution is not as action-packed but just as satisfying as ever, if not more so.

I knew once I started reading these books so quickly that I would rue the day I came to the end of the novels that have been published so far. However, the author has churned this series out in rapid succession, and I believe the final two volumes are finished already. So, it won't be a long wait and I'm very excited to see more of one character's mysterious homeland in the sequel. Until then!

Disclaimer: I do know the author, if only through Goodreads, and while that is the reason I was aware of and decided to read this book, it has not influenced my rating. She did not contact me to ask me to read or review this book.
Profile Image for Mike.
Author 46 books194 followers
September 6, 2019
This series is really hitting its stride.

In this book, Melissa McShane does something I haven't really seen her do before, at least not to this extent: she keeps making things worse for the characters. She's established their pain points in previous books, and now she ramps up the tension and conflict by hitting those points harder and harder.

That makes for a gripping book. She doesn't take it to a tragic place, which I personally appreciate; despite everything, the protagonist manages to triumph in a way that is simultaneously unexpected and also well set up. A secondary character's conflict isn't resolved, though, and in fact provides the bridge into the next book. And the long arc of the series, while it definitely progresses a lot, still has a way to go, and looks like it will drive probably a couple more books.

All in all, fine work. These days, I get a lot of my books as free review copies or as Bookbub bargains; McShane's are almost the only ones I pay full price for (and a bit higher than the price I'm usually comfortable paying). They're worth it, both for the highly professional quality of the editing and for her increasing skill in creating twisty plots for admirable characters.
190 reviews2 followers
August 12, 2019
I have been reading this series since book I, and have loved all of them. While I do NOT believe that you have to have read them to enjoy this book, my appreciation has been increased by knowing the backstory.

This one is a step up from the previous two in terms of excitement, adventure, surprises, and a touching romance that looks as if it is going to end tragically if what I call the master quest to free Alaric's people doesn't succeed. But knowing McShane, I know she is going to come up with some more surprises and twists that will unite Sienne and Alaric at the end.

There were some amazingly inventive plot elements in this book which I fear I would give away in trying to explain them. Just trust me on this: you will be surprised and afraid, as well as further wowed by the intrepid team at work.

I received a free advanced reading copy of this book, but there was no requirement that I write a review. I do so joyfully, hoping others will enjoy McShane's latest book as much as I did.
Profile Image for Vicky.
110 reviews24 followers
August 1, 2019
What I like about this series is how each book while yes they are continuous and if you read them as a series you get more, but I think you could easily read them alone or even out of order. Of course some things make more sense in order but it’s only a little bonus. The thing that each book has its own problem that starts at the beginning and is resolved at the end of the book which is something I like since it means no cliffhangers! In this one we learn even more about our heroes, especially about Sienne’s life before everything happened and you get a glimpse into her family! It was nice. We also see some more of the world and it’s interesting to see more about it. I’m curious to see where book five is going!

*I received a copy of this book, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Profile Image for E.
351 reviews
August 7, 2019
More excellent stuff here. The world expands a bit in this volume, with the families of a couple of core characters that have been hinted at in previous volumes appearing 'on camera' for the first time. Nice balance here between the overarching metaplot of helping Alaric's people and the "scrapper mission of the week" structure of the individual story in the volume.

I've said before this series reminds me of the very best TSR tie-ins from the 80s updated for a modern audience and that holds true here. Enormous fun, can't wait for the next one. Points too for a minor character being LGBT in an entirely understated manner, now all we need is for .
6,155 reviews
August 13, 2019
Shifting Loyalties, book four from Melissa McShane’s series, Company of Strangers, is a good read. Even though it is part of a series, I believe it could be read as a stand alone. I enjoyed this installment of the series. I had no problem having it read in just a few hours.

I am giving Shifting Loyalties four stars. I recommend it for other readers who enjoy books with the sense of adventure and action. It is definitely worth a read.

I received this book from the publisher, but was not required to write a review. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.
Profile Image for The Mysterious Reader.
3,588 reviews66 followers
February 11, 2020
I really love Melissa McShane’s Company of Strangers. It’s like loving through a superb series of role playing adventures (a high complement in my mind) that’s really perfectly written with wonderful characters (Sienne and Alaric, and Perrin too - but really the entire cast) and great plots. Shifting Loyalties (Book 4) was no exception. Things keep on piling on for the gang but somehow they are overcome in one heck of a wonderful tale. Highly recommended.

Profile Image for Shannon.
246 reviews4 followers
November 5, 2019
Yikes! This installment of the series really raises the stakes. I was honestly worried about how it would turn out. Great pacing, some awesome payoff moments, solid connection with characters... along with some page-turning, nail-biting suspense. Make sure you’ve read the previous books, then prepare to tear through this one!
Profile Image for Karisa.
359 reviews
January 14, 2022
This was probably my favorite of the series so far. There's a lot going on... big feelings, high stakes, impossible choices... lots of drama in this now-familiar world, and it really drew me in.

(2022 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book whose title begins with the last letter of your previous read)
Profile Image for Ria.
2,484 reviews36 followers
March 3, 2020
This book grabbed me by the throat from start to finish, poor Sienne is really put through the wringer in this instalment and boy was I invested in her struggles. An immensely satisfying entry into the series, I'm too sad to consider it ending after two more books.
1,084 reviews
August 9, 2019
Another good episode

This was another solid edition to the series. Some movement of the overall narrative arc. Not a huge fan of the family element.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.