Tom: Sklar's Shadow: The Evil of Sklar returns. Book V in the series

by Stephen Matthews

With the new Cave settled, the news that Sklar was not far away was anything but welcome. The idea of a cave full of Normeend with their villainous ways being not far away hung like a dark shadow across the lake and heavily on Tom’s mind. He sent out teams to make traps, gather and store food and munitions ready for the day that Tom was sure would come when Sklar arrived and they would need to defend themselves. Would that be enough? He did not know, nor would he ever be sure until every vestige of that shadow, along with the fears the Normeend created, were eliminated from their world. In the process of creating their defences, more obstacles and threats came their way. Dangers to their Cave which challenged their ways and threatened their very existence came from more than one source and by both natural and human obstacles. The team, and especially Kroll, fought back. Then there were the Old Ones.

291 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 30, 2019

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Sadly Stephen died suddenly on the 8th Jan 2022, leaving 2 more books to be proof read and then published. His wife will try to sort them out but at present has a lot to cope with. He wrote up to the end of his life so there are ideas awaiting to be written.

Stephen was a retired software engineer who worked for several major UK companies and travelled the world managing and testing software projects. Then he was more used to writing User Manuals than novels. That is before he retired with his wife to live in Cyprus. There, with time on his hands, ideas in his head and the need to type, he started to write. His first novel, which is still unpublished, took him 4 years.

In his spare time he did charity work on the Island and is a wood turner.

He and his wife have two grown up children and three grandchildren.

He has a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, and an MBA from the Open University.

Reviews

[Judy Mahmoudian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gifted story teller

I just finished this book and the series. It does not feel like the end, though, it feels like some loose ends need addressed. So, I am hoping for at least one more Tom book. Mr. Matthews has introduced some remarkable characters and kept the adventure going throughout. The only criticism: proofread for spelling.

[David Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

I have really enjoyed the Tom books . A different spin on time travel . I am hoping that they keep coming.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book.

The story was good and I enjoyed the world building and the development of the community. The pacing was good and I enjoyed the glimpse into the ice age.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable!

[RandomLibrarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, I have to rant a little. The novelty of the series the time travel the future knowledge is wearing off. This book was just a 47,000 year-old soap opera really annoying. I won’t lie the most straightforward bully to villain story arcs imaginable. Honestly, I could do with no villains, the people are shit the fights with the animals and all the cool ideas even the low tech ideas so much fun and very exciting very well written well told I love it. Stop with the people drama, please really hoping the rest of this series has less people drama, but based on the titles of the books, I don’t think it does. This is really just a caveman coming of age at this point

[John D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series

This is a good book. You shouldy read it. I like the story. The characters are fun. The book is a good read. i enjoyed it alot.. Download or buy it today. why not?

[Jimmy Duncan]

Good story!

This is a good series, enjoyable reading. Reading the Old Testament showed me that people haven't changed much in several thousand years, cavemen are much the same.