Echo in Emerald

Uncommon Echoes #2

by Sharon Shinn

A Misfit and a Mystery

In the royal city of Camarria, a street urchin named Chessie lives by her wits, always attended by her two faithful friends, Red and Scar. What no one realizes is that the “friends” are really echoes, creatures who look exactly like their originals but who possess no volition of their own.

Echoes normally are only born to high nobles, and Chessie doesn’t want anyone to start asking questions about her past. So she’s developed the ability to move between bodies so rapidly that she can maintain the illusion that she and Red and Scar are three separate people.

After someone tries to murder the crown prince, Chessie gets entangled in the investigation when she comes to the aid of Lord Dezmen, the high noble who’s trying to solve the crime. From the back alleys of Camarria to a society party to a rural province, they track down clues.

Until one of those clues leads right back to Chessie.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Magic, Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Mystery, Audiobook

358 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 21, 2019

About the author

I’ve been writing stories and poems since I was eight years old. My first poem was about Halloween: "What is tonight? What is tonight?/Try to guess and you’ll guess right." Perhaps this inauspicious beginning explains why it took me till I was in my thirties to sell a novel. It occurred to me early on that it might take some time and a lot of tries before I was able to publish any of my creative writing, so I pursued a degree in journalism at Northwestern University so I’d be able to support myself while I figured out how to write fiction.

I’ve spent most of my journalism career at three trade and association magazines—The Professional Photographer (which, as you might guess, went to studio and industrial photographers), DECOR (which went to frame shop and art gallery owners), and BizEd (which is directed at deans and professors at business schools). My longest stint, seventeen years, was at DECOR. Many people don’t know this, but I’m a CPF (Certified Picture Framer), having passed a very long, technical test to prove I understood the tenets of conservation framing. Now I write about management education and interview some really cool, really smart people from all over the world.

I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in. I’m a fan of Cardinals baseball and try to be at the ballpark on opening day. If I had the time, I’d see a movie every day of my life. I love certain TV shows so much that knowing a new episode is going to air that night will make me happy all day. (I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan, but in the past I’ve given my heart to shows all over the map in terms of quality: "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "Blake’s 7," "Moonlighting," "The Young Riders," "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "X-Files," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica"...you can probably fill in the gaps. And let’s not forget my very first loves, "The Partridge Family," "Here Come the Brides" and "Alias Smith & Jones.")

I don’t have kids, I don’t want pets, and all my plants die, so I’m really only forced to provide ongoing care for my menagerie of stuffed animals. All my friends are animal lovers, though, and someone once theorized that I keep friends as pets. I’m still trying to decide if that’s true.

Reviews

[Melindam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was better, more tense & exciting than Book 1, Echo in Onyx with a fantastic heroine.

While part of a series, all 3 books can be read as standalones.


Emerald


"In the Kingdom of the Seven Jewels, many of the highest nobles are attended by one or two or three echoes—creatures who look exactly like them, who move with them in perfect synchronicity, but who have no thoughts or volition of their own. They are considered gifts from the triple goddess, who created them generations ago when war and murder put every noble’s life in danger; when assassins could not be sure which identical body was the true lord or lady, many fewer deaths occurred. Now, echoes are primarily a symbol of wealth and status."

Whenever you take a Sharon Shinn book, you can be sure of the following literary trademarks:
- great writing & characters
- detailed & unique world-building with well-defined politics, religion and geography
- intriguing plot (no armageddon or epic quest, though)
- believable, solid romance(s) that are not all-consuming (thankfully)

In Book 1, Echo in Onyx, we were offered a story through the eyes of Brianna, maid to a noblewoman with echoes and much of the time I was as confused and ignorant as her concerning the meaning, function and effect of echoes to an individual's life.

It helped a lot that the current story is told from the POV of Chessie, a street urchin in Camarria, who happens to have 2 echoes herself, though she is most keen to hide this fact from everyone around her and with good reason. We learn very early on in the story (so I won't put this under the spoiler tag) that she is actually the daughter of the most feared man in the Kingdom: Malachai Burkin, the King's main inquisitor. BUT we do not know all there is to know about Chessie's turbulent childhood. Further secrets will arise eventually that puts her in deadly danger and maybe the succession of the kingdom in jeopardy. It is all related to an attempt to murder the Crown Prince.
The investigation is conducted by Lord Dezmen from Pandrea, a high noble with impeccable reputation and a staunch supporter of the crown. (On a secondary note, apart from these 2 politically well-grounded reasons, why Lord Dezmen was chosen is anyone's guess, for most of the story he was clueless, skill-less & helpless and to me it is quite a lot of "less".)
Chessie's boss, Jackal, a kind of mafia-leader, who trades in favours, information and when necessary, lives, sends her to warn the Lord that some sinister forces want to make sure he fails. By chance, Chessie also manages to save Lord Dezmen's life and becomes embroiled in the tangled web of intrigue and investigation.

I absolutely loved Chessie's character: she is a survivor and had to go through a lot of ordeals to stay alive, but while she got damaged in the process, she never gave up and she didn't get embittered or become a cynic. I also liked the character of Jackal. He was very intriguing and much more interesting than the generic and bland Lord Dezmen who, of course becomes Chessie's love interest. Sharon Shinn likes to balance her lovers: if one is noble than the other must be of humble origins, though in Chessie's case, this is not as straightforward. who was the only thorn in this lovely rose of a novel for me and quite a big one.

However, the story is exciting and tense throughout the book with revelations just at the right places (though some of them you can guess for yourself) raising the stakes of the political game always higher.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a while since a Sharon Shinn book annoyed me as much as Echo in Emerald. There were those dreadful shapeshifter ones several years ago, but usually Shinn writes perfect brain candy for when I'm too tired to read something more intellectually vigorous.

And initially, this second book in the loosely related Echoes book seemed like it would fit the bill. Heroine Chessie, streetwise and secretive, is so much more interesting than Brianna of Echo in Onyx. She has two constant companions, a flirty barmaid called Red and a surly lad called Scar, but what no one else knows is that they are actually her echoes, and she can jump between their bodies as easily as breathing - a skill only known from legend. Each of the three is a different aspect of herself, with slightly different skills and physical abilities, and Chessie is both puppeteer and puppet.

So far, so good. The royal city of Camarria is still in disarray after the events of the previous book, followed by an assassination attempt on the crown prince and the perhaps unconnected murder of a random minor noble. It's a time of change, and Chessie, who has been coasting along for a few years, is about to be swept up into it.

Plot is basically fine, if a little obvious. It's likely you'll guess a couple of the twists before the characters figure them out.

The romance is...not fine. Sharon Shinn has penned a couple of my favorite fictional couples (Archangel, Troubled Waters) with strong-willed pairs of people who complement each other in surprising ways and often only after major conflict and personal growth. My least favorite type of Shinn romance is of the protective guy + helpless girl variety, and our hero Dezmen takes the cake here for being a combination of paternalistic, clueless, and useless - and weakening our once self-sufficient and fiercely private heroine.

The inflection point at which I stopped normal-reading Echo in Emerald and started hate-reading is when the hero, already tottering on the edge of my poor opinion, orders food for the heroine without asking what she wants to eat. Excuse me?? And this, shortly after insisting on dropping Chessie off at her home without acknowledging that her reasons for keeping her address private might take precedence over his gentlemanly pride. He's also absolute rubbish at his job of investigating the murder and almost gets killed himself five minutes after Chessie warns him that he's in danger. Yet he wants to protect Chessie?

Oh, but the sex is mindblowing and literally lifechanging for Chessie, who starts losing her ability to jump between echoes after bedding Dezmen. I mean, you could read this as a resolution of Chessie's multiple personality disorder and psychic re-integration if you were feeling generous. It still seems like a bad trade to me. Also, I personally dislike the sex-as-personal-growth-catalyst trope.

I bought the second and third books together, and it has different main characters, so I might as well finish the trilogy. Meh.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Squeee...

Ah, this is much more like the Shinn I love. Excellent romantic adventure!
Very inventive with great lead characters and a satisfying mystery (or three).

More to come (maybe). Right now I need to just sit back and enjoy my 'good book hang-over'.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like this quite as much as the first one, to a largest extent because Chessie jumping between her echos kind of stressed me out. And I was a little less into the romance.

But it's new Sharon Shinn, it's all good, also there's a bit of a road trip so:

Fulfills "Road Trip" for 2019 Ripped Bodice Bingo

[The Captain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahoy there me mateys!  I absolutely love Sharon Shinn and featured her works in me Broadside No. 2.  I finished the Elemental Blessings series, was sad and then Matey Nicole @ bookwyrmknits told me that this YA series existed and of course I had to track it down.  The author's website describes the world of these books as:

In the Kingdom of the Seven Jewels, many of the highest nobles are attended by one or two or three echoes—creatures who look exactly like them, who move with them in perfect synchronicity, but who have no thoughts or volition of their own. Centuries ago during wartime, the echoes were a gift from the triple goddess, who bestowed them as a way to keep nobles safe from constant attempts at assassination. But what if an echo wasn't always exactly as it appeared . . .

I read the three books back to back and enjoyed them.  Just be forewarned about two things:

a) the echoes and how they work make no real sense; and
b) each plot is basically the same: young non-noble girl meets rich noble man, doesn't recognize him, insta-lust ensues, shenanigans ensue, happy ever after.

Now normally both of those things would irk me to no end.  However, this is Sharon Shinn and I love her writing.  Sure things don't make sense and these plots are super problematic but I still enjoy the world building and characters.  Even if even the characters were kinda special snowflakes and things worked out for them rather easily.   The echoes are a concept are fascinating and so I loved reading about them.  Each book focuses on a slightly different aspect of echoes.  Just don't think too hard about them cause inconsistencies abound.  I needed a distraction from life and these worked perfectly for the mood and moment.

This were fun and fluff but I have no urge to own them.  I also got them as part of Kindle Unlimited and so didn't have to pay the absurd ebook price for them.  The concept is both the strongest and weakest part of the book.  These are not her best books (in fact may be her weakest) and I wouldn't recommend them but I am so very glad I read them.

If ye be interested in any of Sharon Shinn's works, I suggest ye hoist those sails and visit her amazing website.  Literally one of the best author websites I have ever seen.  Arrrrr!

[Janine Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75 stars for the book / 3.25 stars for the audio narration

Recently I’ve been listening to the audiobooks of Sharon Shinn’s Uncommon Echoes series. I’ve reviewed the first in the series, Echo in Onyx, and the following is my review of the second, Echo in Emerald. I’m going to begin by cribbing the description of the series and its world from my earlier review of Echo in Onyx.

In the Regency-like world of the Uncommon Echoes series, a small percentage of the population, mostly members of the nobility but a few others as well, are attended by echoes, creatures who resemble them exactly, copy their gestures precisely, but cannot speak.

The echoes are conferred on these nobles by the triple goddess (her three aspects represent justice, mercy and joy) for reasons that only become clear as the story unfolds. Echoes have been around for centuries and have developed into a status symbol; one can be born with up to three, and the number you have is a factor in how exceptional you are considered.

The series is set in the Kingdom of the Seven Jewels, seven provinces each represented by a different gemstone, but each ruled over by the same king. There is quite a bit of intrigue around the royal family, and the series introduces characters from other provinces and tracks their involvement in those goings-on. The books take place concurrently so many of the characters appear in more than one book.

Echo in Emerald is narrated by Chessie, a young woman who lives in the capital city of Camarria. Chessie is from Empara, a province represented by emeralds. She arrived in Camarria as a teenager and has had to fend for herself on her own.

Well, not exactly on her own, because Chessie has two echoes. This is more than odd, it’s almost unheard of, since Chessie isn’t a noblewoman. It’s unclear why the goddess saw fit to gift Chessie with echoes, but Chessie is grateful for them.

Nevertheless, she has to conceal their existence. Chessie is the unwanted, illegitimate child of Malachi Burken, the king’s inquisitor. She hates and fears her absent father (the reasons for this are clarified later) and hides her presence in Camarria from him, since he also lives there.

Concealing the echoes isn’t easy; to succeed Chessie has to give them separate identities. Luckily, she has rare abilities: she can differentiate and control the movements of her echoes, and what is even more remarkable, “jump” from echo to echo and back to herself, so that her consciousness can inhabit whichever of three bodies she chooses.

The echoes can’t stray too far from her, and to hide their existence she gives them their own appearances, identities and jobs. “Red,” a young woman, waits tables at a tavern, while “Scar,” works in the warehouse district, usually unloading crates. Chessie takes on odd, sometimes dangerous jobs.

Early in the book, Chessie is asked to transport a teenage boy from Empara to Camarria, but refuses—Empara, her birthplace, is the last place she wants to go.

Chessie’s life begins to change when Jackal, Camarria’s underworld boss, a close acquaintance of Chessie’s and “Red’s” erstwhile lover, gives Chessie a new odd job. He pays her to go the botanical gardens and approach a nobleman. The nobleman will be meeting someone and Jackal wants Chessie to wait for the meeting to end and then warn him that two dangerous men will be waiting for him near the gardens’ exit so that they can attack him.

When Chessie arrives at the gardens, her echoes trailing her, she identifies the noble—a dark-skinned, dark-haired man with two echoes – and approaches him after his meeting. But the man–Lord Dezmen of Pandrea—doesn’t take her warning seriously. When Lord Dezmen is jumped, “Scar” rescues him.

Afterward, Chessie and her echoes share a quick outdoor meal with Lord Dezmen and his. She sets up a meeting with Jackal, and there she learns that Lord Dezmen is investigating the murder of a nobleman who was hired to assassinate the crown prince. In the normal course of things it would be Malachi, the king’s inquisitor and Chessie’s natural father, whose job would be to conduct such an investigation. But the king trusts Lord Dezmen more.

Chessie becomes involved in Lord Dezmen’s investigation when she assists him further, and slowly but surely, she begins to fall for the attractive lord. But even as she and Lord Dezmen grow dangerously close—close enough that she fears he’ll unravel her secret—they get nearer to the conspiracy behind the assassination attempt. And this, too, is a dangerous, not only because of the threat it poses to Lord Dezmen’s life, but because the conspiracy leads them back to Empara, Chessie’s birthplace, and to Chessie.

I have a few quibbles with the book, and the biggest is that Chessie, though a bit toughened, trusted Lord Dezmen and Jackal a bit more than I would expect a streetwise character to.

One has to go with the premise that Chessie, Scar and Red could pass for three different people. Chessie disguised her echoes in various ways, moved in their bodies differently and even gave them differing personalities, but since their faces were similar, I have to believe that the goddess looked out for her on that one.

This is a partial review. The complete review can be found at Dear Author, here: https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/o...

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

a huge improvement on the first one

though Lady Marguerite has still received no justice and no one who knows the circumstances of Jamison’s death, blames the king as he deserves for her judicial murder. I am still struggling with Shinn‘s choice to write the story that way, but it affected this book less than the last one, naturally.

There was a lot that was interesting about this story, especially the Chessie/Scar/Red situation. The echoes are a fascinating idea to begin with, and then to make first Marguerite and now Chessie able to work with their echoes in previously unheard-of ways made the story even richer.

I was wondering if any characters were paying attention to the differences between various people’s echoes. Brianna noticed that the king’s echoes seemed more alert than other nobles’, while the queen’s echoes looked even more awake than the king’s, for instance. But then Brianna was new to the palace, so maybe the nobles were so accustomed to echoes’ usual behavior that they were blinded to any particular differences between them... At any rate, that aspect of the story gave me a lot to think on.

The book’s plot was complex and very well thought out. It came to a satisfying conclusion. I was glad there was no unrealistic fairytale HEA. Instead the ending was a true conclusion to the story while still leaving some painfully messy threads that couldn’t be resolved—just like in real life. I appreciated that a great deal.

All in all a very good book and IMO some of Shinn’s best work.

[Rachel Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man, I was SO excited to have a new Sharon Shinn series. But this reminds me of how blah her last YA series was. This could not compare to the Elemental Blessings series, especially without Jennifer Van Dyck narrating. The plot was fine, but the world just doesn't work for me, and neither do the characters — particularly the love interest in this installment, who is incredibly paternalistic.

I pre-ordered the final book in ebook form to see if it's better without the overemotional narrator. We'll see. Either way I still might re-read Troubled Waters to remind myself of better times.

[eyes.2c · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chessie lives with her friends Scar and Ruby. A street urchin she hides in plain sight with her two echos whom she treats and dresses as different people controlling them by moving between their bodies.
But she could easily be found out which is why she must always be on guard.

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Chessie and her Echoes were so interesting. A star heroine!

[Olga Godim · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This is the second book of the series, and although I liked it much better than the first, Echo in Onyx, overall, this series seems much darker, filled with more menace and quiet anguish than most of the writer’s previous books.
The heroine Chessie is a street girl with a terrible secret. The hero, Lord Dezmen, is a charming nobleman, investigating a murder on the king’s behalf. Chessie doesn’t trust anyone, while Dezmen can’t imagine anyone who might want to harm him.
After Chessie is drawn into his investigation, almost by accident, all sorts of calamities befall both of them. They also fall in love, which happens often in Shinn’s stories, while they navigate the treacherous city streets and even more dangerous political labyrinths. Together, they fight hired killers and uncover the clues to the most devious plot, as the tension escalates, and the stakes rise on their mere survival.
The world is original, the pacing fast, and the characters colorful and multifaceted, but the system of ‘echoes’, one of basic tenets of the society in this series, left me uneasy. I don’t like it and, deep inside, I can’t accept it.
Overall, it was a solid fantasy novel, and it gripped me from the beginning to the end, but I didn’t enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed the author’s other novels and other series.

[chelsea reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf this one (over 60%). I'm hoping the next one isn't linked either, as I'll continue to read the series

[Matthew Galloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole audible original thing is interesting. In this case, I feel like I might have enjoyed this one better in print -- which is nothing against the narrator. She did an excellent job. There's just something about the language in this one that I think I'd have liked better read. Anyway... Overall I think I liked Chessie a smudge better than Brianna. So, why one less star? Well, mostly I have some unresolved ill feeling towards a certain noble and his view on acceptable treatment of women in the prior novel. Now I'm worried that he won't get his comeuppance by the time the series ends. If anything, I think I was supposed to feel sympathetic to him this go round. No. Otherwise, I got a little tired of the descriptions of Chessie's switching. I felt it went on rather far fast when I got the point.

The plot, itself, is a fun investigation and interesting exploration of parts of the kingdom we didn't get to see before.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Sharon Shinn for a long time. She writes entertaining fantasy and science fiction novels. This one satisfies expectations. I will definitely read the third book in the series.

The concept of "echoes" is a little creepy-- one soul, multiple bodies, almost the opposite of multiple personalities-- but Shinn is good at exploring the idea and utilizing it for storytelling purposes.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting development on the mythology of the echos established in this new Shinn series

[Aphelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chessie is a street urchin who is never without her best friends, a couple named Scar and Red. But she has a secret - those friends are actually her Echoes, cleverly disguised.

Chessie has given each of her doubles a distinctive appearance and personality: Red, with her brightened scarlet waist-length hair, is a flirt and barmaid; Scar, with his short, darkened hair and enhanced eyebrow scar is a taciturn male who does odd jobs and speaks as little as possible. But Chessie is the animating force that flits between the three bodies, and she keeps her own appearance somewhere in the middle of masculine and feminine with her shoulder-length hair its natural auburn hue.

Her path crosses with Lord Dezman, who is investigating the attempted assassination of Prince Cormac, which ended the last book. As Chessie falls for Dezman, despite herself, the truth of her parentage and her tragic past are revealed.

I really like Chessie, but I think she came to trust Dezman too easily, after her many years of refusing to trust anyone or let anyone get close to her, lest they discover her secret. Chessie has become good friends with Brianna from the first book though, so it's nice to catch a glimpse of her new life with Nico.

My main issue is this: When Dezman and Chessie set out to uncover her identity, it is the major mystery the story, one that every clue (including Chessie's emerald necklace) has been leading up to. But when they finally uncover that proof - her parentage listed in an abbey's register - THEY DON'T TAKE THE BOOK!!!! Not even a copy. Or a signed note from the abbess! Even knowing her father's habit of burning and destroying any connection at all. What were they thinking?! And then when Dezman presents her to the King, she binds her two Echoes closely and makes them act in synchronicity. And this is accepted as "proof" in spite of the plot of the first book, where Brianna was able to mimic an Echo seamlessly! It was a very disappointing contradiction and really marred my enjoyment of an otherwise interesting story.

Also, the information from the last book - that children with Echoes are born only to noble parents - coupled with the knowledge that Malachi is Chessie's father and her auburn hair, both mentioned very early on, was enough for me to accurately guess her mother's identity nearly from the first chapter. So the ultimate discovery that the Queen is her mother was not at all surprising to me.

The ending is a little rushed. And I was also a bit disappointed that Chessie started to lose her ability to jump between bodies once she fully settled into her own, since her other identities were so carefully crafted and maintained. I thought that they might retain a bit of awareness of their own, but this was not the case. Overall, an intriguing read that makes me even more interested in the purpose of the Echoes!

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ugh, good. Took me a little longer to get invested because I was QUITE attached to the main hero and heroine from Book 1, and I've noticed that Shinn rarely expands on her romantic couples in subsequent novels (the one exception being Tayse and Senneth from the Twelve Houses books)--and indeed, they did not make too many appearances in Book 2. But this volume eventually proved equally as engrossing, and I'm so eager to read the next one that I suspect I'll begin as soon as I'm done writing this. My only quibbles: I enjoyed the love story but found the love interest himself a little flat (I know that sounds weird), and I was three steps ahead of the characters for every mystery that came about. I am a mystery writer's dream reader (super gullible, completely fucking clueless, 100% only interested in the romance and not paying attention to anything else), so it is rare when I can actually guess the mysteries. It didn't deter me from my enjoyment of the book, however.

My only real issue with these books, despite how much I'm enjoying them, is that I can't help but feel there's a certain lack of finesse to the storytelling and a blandness and flatness to certain characters that I do not think is present in most of Shinn's other work. They're still solid books, but it almost feels like they haven't been touched by an editor. I'm not sure how publishing with Amazon works, but I would hazard a guess that Shinn herself brought these stories to the best versions of themselves by herself, and then these were published without a proper editor involved (or perhaps a very lazy one). Though even without an editor, Shinn still writes better than most fantasies you can find on the shelves today.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This seemed stronger in many ways than the first book, particularly because it wasn't so bogged down in explaining the overall world. We already had a basic understanding of echoes, so Chessie was allowed to shine and enhance that understanding without detracting from the story itself. At the same time, I didn't like it nearly as much as Onyx.

Though most of the 'twists' and plot points were easy to predict from the onset, the story managed to remain interesting. I kept reading because I wanted to know if all these obvious answers I had were the correct ones. It was predictable, in part because of what we already knew from the first book, but Chessie was still a compelling enough heroine to stick around for.

Dezmen, though, I found to be quite boring. I held out hope that I would discover some interesting aspect of his personality, but alas, I just didn't care by the end.

Overall, I think the story was much more clearly defined here, but I didn't care nearly as much for the characters as I did in the first book. Chessie was cool, but I didn't give a shit about what happened to anyone but her. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Katie Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit torn on this one.

I continue to find the worldbuilding intriguing. Shinn is good at fantasy worlds, and the echoes are an unsettling but interesting wrinkle. Chessie is also a fascinating character and her singular ability to truly inhabit her echoes at will makes her unique. The way she goes about solving the mystery, despite the personal cost and danger, is great.

But Dezmen, while beautiful and nice, never really fleshed out into a three-dimensional character for me, and goodness but he's pretty useless at detection. Without Chessie he never would have had a hope in hell of solving the mystery.

And the way Chessie changes over the course of the novel as her past is revealed...I know it's supposed to be her recovering from trauma and forging a new life, but in many ways it felt like giant steps backward. I'm not convinced Dezmen is WORTH all that, or that she'll be happy with the progression a year after book's end.

Also "sex as literally life-changing event" always makes my eyes roll.

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 star rating, rounded up because I can't put my finger on why I should bump it down.

I really enjoyed this story. I enjoyed it a LOT more than the first book in the series. In fact, if you're interested in the world and the setting but not sure about the first book's plot, I think you could easily start here and probably have a more enjoyable experience. (I enjoyed book one. But I really liked book two.)

This story had a lot of twists. Some of them I saw coming, and others I feel I should have seen coming but didn't. I liked the main couple better in this one than the first book, and I think they are suited for each other. (I also want to learn more about Dezmen's sister now.)

[The Glassed And The Furious · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to say that after the first installment of this series, this one was a let down. I just did not like any of the characters this time around. Chessie to me, seemed like an odd choice for this second installment, because she makes like one appearance in the first one. I was genuinely confused when all of a sudden she appeared as the main character. I was also a bit put off by her effortless jumping into her echoes, like it's no big deal, even though that is supposedly only a legend.

Dezmen was really a let down. I enjoyed him in the first installment, but this time around there was no charm, no charisma. He was pretty useless and felt all around charmless in this instance.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I didn't last very long before picking up book two, did I? An exciting fantasy series concept, a mystery with political implications, a new MC and new romantic subplot. I love how our knowledge of echoes has deepened with this book as we explore another aspect. Brianna, in book one, was new to the concept of echoes so everything the reader needed to know was seamlessly explained to her. Chessie, in book two, has echoes and there's a new twist. Can't wait to see what Sharon Shinn does with book three!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chessie, Red and Scar live in the Sweetwater area of Camaria. She gets hired to protect the Pandrean Lord, Dezmen, who is meeting with an informant. Lord Dezmen is searching for who murdered Lefferts, a lesser Noble who attempted to kill Prince Cormac. Another adventure in the Kingdom of the Seven Jewels, where nobles have echoes, exact replicas of themselves.

[Eeedge · Rating 2 out of 5]

What is it with Chessie suffering from Bella Swann syndrome? I’m shocked that Sharon Shinn, whom I generally enjoy, has decided to write a strong woman who caves to every protective demand the young lord presents.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chessie and her echos become involved in a noble murder mystery. Cool set-up, especially in light of the previous book, though also kind of confusing in light of the previous book. Romance made no sense to me.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book clearly started as a sketched concept.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's impossible for me to review this without comparing it to its predecessor, Echo in Onyx, as the two were created to build upon each other. This book continues a political mystery/saga that was first mentioned in Onyx, but now we're a lot closer to it, while almost completely away from court.

Shinn does what she does best - teases out some little facts that ultimately end up crucial to the plot. From the beginning, Chessie is different from other people we've seen with echoes, which to the observant reader can reveal the plot twist. As someone who figured that out, I was still delighted to learn the reasons behind it, and how it furthered the complicated political dynamics in the kingdom.

That said, I found this one a bit harder to listen to. If books are roller coasters, this one had an impossibly long chain lift for me as a reader. Once it got going it was great, but it was far too easy for me to put down and stop really caring about. I think another flaw is that it's the same narrator. While this didn't bother me with the Audible recordings of the Samaria novels, this was much more jarring because some of the same characters exist. So hearing a narration with Brianna's voice was difficult when Brianna and Nico appear in the story. But that's a minor complaint. I think the story was solid, and I'm curious about the last book in the trilogy.

[Maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I liked this so much more than Echo in Onyx! I find Chessie a slightly more engaging narrator than Brianna and the romance between her and Dezmen more dynamic and compelling; the story itself is also NON-FUCKING-STOP, this might be the twistiest and most intense Sharon Shinn book I've ever read?? Which -- that's not at all why I read Sharon Shinn, but DAMN does she do heartstopping plot reveals well. I literally gasped aloud at the Malachi reveal SO EARLY ON IN THE DAMN BOOK and then the entire cascade of intrigue later on is just.... jesus fucking christ. IT'S SUCH AN INTENSE BOOK!!

Really, no overly strong feelings about this story -- apart from the plot and the tension and the intrigue, which are all SO FUCKING GOOD -- just a solidly enjoyable read! Good characters, good relationships, refreshingly little interpersonal conflict (which is nice!), a lovely window into Brianna and Nico's future, intriguing worldbuilding, and a solid romance. Granted, it's really weird to be more into the plot of a Sharon Shinn book than the characters or the romance -- but here, it's mot of a testament to the strength of the former than any weaknesses in the latter. I genuinely really liked every aspect of this book.

[Rosario · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than book 1, but really not that great. I liked the resourceful, competent heroine and that there was a point to the whole concept of the echoes. I also liked that there was a mystery to solve, and I enjoyed the process of discovery.

Unfortunately, that's it for the positives. The romance was pretty meh, as the hero is very bland. The world-building is inventive, but I'm not sure the politics make a lot of sense (and what's with a supposedly admirable king who is quite happy to have an inquisitor who basically terrorises the more vulnerable in his city, as long as it doesn't affect him personally?). And sorry, but although the echoes work well in the plot here, I'm fully and completely icked out by the whole concept. I don't like how echoes 'prove' the specialness of a certain class of society, and I have a particular problem with some of the logistics (most especially when two people with echoes are having intimate moments), and especially having seen the blurb of book 3. Nope, nope, nope.

[Debbie Hagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't wait to read the second book in Sharon Shinn's three-part Echo series after thoroughly enjoying the first one. Chessie, the main character, is a survivor--on her own for many years, after her mother died, and her father abandoned her. Being on her own and having to fend for herself, Chessie has developed a different relationship with her echoes than Brianna (in the first book). She can jump back and forth between her own body and her two echoes. She can be the original or Scar or Red. It's a clever device that enables Chessie to be on constant alert and wiggle out of some tricky situations. Even so, slipping from one body to another has its own dangers. This story begins as a murder mystery with Chessie hunting down the culprits and rescuing Lord Desmond, who nearly becomes the second noble to be killed. Then Chessie learns a shocking truth about her past, which leads her to believe her life may be in danger. This one is a fast-paced thriller.