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Shadowrun - CGL Novels #2
Shadowrun: Fire & Frost
"The coldest shadows. Arcano-archaeologist Elijah knows that digging into the past can be its own reward--or peril. When he's hired to find an ancient map purported to lead to a mysterious location at the bottom of the world, his professional curiosity is more than roused. But his quest to simply get his hands on the map is more dangerous than he expected--even for a shadowrunner. He and his own team of runners--including everything from a goblin rigger to a troll street samurai--follow a murky trail that takes them from the ruins of Chicago to the jungles of Amazonia. Along the way, they discover that they're not the only ones looking for this map--and it may lead to a treasure even greater than anyone could have known. Elijah and his crew plan to get both the map and to its riches first--assuming they survive the very dangerous road trip to get there"--Page 4 of cover.
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First published July 2, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 25, 2018
I´ve played tabletop roleplaying games for a few decades now and Shadowrun was the first game I got really involved in. Since the mid 90s it is still one of my favorite games. The world of Shadowrun is a futuristic cyberpunk dystopia mixed with magic and cybernetics. The classical fantasy people like elves, dwarfs, trolls, and not to mention dragons are also thrown into the mix. Large corporations run the world and hire shadowrunners, criminals or disposable assets, o perform illegal activities. This roleplaying game has been one of the most popular games to date and it spawned several computer games, board games and even card games.
We follow the mage Elijah and his team of runners, which are a mixed group with a troll street samurai (warrior beefed up with cyborg machine parts, a goblin rigger (someone logged on to his vehicle), and an elf physical adept (martial arts expert with magical powers). They start out in Seattle where the roleplaying game is centered and they quickly travel to other parts of the world. The groups task is locating and stealing a map with magical properties.
"Shoot strait, conserve ammo and never ever make a deal with a dragon!"
- Shadowrun proverb
Along the way they encounter the new kind of racist organisations such as Humanis, which are not so concerned about the skin tone people have. They are prejudiced against metahumans, meaning elves, dwarfs, orcs and trolls. "Why bother about that brown fellow when that monster over there has hands the size of shovels?"
The group travel to Chicago, which in the 2070s have been infested by huge insect spirits and other fierce creatures, they venture down to the new land of Amazonia. After magic returned to the world the rainforest took on a life of its own. Lets just put it that way. Eventually they end up in Antarctica where the entire climax of the story takes place.
Fire & Frost is a pretty good cyberpunk action novel if you ask me. But then again I know the world of Shadowrun pretty good. I could recognize all the different aspects of the game such as the magic, how integrated technology is into everything, the cyberware etc. The story goes south in every meaning of the word when team members decide to backstab each other, which is just like the world of shadowrun usually is.
A good upside to the book was that it had some pretty short chapters which made them easy to squeeze into a rather busy schedule.
All in all I enjoyed this book! If you just started playing the game and want to get a good feel for the universe this would be a good read for you. Or if you read the old Shadowrun novels you will definitely get a kick out of this one. I am not sure someone not familiar with Shadowrun would enjoy it as much though. But who knows?
Rating: I give it a solid 3 out of 5!
We follow the mage Elijah and his team of runners, which are a mixed group with a troll street samurai (warrior beefed up with cyborg machine parts, a goblin rigger (someone logged on to his vehicle), and an elf physical adept (martial arts expert with magical powers). They start out in Seattle where the roleplaying game is centered and they quickly travel to other parts of the world. The groups task is locating and stealing a map with magical properties.
"Shoot strait, conserve ammo and never ever make a deal with a dragon!"
- Shadowrun proverb
Along the way they encounter the new kind of racist organisations such as Humanis, which are not so concerned about the skin tone people have. They are prejudiced against metahumans, meaning elves, dwarfs, orcs and trolls. "Why bother about that brown fellow when that monster over there has hands the size of shovels?"
The group travel to Chicago, which in the 2070s have been infested by huge insect spirits and other fierce creatures, they venture down to the new land of Amazonia. After magic returned to the world the rainforest took on a life of its own. Lets just put it that way. Eventually they end up in Antarctica where the entire climax of the story takes place.
Fire & Frost is a pretty good cyberpunk action novel if you ask me. But then again I know the world of Shadowrun pretty good. I could recognize all the different aspects of the game such as the magic, how integrated technology is into everything, the cyberware etc. The story goes south in every meaning of the word when team members decide to backstab each other, which is just like the world of shadowrun usually is.
A good upside to the book was that it had some pretty short chapters which made them easy to squeeze into a rather busy schedule.
All in all I enjoyed this book! If you just started playing the game and want to get a good feel for the universe this would be a good read for you. Or if you read the old Shadowrun novels you will definitely get a kick out of this one. I am not sure someone not familiar with Shadowrun would enjoy it as much though. But who knows?
Rating: I give it a solid 3 out of 5!
June 9, 2021
Und da ist es geschehen. Ich habe meinen ersten Shadowrun-Roman gelesen. Trotz jahrelanger Erfahrung mit dem Rollenspielsystem und obwohl ich in den 90ern als Jake Armitage auf dem SNES unterwegs gewesen bin, und obwohl ich die Neuauflage der PC-Spiele mit Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall und Shadowrun: Hong Kong sogar mit einiger Freude gespielt habe, habe ich mich von den Romanen ferngehalten. So wie ich mich eigentlich immer von Romanen zu Spielserien, TV-Serien, Filmen oder PC-Spielen fernhalte. Aus gutem Grund meist, auch wenn es Ausnahmen gibt.
Dieses Buch ist keine.
Die Geschichte von Fire & Frost ist die eines relativ gewöhnlichen Runs, in dem es um magische Artefakte, die Einmischung von Großkonzernen und die Intrigenspiele von Elfen und Drachen geht. Wirklich bemerkenswert ist lediglich, dass O'Connal einen Gutteil der Handlung in die Wildnis (Amazonien und Antarktis) verlegt, und dass er die Verstrickungen und die für Shadowrun typischen Verratsszenen eher auf persönlicher Ebene abhandelt. Wirklich überzeugt hat mich das nicht, weil er seine Charaktere zu wenig beschreibt. Er nutzt viel Dialog und zwischen den Zeilen ergibt sich sowas wie eine Charakterisierung, die ist aber nicht stark genug, um wirklich zu bewegen. Das Foreshadowing auf diese Verratsszenen ist sehr deutlich und der Prozess auf dem Weg zum Verrat nicht spannend genug, dass es überraschend oder bewegend wäre.
Das ist schade. Denn tatsächlich hat das Werk seine Stärken, wenn es zu sozialen Interaktionen kommt. Die Actionszenen waren eher einfach beschrieben, aber eben sehr häufig. Die Beschreibungen der Matrix waren wieder recht gut, während die Beschreibungen des Astralraums wieder vereinfacht waren. Das Runner-Team mit u.a. einem Troll, einer Elfin und einer Goblin-Riggerin ist sehr bunt.
Hervorheben möchte ich noch, dass die Rolle des Trollstraßensamurais "Pineapple" außergewöhnlich ist. Denn dieser erweist sich an vielen Stellen als das Herz und als der Metamenschenkenner in dem Runnerteam, und bleibt trotz seiner typischen Gewaltbereitschaft und seiner archetypischen Pantherkanone noch der sympathischste und tiefste Charakter des Buches. Gerade der eigentlich Protagonist - Elijah - ist fast eindimensional. Seine Gewissensbisse, dass er seine Missionen über das Wohl der anderen Runner stellt, und sich in diesem Punkt der Verrat spiegeln soll, ist ein vielversprechender Ansatz, aber spielt einfach keine so große Rolle, dass es den stumpfen Aufhänger des eigentlichen Verrats überspielt.
Insgesamt ist es eher seichte Unterhaltung mit einem an manchen Stellen ungewöhnlichen Setting, in dem es den ein oder anderen Lichtblick gibt. Aber die Oberflächlichkeit und Konstruiertheit ist hier und da so groß, dass auch Pineapples breite Schultern nicht das ganze Werk tragen können.
Dieses Buch ist keine.
Die Geschichte von Fire & Frost ist die eines relativ gewöhnlichen Runs, in dem es um magische Artefakte, die Einmischung von Großkonzernen und die Intrigenspiele von Elfen und Drachen geht. Wirklich bemerkenswert ist lediglich, dass O'Connal einen Gutteil der Handlung in die Wildnis (Amazonien und Antarktis) verlegt, und dass er die Verstrickungen und die für Shadowrun typischen Verratsszenen eher auf persönlicher Ebene abhandelt. Wirklich überzeugt hat mich das nicht, weil er seine Charaktere zu wenig beschreibt. Er nutzt viel Dialog und zwischen den Zeilen ergibt sich sowas wie eine Charakterisierung, die ist aber nicht stark genug, um wirklich zu bewegen. Das Foreshadowing auf diese Verratsszenen ist sehr deutlich und der Prozess auf dem Weg zum Verrat nicht spannend genug, dass es überraschend oder bewegend wäre.
Das ist schade. Denn tatsächlich hat das Werk seine Stärken, wenn es zu sozialen Interaktionen kommt. Die Actionszenen waren eher einfach beschrieben, aber eben sehr häufig. Die Beschreibungen der Matrix waren wieder recht gut, während die Beschreibungen des Astralraums wieder vereinfacht waren. Das Runner-Team mit u.a. einem Troll, einer Elfin und einer Goblin-Riggerin ist sehr bunt.
Hervorheben möchte ich noch, dass die Rolle des Trollstraßensamurais "Pineapple" außergewöhnlich ist. Denn dieser erweist sich an vielen Stellen als das Herz und als der Metamenschenkenner in dem Runnerteam, und bleibt trotz seiner typischen Gewaltbereitschaft und seiner archetypischen Pantherkanone noch der sympathischste und tiefste Charakter des Buches. Gerade der eigentlich Protagonist - Elijah - ist fast eindimensional. Seine Gewissensbisse, dass er seine Missionen über das Wohl der anderen Runner stellt, und sich in diesem Punkt der Verrat spiegeln soll, ist ein vielversprechender Ansatz, aber spielt einfach keine so große Rolle, dass es den stumpfen Aufhänger des eigentlichen Verrats überspielt.
Insgesamt ist es eher seichte Unterhaltung mit einem an manchen Stellen ungewöhnlichen Setting, in dem es den ein oder anderen Lichtblick gibt. Aber die Oberflächlichkeit und Konstruiertheit ist hier und da so groß, dass auch Pineapples breite Schultern nicht das ganze Werk tragen können.
February 25, 2020
I like Shadowrun. I have played the tabletop rpg since the mid 90's and know the many facets of this cyberpunk world.
When I started the book I felt drawn into the world immediately. Straight to the point, no time to establish background, but you instead learn to know the characters as the story unfolds.
The runners (characteres) are on a run (a mission) and as usual it does not go as planned. Like a gamemaster the author throw unexpected obstacles for the runners to handle. As the reader you feel apart of the action but if you don't know much of the setting it might be a little difficult to know the different planes of exicence at first. The normal, astral space and matrix. This will be easier to get a grip on as you read the book and understand more.
The first run leads to a new run for the runners and they pick up a few more team members as we move along. The different metahumans are well described both in personality and looks. As the run proceed we get to know the cut throat world of Shadowrun as the runners are taken thru different sprawls (locations).
The action sequences are well written and fast paced as a shadorun combat usually is. You get to know both the Panther assault cannon, the deck and mana as a useful tool.
The later part seems to me a bit wrong, that the runners get so much responibility. And in the combat situation it is a bit harder to follow the different runners progress. But is also dips into the big mysteries and lore of the Shadowrun world, so that seasoned rpg runners can expand their knowledge.
That said, Fire & Frost gives good insight to the life of a Shdowrunner, and it might get new readers a desire to explore the tabletop rpg themselves.
When I started the book I felt drawn into the world immediately. Straight to the point, no time to establish background, but you instead learn to know the characters as the story unfolds.
The runners (characteres) are on a run (a mission) and as usual it does not go as planned. Like a gamemaster the author throw unexpected obstacles for the runners to handle. As the reader you feel apart of the action but if you don't know much of the setting it might be a little difficult to know the different planes of exicence at first. The normal, astral space and matrix. This will be easier to get a grip on as you read the book and understand more.
The first run leads to a new run for the runners and they pick up a few more team members as we move along. The different metahumans are well described both in personality and looks. As the run proceed we get to know the cut throat world of Shadowrun as the runners are taken thru different sprawls (locations).
The action sequences are well written and fast paced as a shadorun combat usually is. You get to know both the Panther assault cannon, the deck and mana as a useful tool.
The later part seems to me a bit wrong, that the runners get so much responibility. And in the combat situation it is a bit harder to follow the different runners progress. But is also dips into the big mysteries and lore of the Shadowrun world, so that seasoned rpg runners can expand their knowledge.
That said, Fire & Frost gives good insight to the life of a Shdowrunner, and it might get new readers a desire to explore the tabletop rpg themselves.
May 6, 2019
Definitely a fun read. I was excited to get into this one since I've never read a Shadowrun novel before. It was interesting to see how the writer blends the sci-fi with classic fantasy elements, an example being how magic and technology can work in tandem. He deviates slightly from the source material (the TTRPG) when appropriate, specifically how hackers/deckers function in light of our own technology developments in recent years.
The book is extremely straight forward. There are no side plots and the action is almost constant. I was a little disappointed by this, but the book was short so I wasn't too bothered. I would have liked a little more complexity to the plot however.
To add on to that lack of plot complexity, there is only enough character building to get through the story. That's too bad as I would have liked to see more about the relationships between the core team members. There are implied histories between various pairs of characters but those stories aren't explored beyond the basics. That's really a shame because I started liking them more towards the end.
If you know cyberpunk or Shadowrun, you'll catch some easy to spot tropes that the book doesn't attempt to hide. The author also spends little time explaining concepts, so if you aren't familiar with the setting or genre it might be hard to follow. This is especially true with the acronyms (AR, IC or ICE) and shortened terms/names and their implied significance.
I liked it despite the issues. If you are familiar with the setting, I'd recommend it. Otherwise you might want to pass.
The book is extremely straight forward. There are no side plots and the action is almost constant. I was a little disappointed by this, but the book was short so I wasn't too bothered. I would have liked a little more complexity to the plot however.
To add on to that lack of plot complexity, there is only enough character building to get through the story. That's too bad as I would have liked to see more about the relationships between the core team members. There are implied histories between various pairs of characters but those stories aren't explored beyond the basics. That's really a shame because I started liking them more towards the end.
If you know cyberpunk or Shadowrun, you'll catch some easy to spot tropes that the book doesn't attempt to hide. The author also spends little time explaining concepts, so if you aren't familiar with the setting or genre it might be hard to follow. This is especially true with the acronyms (AR, IC or ICE) and shortened terms/names and their implied significance.
I liked it despite the issues. If you are familiar with the setting, I'd recommend it. Otherwise you might want to pass.
February 13, 2021
I wanted to read one of these for awhile. The Shadowrun world has a lot of fun elements, guns, hacking, constant heists, retro Matrix, orcs and trolls. There's a lot. This book gave me that but it took so long to read this. I was not hooked but just interested enough to keep going. Nothing amazing and one storyline I didn't really get. It was actually solidly written but it felt like work by the last third. I felt like it cheated with the AR text messages or whatever they were which was basically telepathy, throughout the entire book. The first heist scene was good and got me interested. Read that first part and you've basically got the entire book minus a few decent characters.
July 17, 2017
Picked this up on a desperately bored evening after playing a chunk of Shadowrun: Hong Kong. To my surprise, it's a really solid cyberpunk action caper. A small heist keeps escalating in complexity, with the team members shifting in alliances, betraying and getting betrayed, with solid set-piece action sequences in settings around the world.
The writing's a bit rough: in particular, the POV shifts aren't smoothly handled, and there's some really messed up representation of Indigenous peoples. Overall, though, it's a lot better than I expected, and the story's *really good.* It's far from Gibson or Sterling, but it's honestly solidly good cyberpunk.
The writing's a bit rough: in particular, the POV shifts aren't smoothly handled, and there's some really messed up representation of Indigenous peoples. Overall, though, it's a lot better than I expected, and the story's *really good.* It's far from Gibson or Sterling, but it's honestly solidly good cyberpunk.
June 8, 2019
A solid adventure in one of my favorite game worlds of all time. When you can't get an RPG group together, this is a nice way to still dive in to the world. It also provides some nice hooks that you could incorporate into your own games.
The characters are nicely fleshed out while still leaving plenty of intrigue. Hopefully we'll get to visit these characters again in the future.
The characters are nicely fleshed out while still leaving plenty of intrigue. Hopefully we'll get to visit these characters again in the future.
September 26, 2017
I wasn't sure how I felt about this one at first, but it got better as it went on, and I was actually really enjoying it by the end. So, not an amazing read, but a pretty good one.
January 20, 2018
This was my favorite Shadowrun Novel until I read Shaken.
This is a Globe Trotting treasure hunt.
It does a great job of showing SR in the 5th ed.
A must read for anyone playing 5th ed Shadowrun.
This is a Globe Trotting treasure hunt.
It does a great job of showing SR in the 5th ed.
A must read for anyone playing 5th ed Shadowrun.
August 9, 2019
Surprisingly well written.
February 18, 2020
I should preface by saying that if you are not familiar with Shadowrun, this book is not going to explain it to you. This is a story set in the Shadowrun universe and assumes you know what that means. That said, I do know and love Shadowrun and I found this to be an excellent story in that universe. It has betrayal, action, stylish characters and magic all around. I enjoyed it and would read more by this author in Shadowrun.
August 7, 2014
After nearly a whole decade without any Shadowrun novels (the last one being released in 2006 under the Wizkids banner), Fire & Frost is like a breath of fresh air. If you've read Shadowrun novels in the past, this one's definitely worth adding to your collection. Or, if you're new to the Shadowrun world—maybe you recently picked up a copy of Shadowrun Fifth Edition—then this book is the perfect way to introduce you to Shadowrun setting.
The book isn't without a few flaws, though, but all of them are forgiveable (and most of them are personal quibbles). For example, the first five chapters, although interesting and action-packed, focus on a run meant to establish Elijah's authority regarding magical artifacts, and thus the main thrust of the plot doesn't start until chapter six. Also, a later sequence involving a border crossing includes a rather odd form of distraction that felt a little implausible and unnecessary to me and thus felt like "chapter filler" rather than meaningfully advancing the plot. Another thing I found odd—which is occurs in later parts of the book—is that we see an occasional chapter/scene from the point of view of characters that we just met, rather than from the established POV characters that have already been used liberally throughout (e.g., the main runner team and the antagonists).
Is this book filled with action and intrigue? Is it packed with great characters? And more importantly, is it SHADOWRUN? Absolutely yes, across the board.
The book isn't without a few flaws, though, but all of them are forgiveable (and most of them are personal quibbles). For example, the first five chapters, although interesting and action-packed, focus on a run meant to establish Elijah's authority regarding magical artifacts, and thus the main thrust of the plot doesn't start until chapter six. Also, a later sequence involving a border crossing includes a rather odd form of distraction that felt a little implausible and unnecessary to me and thus felt like "chapter filler" rather than meaningfully advancing the plot. Another thing I found odd—which is occurs in later parts of the book—is that we see an occasional chapter/scene from the point of view of characters that we just met, rather than from the established POV characters that have already been used liberally throughout (e.g., the main runner team and the antagonists).
Is this book filled with action and intrigue? Is it packed with great characters? And more importantly, is it SHADOWRUN? Absolutely yes, across the board.
November 21, 2014
Why,oh why does it seem like every book that is based on an role playing game read like a bad Saturday night game, and this book continues that ignoble tradition . Like every bad piece of rpg fiction makesthe heroes seem completely oblivious and the bad guys geniuses, at least until the last few chapters, I hope thats what happened because I could not bring myself to finish this one. Its not that this book is horrible but it is so predictable. The main charecter is so vanilla boring that I found myself fighting to stay awake whenever he became the center of attention. There are a few interesting charecters , a troll merc and a goblin rigger that really deserved much more attention. If they had been given more attention than I would have enjoyed this book a whole lot more . Like I said this book wasn't the worst piece of rpg fiction I have ever read but it was far from the best.
June 14, 2020
Decent sci-fi/fantasy in the world of Shadowrun.
I hadn't read any other of these books before, so there were a few things that didn't make sense straight away, but they got cleared up soon enough.
This is a future world where magic is also in use, and you get netrunners hacking into systems, backed up by magicians. There's also a range of fantastical creatures such as ogres,trolls and elves mixing with the humans.
The story involves one such team getting various quests before reaching the big event. Has good characters and plenty of action.
A few twists towards the end mean it isn't all plain sailing, and prevent it getting too predictable.
I hadn't read any other of these books before, so there were a few things that didn't make sense straight away, but they got cleared up soon enough.
This is a future world where magic is also in use, and you get netrunners hacking into systems, backed up by magicians. There's also a range of fantastical creatures such as ogres,trolls and elves mixing with the humans.
The story involves one such team getting various quests before reaching the big event. Has good characters and plenty of action.
A few twists towards the end mean it isn't all plain sailing, and prevent it getting too predictable.
March 24, 2016
I've been looking forward to more full-length Shadowrun novels for a long, long time, and I am very happy to say that the wait paid off. Fire & Frost features well-crafted characters (though their depth could have been better explored, admittedly), a somewhat evocative street-level journey throughout some of the worst cityscapes and barrens around, culminating in a touch of the magical complexity the Sixth World has to offer.
And a dash of the all too human failures of metahumanity.
And a dash of the all too human failures of metahumanity.
January 22, 2017
Holidays probably cramped my view of the book a bit since I had to read it slower than I liked. The book was a solid Shadowrun tale, but set in not so common Shadowrun type places. The story felt familiar which was mostly a good thing. On the negative side, the characters really didn't grow or have deep emotions. They merely went on the missions and lived or died thru them. Solid effort though.
July 25, 2016
A pretty interesting book. The environments certainly ran the gamut and we got descriptions of places in the 6th World that we normally don't.
The characters were fairly well-developed, and it was quite a mix of metahumanity. The plot was mostly interesting, and the climax was ok.
The characters were fairly well-developed, and it was quite a mix of metahumanity. The plot was mostly interesting, and the climax was ok.
September 3, 2014
Started strong, ended weak. There were bits I loved, and bits that were dumb as hell. Got way too convoluted in the last quarter or so. Overall was still enjoyable.
September 8, 2014
There is the outline of a solid genre novel here, but the writing gets in it's own way.
December 1, 2014
A decent re-introduction into the the world of Shadowrun.
January 17, 2015
Overall a solid Shadowrun novel.
October 5, 2015
Decent book for what it was trying to be... The action moved along at a decent pace, although there were a few spots it seemed to bog down in unnecessary explanations. Not sad I read it.
April 21, 2016
Better than the earlier works. The new series gives you a sense of the gritty world. the writing is geared more towards adults instead of younger readers. A true cyber punk feeling now.
February 1, 2020
I really like reading the Shadowrun Kindle Books and this was great.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews