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Diadem: Shadith's Quest #1
Shadowplay
Spacenapped when she stumbled on a kidnapping in progress, Shadith - captive for centuries in the alien artifact known as the Diadem, now once again living in a human form - finds herself the prisoner of Ginbiryol Seyirshi, a being who has instigated devastating wars on world after world purely to film and sell Limited Editions of the resulting violence, destruction, and death.
Along with two fellow humanoid prisoners, Shadith has been chosen to play a key role in Seyirshi's newest "production", serving as a demigod around whom the rebel forces will rally only to face a terrible doom. But prisoner though she it, Shadith has some unique resources of her own, and with these Diadem-mastered powers, she will do all she can to rewrite Seyirshi's script so that the people of this troubled planet as well as she and her fellow captives can win their freedom and put an end to Seyirshi's interstellar reign of terror...
Along with two fellow humanoid prisoners, Shadith has been chosen to play a key role in Seyirshi's newest "production", serving as a demigod around whom the rebel forces will rally only to face a terrible doom. But prisoner though she it, Shadith has some unique resources of her own, and with these Diadem-mastered powers, she will do all she can to rewrite Seyirshi's script so that the people of this troubled planet as well as she and her fellow captives can win their freedom and put an end to Seyirshi's interstellar reign of terror...
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1990
4 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Jo Clayton
72 books67 followersJo Clayton, whose parents named her after Jo in Little Women, was born and raised in Modesto, California. She and her three sisters shared a room and took turns telling each other bedtime stories. One of her sisters noted that Jo's stories were the best, and often contained science fiction and fantasy elements.
Clayton graduated from the University of California in 1963, Summa Cum Laude, and started teaching near Los Angeles.
In 1969, after a religious experience, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, joining the teaching order Sisters of Mount Carmel as a novice. She left three years later, before taking final orders.
During her time in New Orleans, Clayton sold sketches and paintings in Pioneer Square to supplement her income.
After being robbed several times, Clayton moved to Portland, Oregon in 1983. She remained there for the rest of her life.
Clayton was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996. Jo continued to write during her year and a half in the hospital. She finished Drum Calls, the second book of the Drums of Chaos series, and was halfway through the third and final book when she lost her struggle with multiple myeloma in February, 1998.
Literary executor Katherine Kerr made arrangements with established author Kevin Andrew Murphy to finish the third book of the Drums of Chaos series. It is now completed.
Clayton graduated from the University of California in 1963, Summa Cum Laude, and started teaching near Los Angeles.
In 1969, after a religious experience, she moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, joining the teaching order Sisters of Mount Carmel as a novice. She left three years later, before taking final orders.
During her time in New Orleans, Clayton sold sketches and paintings in Pioneer Square to supplement her income.
After being robbed several times, Clayton moved to Portland, Oregon in 1983. She remained there for the rest of her life.
Clayton was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1996. Jo continued to write during her year and a half in the hospital. She finished Drum Calls, the second book of the Drums of Chaos series, and was halfway through the third and final book when she lost her struggle with multiple myeloma in February, 1998.
Literary executor Katherine Kerr made arrangements with established author Kevin Andrew Murphy to finish the third book of the Drums of Chaos series. It is now completed.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 3, 2009
This is really good space opera, and it is unfortunate that this book and its two sequels sat on my shelves for so long (since about 1991!) One of the most enjoyable things was the delightfully hideous '80's fashion on the covers. Ugh! but irresistable....as I read, I couldn't help but keep glancing back at the loud diagonal prints (it's in another star system but I'll bet it's still polyester!!), big plastic earrings, and spiky, asymetrical hairstyles just like when I was in college.
But onto the content. What's not to love? Clayton had a wonderful, snarky sense of humor as well as a sense of social justice. It's typical that my favorite character, Miowee the protest singer, has no legs but manages to kick butt better than anyone! We have a creepy film producer who makes a living by creating "Limited Edition" splatter films, as in he picks a whole planet to go Splat! Shadith, the main charater, is sharp, brave, and funny, and is truly in her element when she hooks up with a tough-talking girl gang in the second volume. The third and final volume is , I think, the weakest of the trilogy. It's still good, and Clayton wrapped up the story effectively in the end, but I'm annoyed that she introduced new, previously unknown characters who took center stage for most of the book. It was Shadith and her two original companions who truly caught my interest and I wanted to spend the last pages with them. Nevertheless, this series is a fun, compelling, absorbing read so if you can get a copy, Clayton 's unique take on space opera is worth hunting down and enjoying!
But onto the content. What's not to love? Clayton had a wonderful, snarky sense of humor as well as a sense of social justice. It's typical that my favorite character, Miowee the protest singer, has no legs but manages to kick butt better than anyone! We have a creepy film producer who makes a living by creating "Limited Edition" splatter films, as in he picks a whole planet to go Splat! Shadith, the main charater, is sharp, brave, and funny, and is truly in her element when she hooks up with a tough-talking girl gang in the second volume. The third and final volume is , I think, the weakest of the trilogy. It's still good, and Clayton wrapped up the story effectively in the end, but I'm annoyed that she introduced new, previously unknown characters who took center stage for most of the book. It was Shadith and her two original companions who truly caught my interest and I wanted to spend the last pages with them. Nevertheless, this series is a fun, compelling, absorbing read so if you can get a copy, Clayton 's unique take on space opera is worth hunting down and enjoying!
February 20, 2015
Stuff I Read - Shadowplay by Jo Clayton Review
I picked up Shadowplay because it looked interesting, but I will admit to being a bit confused about where it feel in the general series that Clayton was writing. It is something of an oddity, because it is the first book of Shadow's story, but Shadow was a character in a series of books before this. Still and all, I was never really confused. The book did a nice job catching me up to the fact that Shadow had been an immortal being, but one without a body, and now she is a young woman. It's something of a large shift, and is the cause of her troubles from the start, where a creepy guard starts harassing her aboard a space station with the intention of assaulting her. Of course, Shadow is resourceful, stubborn, and has no intention of giving up. Not with the guard and not when her attempt at escape leads her right into another plot that she cannot avoid.
Taken captive, she is to be used as a tool in a strange kind of recording, that of a world falling into ruin and war, captured for entertainment by the man responsible for Shadow's capture. Not alone, she bonds with her fellow pawns Kikun, a lizard-like man, and Rohant, a hunter with two big cats and a bird of prey that he can commune with. Together they are supposed to be mythic figures to foment violence and rebellion, but Shadow refuses to play along, and with every ounce of stubborn energy she works against the script that her captor wrote for her.
It's a great premise, and Shadow is an amazing and dynamic characters, is both young and old, naive and jaded. She is also stubborn and unused to her mortality, something that gets her into trouble more than once. Her motto seems to be If you have to be killed, take your killers with. It's how she acts and how she lives, though she does seem to prefer finding a way out of becoming a sacrifice. The action, though, is rather constant as she and her friends escape capture after capture. Through it all they learn the stakes of their involvement with the world they were thrown onto and what they mean to the people there. Deciding to fight for their lives as well as their beliefs, they struggle on, defying their masters until they can actually get free (with a little help).
In the end the book is about freedom and oppression. Both the story of Shadow and the story of the world they are thrown down into is one where the powerful and privileged control the situation, and Shadow and the rebels have to fight and risk everything for a chance at thwarting the fate that has been written for them. And while the story does involve a sort of Deus ex Machina to come by and save the day, it's something that never really felt like a cheat. Sometimes the little people do need help, and with the way the book sets the stage for sequels, I'm guessing the time will come where Shadow won't have to rely on anyone else to get her revenge. So this book was good, greatly entertaining and with plenty to think about, and gets a 9.25/10 in my book.
I picked up Shadowplay because it looked interesting, but I will admit to being a bit confused about where it feel in the general series that Clayton was writing. It is something of an oddity, because it is the first book of Shadow's story, but Shadow was a character in a series of books before this. Still and all, I was never really confused. The book did a nice job catching me up to the fact that Shadow had been an immortal being, but one without a body, and now she is a young woman. It's something of a large shift, and is the cause of her troubles from the start, where a creepy guard starts harassing her aboard a space station with the intention of assaulting her. Of course, Shadow is resourceful, stubborn, and has no intention of giving up. Not with the guard and not when her attempt at escape leads her right into another plot that she cannot avoid.
Taken captive, she is to be used as a tool in a strange kind of recording, that of a world falling into ruin and war, captured for entertainment by the man responsible for Shadow's capture. Not alone, she bonds with her fellow pawns Kikun, a lizard-like man, and Rohant, a hunter with two big cats and a bird of prey that he can commune with. Together they are supposed to be mythic figures to foment violence and rebellion, but Shadow refuses to play along, and with every ounce of stubborn energy she works against the script that her captor wrote for her.
It's a great premise, and Shadow is an amazing and dynamic characters, is both young and old, naive and jaded. She is also stubborn and unused to her mortality, something that gets her into trouble more than once. Her motto seems to be If you have to be killed, take your killers with. It's how she acts and how she lives, though she does seem to prefer finding a way out of becoming a sacrifice. The action, though, is rather constant as she and her friends escape capture after capture. Through it all they learn the stakes of their involvement with the world they were thrown onto and what they mean to the people there. Deciding to fight for their lives as well as their beliefs, they struggle on, defying their masters until they can actually get free (with a little help).
In the end the book is about freedom and oppression. Both the story of Shadow and the story of the world they are thrown down into is one where the powerful and privileged control the situation, and Shadow and the rebels have to fight and risk everything for a chance at thwarting the fate that has been written for them. And while the story does involve a sort of Deus ex Machina to come by and save the day, it's something that never really felt like a cheat. Sometimes the little people do need help, and with the way the book sets the stage for sequels, I'm guessing the time will come where Shadow won't have to rely on anyone else to get her revenge. So this book was good, greatly entertaining and with plenty to think about, and gets a 9.25/10 in my book.
March 18, 2022
Shadowplay is a bit of an oddity functioning as a sequel series to Diadem, which may explain why I struggled with getting into the book. While it's clear that Jo Clayton was both engaged in writing it and a decent author I feel like this is not a good jumping-on point because it feels like so much context is expected to be understood.
If I read the Diadem series I will definitely give this series another go, but for now, it's missing a bit too much context for me to find it engaging.
If I read the Diadem series I will definitely give this series another go, but for now, it's missing a bit too much context for me to find it engaging.
October 23, 2019
Love this book, I can read it over and over.
December 8, 2013
The cover of the book is delightfully rock-90s, with frizzed hair and lightning motifs that actually play well with the character's description in the book.
Concerning the writing itself, I enjoyed the voicing as you heard Shadow talk in her own head. It felt natural to me, and helped characterize her for me. The craziness of the scope of the plot and attendant technology was amusing, but the ending of the book felt rushed and too convenient, like most of the actions of the heroes was relatively meaningless.
It was not obvious from anywhere on the book that it was part of a trilogy, and my reading may have been tainted by that.
Concerning the writing itself, I enjoyed the voicing as you heard Shadow talk in her own head. It felt natural to me, and helped characterize her for me. The craziness of the scope of the plot and attendant technology was amusing, but the ending of the book felt rushed and too convenient, like most of the actions of the heroes was relatively meaningless.
It was not obvious from anywhere on the book that it was part of a trilogy, and my reading may have been tainted by that.
September 4, 2015
I wish I'd known about these books when they came out! Also, this TOTALLY holds up (beyond cover design). If you'd handed it to me and not let me google it, I'd completely believe you if you said it was published new this year. Definitely heading back to the store where I got it and hoping the next books in the series are still there.
Slightly rough going for about the first couple chapters - after all, it's a series that followed ANOTHER series set in the same world, so there's little setup/exposition - but increasingly absorbing on every page to follow.
Slightly rough going for about the first couple chapters - after all, it's a series that followed ANOTHER series set in the same world, so there's little setup/exposition - but increasingly absorbing on every page to follow.
May 14, 2020
When she stumbled on a kidnapping in progress, Shadith - captive for centuries in the alien artifact known as the Diadem, now once again living in a human form - finds herself the prisoner of Ginbiryol Seyirshi, a being who has instigated devastating wars on world after world purely to film and sell Limited Editions of the resulting violence, destruction and death.
July 18, 2012
Neat alien races. Didn't care for the plot - main characters are captured by evil guy to use in evil scheme.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews