Shadows Fall - Softcover

Simon-r-green

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0575057114 ISBN 13: 9780575057111

Publisher: Gollancz Paperbacks, 1994

Synopsis

Considered by the author to be his finest work yet, this is a novel of realistic detail, heartfelt emotion, and dazzling imagination that builds a world readers won't want to leave and spins a tale they won't want to end. In a town of amazing magicks, where the real and the imagined live side by side and the Faerie of legend know the automatons of the future, Time sees all—but even he cannot escape the prophecy of James Hart's return, which can only mean the death of Shadows Fall.

About this title

About the Author

SALES POINTS Simon Green's Deathstalker series backlist brilliantly One of Britain's bestselling writers of swords and sorcery A New York Times bestseller with Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves Strong support in genre press and at conventions

From Publishers Weekly

Shadows Fall is an extraordinary town where legends--human and otherwise--go to live out their days as belief in them dies. Comic superheroes who never achieved true fame mingle with rock 'n' roll stars who died young; dinosaurs roam the park at night. It is a setting with great potential. Unfortunately, Green ( Blue Moon Rising ) for the most part foregoes developing it in favor of simply adding to it, mixing in faeries, saints and other fantastic elements. As the novel begins, a serial killer stalks the town. It's up to mayor Rhea Frazier, the revenant Leonard Ash, rock 'n' roller Sean Morrison and James Hart, whose return to town has triggered an old prophecy, to unmask the killer and deal with an unprecedented attack on Shadows Fall by outsiders. The drama of their battle, however, is undermined by thin characterizations, stilted dialogue and scenes that read like farce. Too much goes unexplained (how exactly do the outsiders breach the town's defenses?). Green invokes some powerful mythologies, but cripples the impact of climactic scenes with off-key, atmosphere-jarring wisecracks ("I'm here to kill Time as in Father Time, but there's no hurry"). Ultimately this fantasy would have been more successful had the author done more with a bit less, spinning a richer story from fewer threads.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Gollancz Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0575057114
• ISBN 13: 9780575057111
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512