The Shadow Casket

The Darkwater Legacy, Book 2

By: Chris Wooding

Narrated by: Simon Bubb

Length: 32 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

A BAND OF REBELS.
A TRAITOR IN THEIR MIDST.
A REVOLUTION ABOUT TO BEGIN.

It's been three years since Aren seized the Ember Blade. Three years since they struck the spark they hoped would ignite the revolution. But the flame has failed to catch. The Krodans have crushed Ossia in an iron grip of terror. The revolution seems further away than ever.

Far in the north, the Dawnwardens seek to unite the fractious clans of the Fell Folk and create a stronghold from which to retake their land. But even if they can overcome the danger of treachery from within, they still have to contend with the dreadknights. Only the druidess Vika can resist these near-unstoppable foes, and there's only one of her.

But what if there was a weapon that could destroy the dreadknights? A weapon of such power it could turn the tide? A weapon that, if it fell into the wrong hands, might mean the end of all hope?

The Shadow Casket has returned from out of the past, and it will save or damn them all.

'The Ember Blade is Lord of the Rings for the modern generation - an epic world full of history, depth and adventure' Ed McDonald, author of Daughter of Redwinter

©2023 Chris Wooding (P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Great series

The characters, setting, plot…. Such a good series. Wish the main character got a better name at the end! Definitely should give this a listen or read.

it's not bad, but I don't want this

I'll admit, I didn't finish this book. Maybe it gets better, maybe the hamfisted drama gets more complex and satisfying, maybe the main characters develop interesting dynamics, maybe ANYTHING happens that makes me want more from this book. After 24 chapters filled with tedium and artificial drama (that honestly takes away from the real story) I just can't finish it. Nothing is overtly awful, but it is boring with a sense of anticlimactic eye roll teen drama that flattens any character arc. the book has completely ejected me out of the world, and I'm left with my mind wandering half the time.

I would really hesitate buying this book. It tarnishes the rising hope and awe from the ending of the Ember Blade. What a shame.

Decent 2nd entry, not as good as the first

As someone who very much enjoyed the first book in this series, I didn't enjoy the this second installment as much. The story went in a direction that I *personally* did not enjoy. There are a few plot developments that occur within the first ~15 chapters or so that made a lot of the character development that occurred in the first book a moot point. Additionally, as other reviewers have pointed out, some of the major misunderstandings between characters that occur in this book happen because of lack of simple communication, which is always frustrating to read about. I also did not enjoy some of the character arcs that occurred in this book, especially Fen's. It felt like all of the development that occurred in the first book was thrown out the window, and she doesn't really stay true to the character we've come to know her as. I like how her story wraps up in the end, but I did not like the journey to this destination.

That being said, there are parts of this book that are very entertaining, especially the action sequences! There are a lot of backstabbing and betrayals events, and as such, you get to a point in the story where you don't quite truly know if a character is acting in good faith or not. I found all of that really interesting, as I was always kept guessing on the true motives of various characters.

Grub still remains the best character in the series so far. Reading chapters from his POV, and just generally chapters with him being involved, is always a delight! A big bonus is the villain's POV chapters in this book - as I thought he was very well developed over the course of the story. All of the new characters introduced in this book all have a significant purpose, and are written really well too.

Unfortunately, I found Aren's journey this time around to be a little underwhelming, especially compared to his development in Book 1. Here, he struggles with his title as being the "Champion" of the Dawnwardens, and a lot of his POV chapters focus on that issue. While I do like how his story wraps up at the end, I will admit that his decision on how he handles his responsibility towards the Ember Blade itself may not sit well with some readers. Instead of a traditional hero's journey, it seems like Wooding has something else in mind for his main character. But I suppose we shall see what happens in the third book. Overall though, it just feels like the needle was moved very little concerning Aren's overall development in Book 2.

This is probably a slight spoiler, but my final critique is with the title of the book - The Shadow Casket. It's hardly ever talked about...? There's probably really only about 15% of the book or so that is devoted to it. The entire part concerning the Shadow Casket could easily be removed from the book entirely, and the story wouldn't have been affected too much. And the way the the retrieval of it is handled is just....incomplete. I found the entire section of this story to be the lowest point of the book. And even worse, there's no conclusion that's reached concerning it. I guess the third book will be crucial in seeing how it plays out, but I find that to be poor writing and/or planning. I question why exactly it was chosen as the name of the book.

I personally find the narrator - Simon Bubb - to be okay. Not amazing, but not poor either. The huge knock that I have on him, and this existed in the first book, is that when a character is supposedly yelling, Simon delivers those lines in a voice that sounds like a harsh whisper. It's simply jarring to hear those lines delivered as such, especially during intense battles.

Fantastic

One of my new favorites.

Funny, intruiging and heartbreaking.

Narrator is also one of my new favorites.

Great Series, looking forward to Book 3 soon!

Book 2 in the series gets high marks. Probably not as good as book 1 yes but I don't know why so many people are trashing it and saying it's slow. I would still put this series in the realm of Joe Abercombie (my #1 fav) or The Kingkiller Chronicles (yes, at least Wooding will finish his series). Some small things are a little annoying, namely the character of Fen gets somehow even more annoying and the authors need to constantly and purposefully mislead the reader into twists that everyone sees coming. Aside from these small details, great adventure story with fun/colorful characters. Performance is really well done by Simon Bubb.

Masterpiece sequel to a masterpiece start

This was a stellar follow up to a magnificent new story. The characters are so well developed and realistic, with a plot and story containing all of the markings of classic, high quality fantasy in the vein of Tolkien. I can’t wait for the next book. This surpassed the first in every way.

Frustrating

First let me say I have over 300 titles in my library. I rarely write reviews. I decided wait a week before writing a review to let me relax and try to be fair. Where to begin…? I won’t give any plot spoilers but the story starts 3 years after the Ember Blade and our MC has had no growth! Everyone else in his band has grown but him. He is not even a better swordsman! His personality is weak, in that he cannot make a decision and throughout the story defers everything to everyone else. He is the “keeper of the blade” and it’s to be given to the next worthy ruler… so what does our hero do? He gives it to the first warlord he finds. One he knows cannot unite the people. UNBELIEVABLE! Don’t get me started on his whole “love triangle” thing. Passive and weak. OH! And for the “big adventure” of the story they get 99% of the way there and quit! What!? Yet his motto is “hero’s are hero’s because they NEVER QUIT!” Grub is by far the best character.

On a good note… the narration is amazing.

I am on the fence about continuing the story…

Fantastic story, gripping throughout

I thought this book was wonderfully done! I felt like the last third of the book was constantly in a climax and I couldn’t put it down. Great character development and so many twists and turns with betrayals and redemptions. I was emotionally gripped throughout. Can’t wait for the third book!

An Excellent Sequel

I have some odd feelings about this book. First off, the Narrator was great, no problems there. And the ending was very satisfying while I think making it pretty clear there are more books to come in this story. The meat of the story is were it's weird in my head. And by that I mean that it's one of the few times were I think the book is very well written from a story and character perspective and also that I didn't enjoy listening to it. The things that happen and the actions the characters take make sense and feel real, but they aren't the things I WANT to happen and that I WANT them to do, mostly. That is not a criticism in case it wasn't clear. Not going to go into spoilers about those actions but it's just you want good things for characters you like and you can see what they need to do to get to that best outcome but that's because you are an outside observer. The characters don't have the advantage of perspective and their actions make sense in their limited knowledge and experience. So it's hard to watch characters you like bumble into problems that you can so easily see and you're just wishing you could sit them down and talk to them about it. Which would actually just ruin the story but in the moment it's how I felt lol. The only thing I think I can really say as criticism is that we had a 3 year time skip and in a lot of ways it seems like Aren and Fen's character growth was put on pause for that time. Like there's some alluding to their relationship growing in that time and a sort of weak explanation from Aren about what he was doing but if you look at how their characters and relationship were growing at the end of The Ember Blade (which I re-listened to right before starting this) and then at them supposedly after 3 years have passed if feels like both were artificially held up so that we could witness it while also having older characters to work with. It's pretty small when weighed against the rest of the book really. Overall I think it's a very good book and I'll be waiting for the next one!

Fantastic

Woofing really knows his stuff! Super rich story that had me guessing at every turn. Character development was phenomenal. The plot really came alive and was tugging on my heartstrings so much they are raw! This book dodged the mediocre prequel trap and instead did a slam dunk on intensity, relevance, and significance! Chris really hit this one out of the park and I can’t wait for the next book in the saga :)