The Office of Shadow
© Matthew Sturges
© Matthew SturgesCover Illustration © Chris McGrath
Design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger
Design by Grace M. Conti-Zilsberger
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Midwinter has gone, but that cold season has been replaced by a cold war in the world of Faerie, and this new kind of war requires a new kind of warrior.
Seelie forces drove back Empress Mab at the Battle of Sylvan, but hostilities could resume at any moment. Mab has developed a devastating new weapon capable of destroying an entire city, and the Seelie have no defense against it. If war comes, they will almost certainly be defeated.
In response, the Seelie reconstitutes a secret division of the Foreign Ministry, unofficially dubbed the "Office of Shadow," imbuing it with powers and discretion once considered unthinkable. They are a group of covert operatives given the tasks that can't be done in the light of day: secretly stealing the plans for Mab's new weapon, creating unrest in the Unseelie Empire, and doing whatever is necessary to prevent an unwinnable war.
The new leader of the "Shadows" is Silverdun. He's the nobleman who fought alongside Mauritane at Sylvan and who helped complete a critical mission for the Seelie Queen Titania. His operatives include a beautiful but naïve sorceress who possesses awesome powers that she must restrain in order to survive and a soldier turned scholar whose research into new ways of magic could save the world, or end it.
They'll do whatever is required to prevent a total war: make a dangerous foray into a hostile land to retrieve the plans for Mab's weapon; blackmail a king into revolting against the Unseelie Empire; journey into the space between space to uncover a closely guarded secret with the power to destroy worlds.
Seelie forces drove back Empress Mab at the Battle of Sylvan, but hostilities could resume at any moment. Mab has developed a devastating new weapon capable of destroying an entire city, and the Seelie have no defense against it. If war comes, they will almost certainly be defeated.
In response, the Seelie reconstitutes a secret division of the Foreign Ministry, unofficially dubbed the "Office of Shadow," imbuing it with powers and discretion once considered unthinkable. They are a group of covert operatives given the tasks that can't be done in the light of day: secretly stealing the plans for Mab's new weapon, creating unrest in the Unseelie Empire, and doing whatever is necessary to prevent an unwinnable war.
The new leader of the "Shadows" is Silverdun. He's the nobleman who fought alongside Mauritane at Sylvan and who helped complete a critical mission for the Seelie Queen Titania. His operatives include a beautiful but naïve sorceress who possesses awesome powers that she must restrain in order to survive and a soldier turned scholar whose research into new ways of magic could save the world, or end it.
They'll do whatever is required to prevent a total war: make a dangerous foray into a hostile land to retrieve the plans for Mab's weapon; blackmail a king into revolting against the Unseelie Empire; journey into the space between space to uncover a closely guarded secret with the power to destroy worlds.
Coming in June!
I liked Midwinter a lot but this one looks like it will surpass it since from the 50 pages or so I read so far it is excellent.
ReplyDeleteI am curious why you have two books with Shadow in the title coming out so close since from all I hear one reason people change titles is precisely to avoid this kind of confusion - I read the other one Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk and it is excellent, a pretty conventional story but superb writing style, a book that just grips you and does not let go and an A+ for me with the full review to come in May/June
Hi Liviu,
ReplyDeleteVery glad you are enjoying Sturges' latest. I love Midwinter but agree that The Office of Shadow ups the game. Sturges has also accumulated quite a few comic books under his belt between writing book one and book two, and I'm sure that's reflected in the evolution of his writing.
As to the titles - "doh!" Seriously, though, both too good to change.
Very, very glad you liked the Sprunk.
Regarding titles - I like them both and I think they fit very well the books - the reason I was curious is that I heard the "we changed the title because something else was coming out then..." quite a few times and I thought it's kind of an "axiom of publishing"
ReplyDeleteWe have changed one title when it was identical to a book out by another publisher and in the same subgenre. But these aren't the same title. And shadow isn't that uncommon of a word in fantasy titles!
ReplyDelete