Shadowmarch: Shadowmarch: Volume I

Tad Williams

Sep 2006 · Penguin

About this ebook

For generations the misty Shadowline has marked the boundary between the lands of men and the lost northern lands that are the lair of their inhuman enemies, the ageless Qar. but now that boundary line is moving outward, threatening to engulf the northernmost land in which humans still live--the kingdom of Southmarch.

For centuries, the Eddon family has ruled in ancient, forbidding Southmarch Castle, guarding the border against the Qar's return, but now this powerful royal line has been dealt a devestating blow. The monarch, King Olin, is being held captive in a distant land, and it falls to his inexperienced heirs to lead their people in a time of growing danger and dread.

It is on the two youngest Eddons that the heaviest burdens fall. The twins Barrick and Briony, who in such evil times have only each other, may lose even that bond as darkness closes over them. As the Qar's power reaches out across their land, will Southmarch Castle, the only home they've ever known, become in fact what it has long been called--Shadowmarch?

Ratings and reviews

In truth it has never taken me the whole of a book to decide if I was invested or not. The worlds of this story were so beautifully detailed I was fascinated. The nagging curiosity of what lay beyond the shadowline kept me coming back even after turning away from this in disgust, more than once. My frustration lay in the characters, I have never seen so many who were so universally and uniformly unlikable. With the exception of Chert. I'm now invested and will continue but it was in question until the end.

Great story telling. The book has slow pacing but overall very interesting story and lots of world building.

About the author

Tad Williams has held more jobs than any sane person should admit to—singing in a band, selling shoes, managing a financial institution, throwing newspapers, and designing military manuals, to name just a few. He also hosted a syndicated radio show for ten years, worked in theater and television production, taught both grade-school and college classes, and worked in multimedia for a major computer firm. He is cofounder of an interactive television company, and is currently writing comic books and film and television scripts as well. Tad and his family live in London and the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find Tad Williams at tadwilliams.com.