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eli_deatherage's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.75
john_bridges's review against another edition
4.0
Chappell has a poet’s facility with language, and I was happy to see him turn it to a fantasy tale. I love his Appalachian stories, and here he portrays an Italianate setting with vivid character, from its sly bravos and petulant artists to its society of cats, pirates and even unusual and deadly flora. With a touch of adventure and light use of the fantastic, there are echoes of Vance and Leiber here, but its very much its own thing. Sciomancy, the art of shadow mastery, is an imaginative and clever idea, and had me thinking more than once of the shadow I take for granted that follows me.
lumberjill314's review against another edition
3.0
It was an interesting and different style of writing, but it was a little difficult to get through. The plot seemed to be a bit over the place although it seemed to come together in the end, but I feel like a bit of it was just filler.
charles_cbcpl's review
4.0
In a pseudo-Italian city where shadows can be removed from their owners, a shadow broker's apprentice learns the trade. Written in a 1950's sword-and-sorcery style, this book moves slowly but pleasantly through a series of loosely connected stories. Dialogue is good, but sparse. There are fights, but most obstacles are overcome with cleverness. Cats have an outsize role. Diverting, but I prefer books with more emotional weight.
jameseckman's review
2.0
While Chappell has the language of [a:Jack Vance|5376|Jack Vance|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1207604643p2/5376.jpg] down cold, his protagonist has none of the faults of a typical Vancian hero. I found that this made the story rather flat and I had to force myself to finish it. [a:Matthew Hughes|257412|Matthew Hughes|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1355812632p2/257412.jpg] does a far better job with Vance's style as have some others.
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