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mxsallybend's review against another edition
3.0
Well, this is so very much not what I was expecting. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just that it took me a while to realign my expectations and allow myself to enjoy what I found.
Basically, Shield and Crocus is an epic fantasy novel with superheroes . . . or a superhero novel set in an epic fantasy realm . . . take your pick. Michael R. Underwood takes an ambitious approach to his storytelling here, mashing up genres that you'd otherwise think incompatible, and setting it all in a city built amidst the bones of a fallen giant.
For his medieval take on The Avengers (with flavors of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns), Underwood puts together a complex, intriguing group of heroes with a wide range of magically-imbued powers. His is a world where anybody can be a hero, if only they can survive the curse/gift of the Spark-storms without going mad. The five supervillains - or crime lords, as you will - are evil tyrants, bent on dominating everything and everyone around them. They're completely one-dimensional, with nothing in the way of redeeming qualities, but that's par for the course with the superhero genre, and doesn't take anything away from the story.
Like the aforementioned graphic novels, this is an exceedingly grim tale, full of hopelessness and despair. A happy ending is in no way guaranteed, and you can rest assured there will be sacrifices required along the way - some of which you'll see coming, and at least one of which is a surprise. The narrative itself is very much that of an epic fantasy, as is the setting, while the dialogue leans more towards superhero adventure. It's a clash, at times, but overall it works reasonably well. While I would have liked to see the villains better developed, and thought a few of the heroes were somewhat neglected, I can't say enough about the mythology and the world building. Underwood put a lot of thought into constructing the world of Audec-Hal, and it shows.
Superhero novels and I haven't meshed particularly well over the years, with Myke Cole's Shadow Ops series being the most recent to fall flat for me, but there's a lot to be said for the novelty factor. Shield and Crocus was not what I was expecting, sure, but the novelty factor kept me reading, and that led me into what turned out to be a solid read. So long as you go into it with the right expectations, you're likely to enjoy it as an original twist on both genres.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
Basically, Shield and Crocus is an epic fantasy novel with superheroes . . . or a superhero novel set in an epic fantasy realm . . . take your pick. Michael R. Underwood takes an ambitious approach to his storytelling here, mashing up genres that you'd otherwise think incompatible, and setting it all in a city built amidst the bones of a fallen giant.
For his medieval take on The Avengers (with flavors of Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns), Underwood puts together a complex, intriguing group of heroes with a wide range of magically-imbued powers. His is a world where anybody can be a hero, if only they can survive the curse/gift of the Spark-storms without going mad. The five supervillains - or crime lords, as you will - are evil tyrants, bent on dominating everything and everyone around them. They're completely one-dimensional, with nothing in the way of redeeming qualities, but that's par for the course with the superhero genre, and doesn't take anything away from the story.
Like the aforementioned graphic novels, this is an exceedingly grim tale, full of hopelessness and despair. A happy ending is in no way guaranteed, and you can rest assured there will be sacrifices required along the way - some of which you'll see coming, and at least one of which is a surprise. The narrative itself is very much that of an epic fantasy, as is the setting, while the dialogue leans more towards superhero adventure. It's a clash, at times, but overall it works reasonably well. While I would have liked to see the villains better developed, and thought a few of the heroes were somewhat neglected, I can't say enough about the mythology and the world building. Underwood put a lot of thought into constructing the world of Audec-Hal, and it shows.
Superhero novels and I haven't meshed particularly well over the years, with Myke Cole's Shadow Ops series being the most recent to fall flat for me, but there's a lot to be said for the novelty factor. Shield and Crocus was not what I was expecting, sure, but the novelty factor kept me reading, and that led me into what turned out to be a solid read. So long as you go into it with the right expectations, you're likely to enjoy it as an original twist on both genres.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
mrninjaviking's review against another edition
I couldn't finish this one. Did NOT like the writing at all. I liked the ideas of the world the author was creating, but the characters and dialogue didn't click with me at all. Even my favorite narrator couldn't help me with this one.
kidgoldenarm's review against another edition
2.0
This book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL.
But it didn't realize its potential, and Silver Age comic book dialogue is tough on the ear.
The concept and the world setup is intriguing and full of so many possiblities.
But it chruns out at a steady spry pace as nothing more than an action story which feels very much like a Silver Age comic.
Unfortunately that kind of style as a long form novel isn't bearable after the initial novelty wears off.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book. It's fun. Relatively entertaining, but really lacking in any real substance.
It's essentially Silver Age Avengers meets Justice League set in a steampunk fantasy world with magic.
High concept indeed.
But the corniness of the characters and the dialogue wears on you and this book is a bit longer than it should be. Also the characters and villains are a bit too cardboard for me.
I would definitely recommend this to Junior high school me in a heartbeat :)
But it didn't realize its potential, and Silver Age comic book dialogue is tough on the ear.
The concept and the world setup is intriguing and full of so many possiblities.
But it chruns out at a steady spry pace as nothing more than an action story which feels very much like a Silver Age comic.
Unfortunately that kind of style as a long form novel isn't bearable after the initial novelty wears off.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book. It's fun. Relatively entertaining, but really lacking in any real substance.
It's essentially Silver Age Avengers meets Justice League set in a steampunk fantasy world with magic.
High concept indeed.
But the corniness of the characters and the dialogue wears on you and this book is a bit longer than it should be. Also the characters and villains are a bit too cardboard for me.
I would definitely recommend this to Junior high school me in a heartbeat :)
fjordic's review
2.0
Loved the premise, the writing, and the world building, but just could not get into it. Gave up at 10%.
nissahh's review against another edition
5.0
Ummm, what did I just finish reading? Shield and Crocus was pure awesome sauce!!
I never read a book quite like this; an epic fantasy with superheros, say what? The characters each have their own abilities that will help overthrow the tyrants of Audec-Hal. The setting was absolutely crazy, in a good way, living in the bones of a fallen Titan, I never read book like that. That's just so unique and cool beyond words.
The world-building is great, the story is fast pace. Shield and Crocus is definitely a page turner from the start for me. I love Michael's writing style.
I highly recommend this book for those who are looking for an epic fantasy read with superheros.
I received this copy courtesy of NetGalley, thank you.
I never read a book quite like this; an epic fantasy with superheros, say what? The characters each have their own abilities that will help overthrow the tyrants of Audec-Hal. The setting was absolutely crazy, in a good way, living in the bones of a fallen Titan, I never read book like that. That's just so unique and cool beyond words.
The world-building is great, the story is fast pace. Shield and Crocus is definitely a page turner from the start for me. I love Michael's writing style.
I highly recommend this book for those who are looking for an epic fantasy read with superheros.
I received this copy courtesy of NetGalley, thank you.
asagecalledq's review against another edition
4.0
Basic premise is : The people of Audeu- Delc are under the rule of 5 tyrants. Nearly every part of their lives is tightly controlled and with the City Mother imprisoned the people no longer have will enough to rebel. The only force standing against the oppression of the tyrants is the Shields.
I received this for free from the publisher in one of Goodreads giveaways. I really came into the book with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Shield and Crocus came across as JLA/Avengers in a fantasy setting and I was quite entertained by it. The story was filled with a number of distinct races as well as abilities. Their was a nice balance between the action and storytelling. It kept my interest and was overall a pretty solid read.
The only things that bothered me about Shield and Crocus was that sometimes the action became too technical,if that makes sense. The other thing is that the the names are hammered and it was pretty distracting at first. Not saying these things are bad only that they bothered me.
Anyway I would recommend.
I received this for free from the publisher in one of Goodreads giveaways. I really came into the book with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised. Shield and Crocus came across as JLA/Avengers in a fantasy setting and I was quite entertained by it. The story was filled with a number of distinct races as well as abilities. Their was a nice balance between the action and storytelling. It kept my interest and was overall a pretty solid read.
The only things that bothered me about Shield and Crocus was that sometimes the action became too technical,if that makes sense. The other thing is that the the names are hammered and it was pretty distracting at first. Not saying these things are bad only that they bothered me.
Anyway I would recommend.
vaderbird's review against another edition
1.0
I am sorry I did try. I just could not get in to the book at all.
shell_s's review against another edition
5.0
Here is another astonishingly original, heart-rending and thrilling fantasy from Michael R. Underwood, this time a breathtaking mash-up of superheroes and epic fantasy.
And here is my third or fourth, and FINAL, edit of this review, after psyching myself out a lot about doing it justice. I am going to avoid plot spoilers and just talk about what I liked best.
Overall one of my favorite aspects of this world is that these heroes explore why stirring rhetoric and clever put-downs during a fight, AND daring anecdotes told as legends to children, are necessary to beating the wicked--even when the heroes don't quite beat the odds, and must retreat. Because such words may inspire those who hear it (or read it, as the case may be) to overcome their own fears. And hopefully, eventually, fight their own battles despite the risks.
Also I found so much brilliant originality to this story, including the way that each main character's unique race came with special abilities that were part of their "superpowers." (Even though it was their personalities and close and complex relationships that made them the most memorable for me, because character is my main draw to any story.) For example...
Elder protagonist Wonlar Pacsa (humble handyman and artificer by day, "First Sentinel" and leader of the vigilantes calling themselves the Shields of Audec-Hal by night) AND his son Selweh (and heir apparent to lead the Shields, as "Aegis") are yellow-skinned Ikanollo. They can see the emotional threads of friendship, fear, devotion, hate, and so on stretching between everyone as bright color coded beams of light. (This was by far my favorite ability and it is never wasted. It adds such poignancy while also giving Wonlar vital cues to guide him in a combat or crowd control situation or to let him know how his friends and allies and his son are faring.)
Wonlar is also a genius inventor and martial arts master, which made for lots of clever and entertaining tactics. And he has a devastating weapon he dare not use and the slow teasing out of what happened when he did and whether he will get desperate enough to change his mind adds incredible depth to character and story alike. His grief over his wife's passing and the ways in which he failed her (and other Shields who fell) hangs heavy on his soul.
His beloved son Selweh (whose deceased mother was also a Shield) is a relentless combatant wielding an artifact shield called "the Aegis" that boosts his strength and stamina and emotional connection to their city and its soul. For me their close-knit father and son relationship is the heart of this story and much dramatic conflict.
Wenlizerachi (Shield name "Blurred Fists") is a red-skinned Pronai capable of supernatural speed, but at a cost--his rapidly maturing race generally die of "old age" at thirty. (I was reminded of the cheerful Ocampa in Star Trek Voyager and how their serene acceptance of this brief life span inspired them to take risks and make the most of their time.)
Rova Remembers (Shield name "Sapphire") is of the hulking blue-skinned Freithin race created by the experiments of the one of the five tyrants and liberated by the Shields. I loved her resilience and compassion and how badass she was as a front-line brawler.
Sarii Gebb (Shield Name "Sabreslate") is a stubborn, stone-shaping gray-skinned Jalvai. She is more jaded than the other heroes which made for VERY interesting arguments and some very valid counter-arguments to Wonlar's ambitious schemes. As the only Shield currently married to another Shield, she is one of the characters with the most to lose on every dangerous mission.
Sarii's wife Bira Qano (Shield Name "Ghost Hands") is of the flat-faced race of Qava, born without sensory organs with extraordinary powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Her mental communication proves crucial to the heroes' coordination and success on several exploits. Her willingness to push herself to dangerous limits, her conviction their city needs them trust, and her trust in the ever-hopeful Wonlar all make for interesting conflict with her wife.
The villains were equally imaginative in concept, and often terrifying in their power. There's palpable fear the city and heroes would be doomed if the masterminds ever set aside their greed and differences and united to consolidate power and control.
Cobalt-3 is an A.I. in an almost invincible body, with its own droid army, who is obsessed with experiments on sentient creatures (and its dialogue is inadvertently comical like a cross between Dalek and Borg rhetoric).
Nevri is a ruthless Machiavellian politician and "ex" crime boss who tries to make the heroes offers they can't refuse.
Yema is a devious sorcerer specializing in attack spells (evocations for your D&D fans) and mind control spells/effects over individuals and crowds and (natch) his own enslaved army.
Omez is a cruel scientist and slave-keeper (and slave-breeder in his labs) and it's interesting to me that fighting him and Yema often becomes an act of liberation as much as exchanging blows or fire.
The Smiling King is a bizarre Lovecraft-esque being of pure chaos who spreads madness and outbreaks of manifesting superpowers. Sequences involving him are some of the most horrific and gritty, but also give rise to some of the most surreal and thrilling action tableaux.
To speak of the protagonists and antagonists only scratches the surface of this immersive adventure. It was the kind of book to which I sacrificed sleep gladly, and pulled myself out of reluctantly like waking from a dream that won't fade. It was frequently edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, and by turns funny and heartwrenching. (There was more grimness and grit in parts than I would like, but I accept these as common ingredients for the superhero genre.) And the final mission was stunning in its beauty and catharsis.
To say any more risks spoiler territory. So I'll end with my own, not-quite-battle cry...
WHEN YOU LOVE A STORY, SPEAK UP--BOOST THE SIGNAL!
And here is my third or fourth, and FINAL, edit of this review, after psyching myself out a lot about doing it justice. I am going to avoid plot spoilers and just talk about what I liked best.
Overall one of my favorite aspects of this world is that these heroes explore why stirring rhetoric and clever put-downs during a fight, AND daring anecdotes told as legends to children, are necessary to beating the wicked--even when the heroes don't quite beat the odds, and must retreat. Because such words may inspire those who hear it (or read it, as the case may be) to overcome their own fears. And hopefully, eventually, fight their own battles despite the risks.
Also I found so much brilliant originality to this story, including the way that each main character's unique race came with special abilities that were part of their "superpowers." (Even though it was their personalities and close and complex relationships that made them the most memorable for me, because character is my main draw to any story.) For example...
Elder protagonist Wonlar Pacsa (humble handyman and artificer by day, "First Sentinel" and leader of the vigilantes calling themselves the Shields of Audec-Hal by night) AND his son Selweh (and heir apparent to lead the Shields, as "Aegis") are yellow-skinned Ikanollo. They can see the emotional threads of friendship, fear, devotion, hate, and so on stretching between everyone as bright color coded beams of light. (This was by far my favorite ability and it is never wasted. It adds such poignancy while also giving Wonlar vital cues to guide him in a combat or crowd control situation or to let him know how his friends and allies and his son are faring.)
Wonlar is also a genius inventor and martial arts master, which made for lots of clever and entertaining tactics. And he has a devastating weapon he dare not use and the slow teasing out of what happened when he did and whether he will get desperate enough to change his mind adds incredible depth to character and story alike. His grief over his wife's passing and the ways in which he failed her (and other Shields who fell) hangs heavy on his soul.
His beloved son Selweh (whose deceased mother was also a Shield) is a relentless combatant wielding an artifact shield called "the Aegis" that boosts his strength and stamina and emotional connection to their city and its soul. For me their close-knit father and son relationship is the heart of this story and much dramatic conflict.
Wenlizerachi (Shield name "Blurred Fists") is a red-skinned Pronai capable of supernatural speed, but at a cost--his rapidly maturing race generally die of "old age" at thirty. (I was reminded of the cheerful Ocampa in Star Trek Voyager and how their serene acceptance of this brief life span inspired them to take risks and make the most of their time.)
Rova Remembers (Shield name "Sapphire") is of the hulking blue-skinned Freithin race created by the experiments of the one of the five tyrants and liberated by the Shields. I loved her resilience and compassion and how badass she was as a front-line brawler.
Sarii Gebb (Shield Name "Sabreslate") is a stubborn, stone-shaping gray-skinned Jalvai. She is more jaded than the other heroes which made for VERY interesting arguments and some very valid counter-arguments to Wonlar's ambitious schemes. As the only Shield currently married to another Shield, she is one of the characters with the most to lose on every dangerous mission.
Sarii's wife Bira Qano (Shield Name "Ghost Hands") is of the flat-faced race of Qava, born without sensory organs with extraordinary powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Her mental communication proves crucial to the heroes' coordination and success on several exploits. Her willingness to push herself to dangerous limits, her conviction their city needs them trust, and her trust in the ever-hopeful Wonlar all make for interesting conflict with her wife.
The villains were equally imaginative in concept, and often terrifying in their power. There's palpable fear the city and heroes would be doomed if the masterminds ever set aside their greed and differences and united to consolidate power and control.
Cobalt-3 is an A.I. in an almost invincible body, with its own droid army, who is obsessed with experiments on sentient creatures (and its dialogue is inadvertently comical like a cross between Dalek and Borg rhetoric).
Nevri is a ruthless Machiavellian politician and "ex" crime boss who tries to make the heroes offers they can't refuse.
Yema is a devious sorcerer specializing in attack spells (evocations for your D&D fans) and mind control spells/effects over individuals and crowds and (natch) his own enslaved army.
Omez is a cruel scientist and slave-keeper (and slave-breeder in his labs) and it's interesting to me that fighting him and Yema often becomes an act of liberation as much as exchanging blows or fire.
The Smiling King is a bizarre Lovecraft-esque being of pure chaos who spreads madness and outbreaks of manifesting superpowers. Sequences involving him are some of the most horrific and gritty, but also give rise to some of the most surreal and thrilling action tableaux.
To speak of the protagonists and antagonists only scratches the surface of this immersive adventure. It was the kind of book to which I sacrificed sleep gladly, and pulled myself out of reluctantly like waking from a dream that won't fade. It was frequently edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, and by turns funny and heartwrenching. (There was more grimness and grit in parts than I would like, but I accept these as common ingredients for the superhero genre.) And the final mission was stunning in its beauty and catharsis.
To say any more risks spoiler territory. So I'll end with my own, not-quite-battle cry...
WHEN YOU LOVE A STORY, SPEAK UP--BOOST THE SIGNAL!
dotsonapage's review against another edition
2.0
Really wanted to love this book as I'm a big fan of the author's previous work. I did love the world-building: unique, strange, completely engrossing. The races Underwood creates were fascenating as well, would've loved to learn more about them and their individual representatives. Here's my main issue with this book, it's basically one long action sequence with brief characterization breaks now and then. Now I have nothing against awesome battles, and this is superhero fantasy so they were to be expected, but I like really getting to know the characters I'm supposed to root for, getting inside their heads, discovering more than just the briefest of origin stories. There was some of that, but it felt incomplete to me, and I left the book feeling like I hadn't gotten to know anyone on anything but the most basic of levels. More backstory would be nice, especially for the non-POV characters. Even some info on the author's website would help. I want to go into the sequel feeling like I'm reading about people, not pretty but hastily drawn sketches.
technophile's review against another edition
1.0
I simply could not finish this book. It's a hot mess with too many ideas crammed into too small an area. A city built in the body of a long-dead giant: okay. Superheroes fighting the tyrant rulers of a once-noble Republic: sure. Spark-storms that come unpredictably and randomly mutate ordinary citizens into monsters or heroes: that works. Put them all together and add in a few dashes of steampunk tech (as best I can tell mixed in with strong-AI-level robotics), a weird and nonsensical mix of races (each of which has one, and only one, super power and set of unique physical characteristics), and it just becomes too much. There's never time to really flesh out any single facet of the story, so it just rushes by forgettably.