Review: The Brightest Shadow by Sarah Lin

The Brightest Shadow by Sarah Lin is a progression fantasy with an epic fantasy scope and feel. The world-building in this is excellent, and despite the huge number of pages I've already read I know there's already so much built up and waiting to be uncovered and explored. I also really enjoyed most of the characters and the perspectives they bring to this story. I may be judging it a bit more harshly than necessary by giving it four stars instead of five, but I think that's partially because I can almost see the excellence that could have been, but it just feel a tiny bit short in a couple of small ways when it could have been phenomenal. 

The first part of the story was excellent and I was gripped and interested throughout. Tani's Farwalk was an excellent hook into the story - it's a journey she is taking as part of her warrior training with the added goal she has given herself to observe the "Deathspawn" that have arrived on the continent near her home and figure out if they really are as dangerous as the stories suggest. This kept me interested for a while as we got introduced to the city of Bundlin and some of the other major characters such as Slaten, Kolanin, and Melal. 

Where it fell apart a little bit for me was when they met Veron and the two groups that included the Hero and his followers and the Coran Resistance. When this happened the characters suddenly became aimless and there was a lot of wandering and training where I just couldn't see their motivations or see where the plot was going for a long, long time. Now, this was done for a reason, which will be revealed later on in the story, but it could have been much more effective if I had known all of their motivations in the first part so I could contrast it with this aimless period. It worked for Tani, but I knew so little about Slaten's original motivations and the very vaguely hinted at backstory. I'm not going to lie this middle section of the book felt like it would never end, but I couldn't stop reading because I loved the world-building and felt it was all going to come together. It does, but I might have appreciated the wait more if I actually cared more about the mechanics of fights and stuff (I really don't). 

Right around the time when I thought the book was essentially over there was a very low-stakes going home section of it that I absolutely loved. Characters were reconnecting with their families. They were connecting with each other. We finally got to see the different tribes/villages they came from. There was eating. The bread subplot was finally resolved! There was sensory detail and description that helped me imagine the different locations and fall in love with them. It again made me wish that we had been introduced to these locations and to the characters' origins earlier on in the beginning of the story (or perhaps even through flashbacks in the middle section of the book). 

The book had big fight at the end which was interesting due to the way certain characters were positioned against and with each other. The Hero storyline progressed nicely during this section, and I was satisfied with the way it ended leaving enough open for the next installment in the series, but also resolving enough of the main plotlines. I did find myself wishing, though, that I had actually cared more about the Hero's "goals" so that the interesting subversion of the whole hero trope would have influenced/shocked/horrified me more. As it is, I felt that the author was doing a great job of commenting on fantasy tropes and gaming conventions (LOVED the section where the Hero and his followers gathered for that reason) but I wished there was more of a deeper commentary on real life/actual wars or occupations or the concept of peace vs war in real life. As you can see, I'm just being picky and expecting more because the author clearly showed so much potential for more in this area. I'm really hoping that this aspect is developed further in later books in the series! 

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to fans of epic fantasy like myself who enjoy great world-building and are not afraid of diving into a longer book. The pay off at the end is worth the length and only such a long book could get you so invested in the characters. Also, fans of more martial arts style fiction and progression fantasy would, I'm sure, enjoy it even more! I'm not an expect on the progression genre, but this book has given me a great intro to it.