Copyright Date:
2013
Edition Date:
2013
Release Date:
10/29/13
Pages:
x, 433 pages
ISBN:
0-06-219043-1
ISBN 13:
978-0-06-219043-7
Dewey:
Fic
LCCN:
2013409983
Dimensions:
21 cm.
Language:
English
Reviews:
ALA Booklist
Imagine there are two worlds, the natural world and that of the supernatural. Further, imagine they are separated by a gossamer veil. Lastly, imagine two boys, Ewan and Colby, from the natural world who find themselves in the supernatural, and you have the premise of this epic fantasy. Shortly after the two boys meet, however, they are returned to the natural world where they grow up, Ewan to become a musician and Colby to become a bookstore clerk and something more: a wizard! In due course, the supernatural and natural worlds will mesh with, well, catastrophic results. Cargill's first novel is replete with a bewildering variety of fairies and a sometimes bewildering amount of philosophizing that occasionally retards the action of an otherwise dynamic story. However, Ewan and Colby are both likable characters who invite the reader's empathy, and the setting of the supernatural world is richly imagined. All in all, an auspicious debut, the closing pages of which seem to promise, duh, a sequel.
Screenwriter and acclaimed film critic C. Robert Cargill makes his fiction debut with Dreams and Shadows, taking beloved fantasy tropes, giving them a twist, and turning out a wonderful, witty, and wry take on clash between the fairy world and our own.
Something is missing from Ewan and Colby’s lives. Residing in the corners of their memories is their time in Limestone Kingdom, a realm filled with magic and mystery, a world where only some may travel amongst the menagerie of mystical souls and sinister demons.
Cargill offers well-crafted characters and an absorbing, intricate plot that will appeal to fans of Neil Gaiman and Lev Grossman. Dreams and Shadows pulls you into an extraordinary universe of darkness that exposes the magic and monsters in our world, and in ourselves.