Review: Immortal Shadow by Anderson Atlas

Published: December 2016

Pages: 120

Synopsis: “Jibbawk rises to dominate the planet Lan Darr. He rules with an iron fist and without mercy, building his empire larger and faster than all other Shadic planets. But it isn't enough. He dreams of becoming one of the fabled Immortal Rulers, no matter the cost. Only when resistance comes from the least likeliest place, a teenager from Earth, does he see his authority challenged.

And the rebels came by the least expected route.

Exciting, otherworldly, and thoroughly captivating, my beta reviewers could not put it down. This teen and young adult fantasy action & adventure will be a favorite on your shelf.

Warning: this story is not for the faint of heart.”

Rating: ****

I received a free copy of Immortal Shadow from Read For Review in exchange for an honest review.

There wasn't much preamble with Immortal Shadow, the action started straight away in what appeared to be a Gladiator-style series of trials for Shadic slaves to earn their freedom. The difference being that the winning slave would be given an entire planet to rule over. Jibbawk wins, and is given the planet of Lan Darr. The Immortal Shadow is the third book in a series and it definitely felt like this was the case as the plot just started with no introduction, which I would expect from a book in the series when background and characters would have been introduced in the previous book. I therefore read Immortal Shadow as a standalone novel and on the whole this seemed to work.

The book focused on Jibbawk's relationship with Adam, a teenage boy from Earth and their visits back to Earth to steal books and knowledge to enable Jibbawk to advance his civilisation. Personally, I felt this left the book with a very narrow plot, as we were given brief glimpses of other goings on such as protests by the natives of Lan Darr against their Shadic rulers but this was all very brief, almost glossed over. I think by including these other elements the book would have felt a lot more well-rounded and would have fleshed the world out, as Immortal Shadow was a relatively quick read.

Despite this, Immortal Shadow was very well written, with great world building. Although, the history of the Shadic race wasn't explored but this may have been done in the previous books. Adam may have been a good tool for this, as Jibbawk could have explained aspects of his culture to the human as a way of introducing or refreshing it for the reader. Jibbawk came across as a tyrant which I think was intended, and Adam as the hero of the story. I did think it was unusual that Adam was so young (14), and the plot would have worked just as well had his character been older. This may have even been slightly more believable, as Adam was very knowledgeable about a lot of things, not all of which rang true for a 14 year old.

Overall, a quick read which could have gone into so much more detail, but well thought out and well written.