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Shadebringer by Grayson W Hooper (view source)
Revision as of 12:47, 3 December 2021
, 12:47, 3 December 2021no edit summary
... but the next thing that happens after taking the letter out of his pocket is waking up in a forest. It doesn't take Clyde long to work out that it isn't the same forest. And his first thought is that he's been airlifted to safety and is in a coma dream.
But he isn't. Clyde died in Vietnam. He's woken up in Irgwendo, a strange land populated by other dead soldiers and victims of war. And if Clyde thought that his time in Vietnam was a bloody adventure; it was just training for tOhis this one. It appears that Clyde is to be used as some kind of secret weapon by a shade spirit in this world and in the war that's consuming it. Will he survive? Is he really dead? And is there any way of moving on from this world, too?
Oh, I did enjoy this first book in a proposed series. I've never read anything quite like it. Told in the immediate, forceful, voice of Clyde himself, it's a compelling read - urgent, energetic, in the moment. Clyde himself is an interesting central character. He's bright, self deprecating, sarcastic, but he is also capable of thinking outside himself and is always looking for answers. The first section, set in the real world, is honest and harsh and the same flavour flows over into the fantasy world of Irgwendo, making its magic dangerous and terrifying.