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Shadow: A Novel (The Pendulum Trilogy Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Will Elliott (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 22 ratings
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Shadow is the second evocative fantasy in Will Elliott's Pendulum Trilogy: "Elliott writes with a power commensurate with the originality of his vision."—Times Literary Supplement

Eric Albright was a luckless journalist living a so-so life…until the day he opened a battered red door under a railway bridge and entered Levaal, a magical world between worlds. A place populated by power-damaged mages, stone giants, pit devils—and dragons.

The tyrant Lord Vous rules with an iron fist and is nearing his goal of turning himself into a god. He’s kept at bay only by the great Wall at World’s End, which contains all of Levaal.

But the Wall comes crashing down, sparking a violent war, and Eric and his friends are caught in the thick of it. They are forced to flee from the Tormentors, dreadful creatures that have poured through the breach, and there are rumors that one of the great dragons has escaped its sky prison.

Worse yet, Vous’s journey to godhood is almost complete, and a mysterious being called Shadow—who is not but looks remarkably like Eric—is wandering Levaal with great power but no purpose it yet understands.
The end might be coming faster than anyone thinks.

The Pendulum Trilogy
#1 The Pilgrims
#2 Shadow
#3 World's End

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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  1. Print length
    401 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Tor Books
  5. Publication date
    February 24, 2015
  6. File size
    1176 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the Pendulum Trilogy

“The first stage in a gloriously wayward journey through the shattered relics of standard epic fantasy that left me eager to continue.”―Locus on The Pilgrims

“A gripping series of events moves briskly…leaving us all wanting to know what happens to the world as much as to our protagonists.”―RT Book Reviews

“The author's not only a superb craftsman and character-builder, but a consummate storyteller, so that each good-against-evil clash appears fresh and engrossing.”―Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

WILL ELLIOTT's debut novel, The Pilo Family Circus, co-won the Aurealis Award for best horror, won the Golden Aurealis for best novel, and the Australian Shadows Award. He is also the author of the visionary Pendulum Trilogy, The Pilgrims, Shadow and World's End. Elliott was born in Brisbane, Australia.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00ME4CGI4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor Books; First edition (February 24, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 24, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1176 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 401 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.4 3.4 out of 5 stars 22 ratings

About the author

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Will Elliott

Will Elliott

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Customer reviews

3.4 out of 5 stars
3.4 out of 5
22 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Matthew
4.0 out of 5 stars Great work of fantasy
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2012
Verified Purchase
The riveting Pendulum Trilogy continues in this exceptional follow-up to PILGRIMS. The story is an interesting take on the fantasy genre, thankfully steering well clear of boring cliches and offering a unique experience. The characters are intriguing and well developed, adding much weight to the story and enhancing an already great tale. Highly recommended.
4 people found this helpful
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Finn
3.0 out of 5 stars Concept Falls Apart Midway Through
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
See review of Book 3
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B. Capossere
3.0 out of 5 stars series as a whole is a bit befuddling at this point despite some interesting characters. Weak three so far
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2015
The Pilgrims and Shadow by Will Elliott are the first two books of the PENDULUM TRILOGY. Book one came out a little more than a year ago, while its sequel was published in February of this year. I read The Pilgrims while on a long trip last year, and so never wrote up a review (camping and hiking not being conducive to such activity). Which means this dual review will focus heavily detail-wise on Shadow while making reference to the first book based on some fuzzy recollection, some quick skimming to refresh, and an old hand-scrawled note or two in the margin I may or may not have deciphered correctly.

The Pilgrims introduces us to Eric Albright, and young and not-particularly-upcoming journalist, and Stuart Casey (“Case”), a homeless alcoholic, who in short order find their way via an odd red door into the world of Levaal, a sort of buffer world between our own and another on the far side of Levaal, on the other side of a great wall.

Levall is your typical portal world, home to magic and all sorts of strange creatures, including mages, winged females known as Invia, stone giants, demons, and dragons, though the latter are nearly all imprisoned high in the sky (as you might imagine, they’re none too happy about that and are scheming to find a way out, which mostly would not be very good for humans). Levaal is also home to Lord Vous — a crazed mage trying (and very close to succeeding) to become a god, with the assistance of his Archmage.

If the fantasy world is relatively typical, albeit inventive and as frequently original in its creation as it is in its familiarity, the two protagonists are anything but. “Pilgrims” are key players allegedly in this greater struggle taking place, although it’s not always clear exactly why or how. The two of them somewhat haphazardly pick up some allies, some enemies, and some who are first one and then the other.

The Pilgrims was a solid if uninspiring entry into the trilogy. I did enjoy many of the particular details of the world—the war mages, the idea of dragons being caged, “dark lord” being not just dark but really more than a little insane. But while I never really considered putting the book down, I can’t say it propelled me forward all that much either; I never felt fully engaged with the story or the characters. The former felt too meandering and random while the latter were a little too flat to make me really care about what happened to them.

As mentioned, these weren’t large enough of a problem to have me give up reading, and if I had to nail down a rating based on a fuzzy recollection, my guess is I would have given The Pilgrims a three. It kept me interested enough to finish and pick up its sequel, even if I did so without any great excitement. Unfortunately, Shadow is more of a step back than forwards, leaving me questioning whether I’ll continue on to the concluding novel.

In Shadow, well, to be honest, I’m not quite sure what happens in Shadow. Characters wander around a bit, stay in one place a bit, join up, interact, split up, interact, wander some more, and that’s about it. Some of the encounters evoke more tension or interest than others, but I just never had any sense of a big picture or a larger narrative, or at least, not very often. It all felt a bit of a muddle, frustratingly so. I’d mention a few specific plot points, but really, they didn’t seem to really matter much in their specificity of action.

Characters remain mostly pretty flat and/or unexplored and also nearly wholly passive, with events happening to them rather than them initiating any sort of action themselves. In a character or two, that would be fine, in a main character it might be subversive, but across the board, it lends an overall dullness to the plot. The many quick shifts amongst the characters (shifts not always handled smoothly) don’t help matters.

Elliott offers up a very interesting premise as well as an intriguing behind-the-scenes look (almost literally) of how magic works, but both are only slightly touched upon, with more detail I assume saved up for the third book, often a problem of second books in trilogies. The same problem occurs with character motivations; we’re never quite clear on why people are doing what they’re doing (or why they did what they’ve already done) and while it’s possible those motivations will be made clear in the next volume, it remains an issue in the book we’re actually reading.

I don’t think I’d call Shadow a bad book — it has some original creations of plot and character and a few effective scenes — but it is a befuddling book, its many parts are not only not greater than its whole, but they don’t even really add up to a whole, leaving me just as at sea as its main character. As for a recommendation, I’d say hold off on the series for now; it’s possible Elliott will pull it off, but he’s got some work to do.

(originally posted on fantasyliterature.com)
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Phil Leader
4.0 out of 5 stars Explores more of the world first seen in The Pilgrims
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2016
Shadow is the second book in the Pendulum series of novels by Will Elliott. Following on immediately from the first book, The Pilgrims (reviewed previously) it ​follows the adventures of Eric, a regular guy who ends up in the mysterious and dangerious world of Levaal.

Taking up the story where the predecessor left off, this is a book of regrouping and answers. Following the destruction of the wall between the two halves of Levaal seemingly unstoppable forces are unleashed. The pendulum has started to swing - and signals the end of life on Levaal if it is not stopped.

This book is one of regrouping and answers. The various players were scattered at the end of the first book and now some of them arrive at the same destination. We also have answers to a number of questions from the first book, which given how many questions there were really is a considerable relief. Mysterious protagonists with opaque drives are all very well (and probably required these days to raise any story above the rest) but it is really good to see that Elliott really does know what is going on (even if as a reader it still not entirely clear). The description of how magic works was particularly good, and as with the first book this is a really strong point in the creation of the mythology here.

Most of the characters are the same faces, but there are a few new ones. Most notably Shadow who is referred to a couple of times in the first book (mostly in terms of Eric potentially being Shadow). The title character appears here as a main character and drives most of the plot. Clearly a being of power, the back story of where Shadow came from and why is also touched on. The great dragons who apparently rule the world also take a more direct hand and are as devious and manipulative as expected.

Meanwhile the Arch Mage is losing control of Vous as he nears godhood and the unpredictable destruction wrought by Vous is creating a dangerous instability as the forces representing the Castle fragment into their own factions, each with their own agenda,

The writing continues to be strong, the story moves again at some pace although inevitably there is a lot more talking and exposition as the nature of the threats are explained. Elliott's inventiveness is not diminished with more odd characters and situations and locations at every turn.

Although light on actual plot, this book is clearly required as a bridge between the first book and the third, giving the reader enough information to understand exactly what is going on before what is shaping up to be a strong and no doubt surprising finale.
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Jeffrey T. Munson
4.0 out of 5 stars The Pendulum Continues To Swing
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2015
Eric Albright has ventured through a door that has led to the alternate world known as Levaal. Inhabited by war mages, dragons, and invia, Eric and his band of friends have set off to a castle to find Vous. Lord Vous is a madman who is in the process of turning himself into a god. Eric and his friends Siel and Loup must reach the castle before its too late. Complicating matters further is the presence of Shadow; a mysterious being who looks remarkably like Eric but seems to have no purpose. But may have an effect on Vous. Finally, the great wall at world's end has been brought down and the very survival of Levaal is in doubt. Will Eric and his friends reach the castle, or will Vous finish his transformation into a god?

I've found the first two books of the Pendulum Trilogy to be very good. Following in the footsteps of such authors as Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan, Will Elliott has created an epic fantasy loaded with action, adventure, and well-developed characters. I'm eagerly anticipating reading the final installment of this very good series. Highly recommended.
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