The Introspective Assassin
I found “Shadow’s Son” by Jon
Sprunk to be a nice little fantasy novel. In the first chapter, we
are introduced to Caim, an assassin with a highly developed sense of
morality in the midst of a job gone wrong. The first chapter of this
book is a very nice little exercise in fantasy writing. The
characters are introduced well and the action is quick and decisive.
If “Shadow’s Son” were a movie, the first chapter would be like
the first segment you get in a James Bond movie before the title
sequence.
When I say that Caim has a highly
developed sense of morality, I don’t mean that he believes his
actions are correct. He doesn’t, and the contradiction of what he
believes versus how he behaves is something of a torment. Caim gets
through it by trying not to think about it too much, but that tactic
fails him when he falls into the company of Josephine—a young
noblewoman who is, herself, a target of assassination.
This book is mainly an exercise in
getting to know Caim and his world. There is a plot to overthrow the
local government going on, but I was far more interested in the
development of Caim the character. Caim possesses a couple magical
abilities that scare and confuse him, but which he is willing to call
upon when all other defenses have failed. Among Caim’s abilities
appears to be the power to control shadows, or to render them into
tangible, violent beings which may come to his defense. We come to
learn that there is a mystery to Caim’s heritage which explains
these abilities, but the scraps of information are few and far
between.
Also of interest is Kit, a ghostlike
character who alternates between helping and antagonizing Caim. This
character had the potential to be problematic, but she is very well
realized in this book and I thought the story could have used more of
her. Her presence again suggests that Caim is more than he appears,
but he’s too busy running for his life in this novel to spend all
that much time dwelling on who sent Kit or what she might be.
As I was reading, I often saw a
similarity between Caim and Batman. They both are representative of
a certain common character archetype—I suppose you could call them
the “moral vigilante.” Caim, as opposed to Batman, has no
problem being lethal, but he is also a little more vulnerable than
Batman. As the novel progresses, the young woman Josephine, who he
is protecting, causes him to become introspective as to the purpose
of his whole life.
This was a very effective book and it
succeeds in introducing the reader to some interesting new characters
as well as fleshing out the world they inhabit. Even at the
conclusion, there are plenty of questions left to be answered about
Caim, his power, and his ancestry. In a very real sense, this book
felt like the first step in an epic tale of self-discovery. You have
to wonder, maybe with a sense of trepidation, what an assassin might
find when he goes on such a quest.
About the reviewer: Walter Rhein is the author of "The Reader of Acheron," "Beyond Birkie Fever" and "The Bone Sword." He is also the editor of and a contributor to "Nine Heroes."
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