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280 pp
ISBN: 978-1-61614-201-8
Trade Paperback (6" x 9")
$17
June 2010
Cover Illustration: © Michael Komarck
www.komarckart.com
In the holy city of Othir, treachery and corruption lurk at the end of every street, just the place for a freelance assassin with no loyalties and few scruples.
Caim makes his living on the edge of a blade, but when a routine job goes south, he is thrust into the middle of an insidious plot. Pitted against crooked lawmen, rival killers, and sorcery from the Other Side, his only allies are Josephine, the socialite daughter of his last victim, and Kit, a guardian spirit no one else can see. But in this fight for his life, Caim only trusts his knives and his instincts, but they won't be enough when his quest for justice leads him from Othir's hazardous back alleys to its shining corridors of power. To unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the empire, he must claim his birthright as the Shadow's Son....
Reviews:
"The action scenes are solid and the story is fast-paced with no moments threatening to slow things down... So the core of Shadow's Son feels solid, with characters who come into their stride, uncover past misdeeds and surprise themselves with what they're able to accomplish."
—The Speculative Fiction Examiner, Examiner.com
"When Sprunk gets going, he writes with an energy that has to be experienced to be believed. [He] knows that if your main character is up against a wall and facing ten swordsman then the resulting fight for your life can't be written at anything other than a break neck pace. Not only does Sprunk more than deliver on this score but he remains in control of his writing the whole time. Shadows Son will have me coming back for a sequel... Sprunk's eye for spectacle means that if Shadow's Son was ever made into a film I'd definitely be there to watch it... a thoroughly entertaining read that had me wondering if perhaps all assassin stories aren't the same after all..."
—Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
"Wonderful fight sequences is what you expect out of a Swords & Sorcery novel and Sprunk more than delivers... Shadow's Son had me up late at night as nearly every chapter ended in climax after climax of tight action sequences to see how Caim will get out of the next scrape. I give Shadow's Son 7.5 out of 10 hats. Even though this is the first in a trilogy Sprunk does an admirable job at having a clear culmination to most of what he started while leaving plenty left open for the next volumes as things escalate. Sprunk shows loads of promise as he hones his craft."
—The Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review
Praise for Jon Sprunk:
"'Sign of the Cross' by Jon Sprunk is a story of an injured crusader who is helped by a Muslim family. It's an interesting take on the legend of St. George, and the characters are engaging and three dimensional."
—Tangent
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