The Shadow of What Was Lost - James Islington

The Shadow of What Was Lost

By James Islington

  • Release Date: 2016-07-19
  • Genre: Epic Fantasy
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 1,387 Ratings

Description

A young man with forbidden magic finds himself drawn into an ancient war against a dangerous enemy in book one of the Licanius Trilogy, the series that fans are heralding as the next Wheel of Time.

As destiny calls, a journey begins.

It has been twenty years since the godlike Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them -- the Gifted -- are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion's Four Tenets, vastly limiting their powers.

As a Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and others like him are despised. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he and his friends Wirr and Asha set into motion a chain of events that will change everything.

To the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian's wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is. . .

And in the far north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir.

The Licanius Trilogy is a series readers will have a hard time putting down -- a relentless coming-of-age epic from the very first page.

"Storytelling assurance rare for a debut . . . Fans of Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson will find much to admire."" -- Guardian

Reviews

  • Well crafted story

    4
    By Husband & Father who reads
    This was on my TBR and I only read it sooner than expected since it was $2. But the book hooked me very early. It can take some getting used to the names. But once you do it has depth. Lots of twists and turns. The ending was well written and very enjoyable.
  • Forever! to tell a short story

    3
    By tangentdanger
    This was an epic size novel to tell a story that is made for TV episodes 1-8. The cliffhangers at the commercial breaks became monotonous. The end was every bit as exciting as the GoT finale that left everyone shaking their heads. The main cast of characters- teenagers with secrets. How original? Maybe the story is salvaged in book 2. I won't know. I'm not investing that much more time into this sleeper hold!
  • Frustrating and ultimately boring

    1
    By StoryDelver
    On and on with essentially nothing happening. Main character is a dolt carried along by events with zero agency of his own. The opposite of character driven story. Can’t finish this. There’s no interest or reward for the reader.
  • Favorite high fantasy first book

    5
    By Captainpolar
    The twist at the end I never saw coming. One of the greatest starts to a high fantasy I’ve ever read. Very excited to keep reading this series!!
  • Interesting

    5
    By mecheng
    An intriguing tale, even with the complexity of the character development, it was easy to follow. The vivid descriptions of the surrounding world made it easy to imagine. A nice read for a cold winter night! Looking forward to the next in the series!
  • Jeffries

    1
    By julian5706
    Boring
  • Almost great!

    2
    By RMGScout
    Interesting and action packed, but confusing. Not well written at all with regard to storyline and narrative. The attempts at clever names and made up terms further add to the confusing plot. Attempts at long descriptives detract from the story…less is more when the words are selected more intelligently
  • Reasonably entertaining

    4
    By Jim Yeats
    If you’re in between a great series this will suffice. You can tell the author was heavily influenced by The Wheel Of Time. The story telling is a bit choppy, but all and all, entertaining.
  • I'm surprised at the negative reviews.

    5
    By HazyRigby
    For the first 30 or so pages, I kept thinking, "dang, this is so formulaic, I'm not going to like it," and then I was sucked in and utterly absorbed for the whole rest of the book. It's well-written, engrossing, and just a lot of fun to read. If I had one *minor* nitpick, I'd say that too many characters had similar-looking names, and sometimes I struggled to keep track. That's probably just my own brain, though, and it certainly didn't detract from the overall book. I think if you like fantasy and/or sci-fi, you'll enjoy this one!
  • ‘’ imma write a scathing review” lol

    4
    By whatawitch
    The book so far is amazing hence 4 stars but if you plan on reading whilst listening to Audible… don’t… the narrator is either reading from a different copy or is choosing to make his own sentences up/leaving sentences out completely… very disappointing…