Phantom Chamber

An Epic Fantasy Adventure (Shattered Legacy, Book 2)

By: Andrew Rowe, Kayleigh Nicol

Narrated by: Travis Baldree, Emily Lawrence

Length: 23 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Secret treasures and otherworldly dangers await a band of adventurers in the second book of this fantasy series set within the Arcane Ascension universe.

After the Tortoise Spire climb claims three members of Team Guiding Star Legacy, surviving combat experts Nieve and Hane—teammates by chance if not by choice—cope with their losses by joining another delving group to ascend Tiger Spire. Allied with bickering siblings Rose and Mason, an Architect and a Transmuter, and the Biomancer Lief, they’re led by Odette, an Analyst, who has meticulously studied the spire’s scenarios to locate the mythical Vault of Shadows and claim its priceless treasures.

Their quest takes them aboard a train transporting rare cargo, but their mission is vague. Odette believes they’re either supposed to protect the cargo or capture someone. As the team splits into factions to solve the mystery, they encounter the notorious thief known as the Magpie. Sa’rhi Nereux is a Controller, commanding powerful minions to help them steal a creature capable of granting life or death with a single bite.

Even if the adventurers are victorious, greater threats await them within the spire if they’re to unearth the Vault of Shadows. Nieve, still grieving her lost companions, wants to befriend her new team to face these threats together. But Hane prefers distance, even from Nieve, leaving her to bond instead with a being of unimaginable power...

©2023 Andrew Rowe and Kayleigh Nicol (P)2023 Podium Audio

Good book

I enjoyed the book very much. The only complaint I have is that I didnt get to learn more about sage . I am not completely invested in chime and gathering the pieces but I am invested in the character development and can’t wait to get to know them

Spoilers & Theory & Some Commentary

I enjoyed this, and I still look forward to the next book in the series.

I do think I enjoyed Crystal Awakening more, but this isn’t bad. Crystal Awakening is strong in how we get the point of view of six different characters with very different viewpoints, and we get attached to all of the characters, and there is emotional impact when Aldis, Lani, and Emiko die. We also get a fair bit of world building in that we can feel how all of the characters are attached to things outside of the particular climb.

For this book, however, we have only two point of view characters, and both are in completely new situations and are pretty in the dark, both in how they interact with the characters around them and in the world around them.

I did miss Sage’s view point, but I do understand why it was only in the prologue, midpoint, and epilogue here. He goes for a second judgement. Characters forget judgements. While it would definitely have been interesting to get his judgement mixed in to the story, that doesn’t really make sense given these stories are basically in first person but with 3rd person pronouns. We’re in the character’s heads, and the characters are essentially narrating, If we see Sage’s judgement, we become aware of and there is a focus on something that does not become a “permanent” part of Sage’s personal narrative given we as readers will always know what happened in Sage’s judgement while Sage himself will not. In the same way Sage cannot know how his judgement passed, we as readers cannot know how his judgement passed. We can only know what happens after. And given what happens after is down time, waiting, and medical procedures, and nothing he does during this time likely has much, if any, influence on what is happening in the main story or in the overall put-Chime-together plot, there isn’t really anything Sage can give us for this narrative.

However, it may still have been interesting to have Mason, Rose, and Leaf/Leif’s viewpoints. It makes sense that we don’t have Odette’s viewpoint. That would have taken away from the later reveal. Also, I suppose, Leaf’s view point would have taken from that reveal given Hane’s suspicion… So if we were to have been given outsider viewpoints on Hane and Nieve here, that probably would have made us suspicious of Odette and Leaf in ways only giving us Hane and Nieve’s viewpoints doesn’t make us suspicious of Odette.

I understand the complaints about the different pronunciation of world-specific words, but I guess that can be chalked up to Valien vs Artenian pronunciations. It was slightly confusing we learn that Artenian is the language spoken in Dalenos. For those who have read the Weapons and Wielders books, we know that Edrians speak Cass, but if we’ve read other books, we also know Artenia is a different continent. Maybe there was mention of Dalens having come from Artenia in the way Valiens came from Mythrallis, but I don’t remember that being something mentioned in depth. It was a touch odd that Emily had Rose pronounce Nieve’s name with one syllable while Nieve was gone? I also had to do a bit of mental correction when sometimes I misheard Leaf as Nieve. I think Hane may be misgendered a couple times? And I had to do mental corrections in a couple other places when the word said by Emily didn’t seem to fit the situation. It’s not really enough to take me out of the narrative, but was something I noticed. There were also a few times where a gendered pronoun is used in Hane’s chapters during action sequences where I later realized that the pronoun is referring to a generic combatant that hadn’t been given a gender before. It was also interesting that Emily used the same voice for fem-presenting Magpie and masc-presenting Magpie, and I interpreted both as masculine even though Emily can be assumed to be a woman. That probably says more about how I interpret voice acting, though.

I actually like that this is a world where sexuality and gender cannot generally be assumed but also sexuality isn’t generally specifically defined. Sexuality is only described, and Wyddsfolk is an accepted independent gender. I also kind of like the glimpses into the potential that relationship dynamics outside strict/serial monogamy may not be uncommon in this world.

I don’t know if many of the other reviewers whose reviewers I have read have caught that Hane was probably raised in captivity. I don’t remember if it was this book or the previous one, but Hane mentions being put in a situation where Hane was among a group of presumably young people who were being observed, and they were in a situation where they were expected to die, and Hane ran instead. Then, Hane has spent most of their time as a climber for hire in order to spend most of their time in the Tortoise Spire with people they do not know. Hane has closed themself off to emotional attachment and doesn’t know how to be personally connected to people or how to interact with people. They don’t like touch or emotions, but they empathize with monsters and animals likely because they hadn’t been treated well by humans. At least part of this story is Hane realizing they had grown somewhat attached to Nieve and not understanding that about themself or how to deal with the fact that they are emotionally attached to Nieve and then dealing with grieving one of the few people they’ve been attached to. The last book only focus on Hane 1/6th of the time, but this book focuses half on Hane’s point of view. I personally like Hane’s point of view, but Hane is very far from their comfort zone both in terms of physical and emotional environment. They are off balance in multiple ways, and they are in a place where their strengths are not best suited to their environment, They are still super bad ass, imo.

Nieve is also pretty bad ass, imo. There is quite a bit of time skipping, especially in the second half of her narrative. She had already been grieving and insecure, and then she ended up in a totally uncommon situation then ended up on her own. I love that she was able to get though most of the floor on her own to meet up with the rest of the group. She probably was taking a back route, but it’s still pretty impressive, I think. I’m kind of excited about her new attunement. She is kind of going from fighter to berserker despite the actual name of the attunement. That is mildly amusing, imo. It’s also interesting that she now has light and transference mana. The light mana was mentioned and necessary in the situation she was in, but I’m interested to find out how the addition of light and transference mana make her able to do more of what Hane and Sage can do. Hane is water-primary, transference-secondary, and Sage is mental-primary and light secondary. I’m curious about whether Nieve’s Champion-tertiary mental mana can be combined with her Paladin-primary light mana to perform destiny spells like a Seer or whether the lack of death mana will make that unlikely. Also with her Champion-secondary water mana and her Paladin-secondary transference mana, could she learn do a lot of what Hane can do with gravity spells, just without the support of perception mana? TBH, as a citrine Champion, could she pull off Diviner and Dancer spells through mental-enhancement and mental-water mana combinations? Enhancement and transference are also opposite mana types. I’m guessing the heart/mind mark combination might not be as much of an issue as a heart/hand mark combination? Ooh. Theoretically, between her water mana and light mana, she may be able to perform Illuminator spells that don’t require air mana. Theoretically, with her Champion-tertiary mental mana and her Paladin-secondary transference mana, she should theoretically be able to enchant objects. She also has light mana, which Enchanter has as tertiary mana as her Paladin-primary mana type, so theoretically between her five mana types, she could theoretically mimic the quartz or carnelian spells of 6 attunements other than her own two. That is vey interesting potential that Nieve doesn’t seem like the type of character to take advantage of. (I should do this for Seiji, too, but not in this review, I think..) I do like the glimpses into Nieve’s background and the fact that we still have one of her mysteries left to uncover.

Nieve and Hane are both in uncomfortable, unfamiliar situations, and they’re doing their best, but they aren’t in a well-oiled group where they get to shine and act with minimal thought. So these characters went from a mostly comfortable situation to a mostly uncomfortable situation, and the way they are portrayed in relation to their environment is changed because of that. They were also actively being worked against, even if that isn’t immediately clear within the narrative until the end.

I also like that this series seems to be meant to show off the greater world.. It feels like we’re set up to explore each of the 6 spires - if we get to see the Spider Spire. Theoretically, unless we get larger pieces of Chime in the next spires, there should be more pieces of Chime in the other spires. Or the will have to delve outside the spires as well. There is still practically only potential for where this can go, and this will likely do a lot of exploring of different subsets of Caledonian culture and different spotlighting of what makes all of the spires different and why different spires turn out different kinds of attainments and how that affects the nation that contains that spire. Like, Turtle Spire seems to grant a lot of water specialists, and Champion, Cloudcaller, Soulblade, and Wavewalker all seem like combat-focused attunemnts while Acolyte, Illusionist, Seer, and Wayfarer are good support attunements for those combat attunements. That makes a combat and strategy spire make sense. Tiger Spire grants Analyst, Architect, Biomancer, Controller, Forgemaster, Illuminator, Sentinal, and Tranmuter attunements. These attunements focus on analysis and change. Earth, knowledge (mental), and shadow are common mana types for this spire. Complex, multi-faceted floor-wide challenges with multiple potential outcomes and that rely on knowledge and interpreting surroundings make sense, somewhat. Serpent Spire gives out Divinter, Elementalist, Enchanter, Guardian, Mender, Shadow, Shaper and summer attunements. Enhancement is a common mana type, and most of these attunement types seem likely to put together teams that can can solve physical puzzles fairly well, so teams that either adapt or utilize their environment and work with the traps and puzzles in the Serpent Spire make sense. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, though, or deliberately constructing arguments that aren’t super well supported. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Edria outside of the Diamantine/Soulbrand tournament.

Vibrant Inclusive Cast

The Long
I've read several reviews complaining of something I, personally, find as a rarity among books: a cast that includes people of an alternative gender identity than your usual he and she. This book's cast is primarily compromised of your usual gendered people, who are excellent parts of the story and have their own things going for them. The individuals of the cast that are gender queer and non-binary are personally some of my favorite characters. It warms my heart seeing characters that are diverse in this way and it warms my heart to see representation of people that I personally relate to. This book still has all the wonderful things you might expect from Andrew Rowe's works, which include complex magic systems, fast paced interesting combat, and really cool magic items. Yes it's a train again, but trains are a contextually huge part of travel in this time period and setting so I can get behind another train story.

The Short
I love the inclusive, diverse cast that isn't your status quo. I loved the magic and combat and really enjoyed the direction the story went overall.

Good story, tough start to make it through

Overall really enjoyed the book, but the first section was a little bit longer to make it through than usual for one of these books.

Side story & can’t wait for the next

Previous reviews are hyper critical about the use of they. As a GenX aged fan I appreciate the new generation of authors who mindfully write using They in place of “he” & “she”. I appreciate examples of healthy supporting interactions with friends having panic attacks or suffering with grief. If this is confusing to the listener or considered “woke” I disagree. It is human - welcome. There are many humans here and it’s nice to listen to kindness & respect of tthe individuals allowed to come as you are. I imagine this world we live in, that now accounts for individuals beyond 2 sexes is also a disorienting experience. To you, I say leave your own zip code. Maybe correct the spelling errors in your reviews that are critical of the entertainment no one forced you to buy.
In 2023 we recognize the reality where billions of humans cannot be easily divided into 2 sexes. Why would you want to miss out on understanding a human experience beyond 2 neatly divided he/she groups?

That stated, this 10 book series is an invitation. Complaining that the Cadence Crew isn’t the focus or the narrator is pronouncing names places or items differently, when using multiple languages from different parts of a world being built story by story makes me believe you might complain about a haircut before it is finished or a cake before it is done baking. To have a complaint about an author’s reveal of previously unknown portions of a world you’ve encountered in ONLY 10 previous stories is a comment about yourself not the story.

I am a huge Andrew Rowe fan. I am beginning to understand the Kayleigh Nicol contribution to this world. If it helps us get the stories - then great welcome Kayleigh, I appreciate the work. I anticipate many stories and many days of entertainment from this and associated stories. Thanks to Andrew, Kayleigh, Travis & Emily. I’ve enjoyed this story - please don’t make us wait too long for the next release.

I love this universe. I hate this series.

I don't like leaving negative reviews especially for universes that I really enjoy. I really enjoy the sufficiently advanced magic/broken mirrors universe.

unfortunately this book just doesn't meet the standards of those stories.

It took me a minute to realize what was off, but Then I realized Andrew Rowe did not write this.

The style is definitely written from the point of view of a writer that doesn't understand the universe, and a narrator that mispronounces established pronunciations.

Definitely nothing special about this book so if you're a fan of Andrew Rowe and you miss this one... You're fine.

Another great book in an interesting universe

Well written and well acted. A story that I just wanted to keep listening to.

Excellent addition to the series

Excellent all around. The performance is superb. The characters and the story is engaging. More stories on Caldwin are exactly what I was looking for.

Loved it and waiting for more

I love the whole book. I only wish we had more time with Sage. I would have loved to hear about his judgment as we have heard about so few of them. The next book can't come soon enough. I have loved the entire arcane ascension universe for a while and even have conflicting attunement tattoos so I can't wait to hear more about Sage's efforts to overcome the struggle and find effective ways to use both attunements.

Overall good

The pacing of the book is far too slow. I couldn’t help but agree with Nieve every time she complained about not having anything to punch on the train. The first half of the book was difficult for me to get through. Very little action, too much focus on puzzles. The second half of the book reeled me back in and was very enjoyable.

In the first book we lost half of the team after the book spent a great deal of time building on the character backgrounds. As the remaining main characters move to a different spire, you’re introduced to new team mates. To me that felt like a step backwards as time is spent introducing them, getting you familiar with some of their background. I’m guessing that’s going to be the norm as the series takes us from spire to spire.

I wish they wouldn’t have excluded Sage from most of the story. Had he been part of the team then maybe the overall story would have been more interesting.

I do have to say I love Nieve’s new found powers. Looking forward to seeing more of that in action.

The second half of the book redeems the plot. But just barely. Overall it’s good but not great.