The Last Shadow Knight

Shadow Knights, Book 1

By: Michael Webb

Narrated by: Tim Campbell

On the unforgiving streets of Karad, Veron grows up hungry, inexperienced, and stealing just to survive. After tragedy strikes, he is forced to decide what path his life will take.

Opportunity arises when he discovers the last survivor of a secret organization called the Shadow Knights. Apprenticed to learn their ways, Veron begins to develop abilities he never dreamed he could have.

Meanwhile, an enemy from across the mountains comes to destroy their kingdom’s way of life, and the Shadow Knights are the only ones able to stop him. As Veron fights to survive the city, he prepares to face his destiny.

©2021 Michael Webb (P)2021 Podium Audio

Disappointing ending

The Book was good up until about the last 5 chapters and kinda ruined it for me. I will not be getting book 2

downloading the 2nd book now.

it was a fun story and I like how everything was woven together. Definitely excited to see what happens in the 2nd book.

better than what I expected

Found this book buy mirror chance. Overall a very great read with plenty of action, little romance, mystery and surprising twist and turns. definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.

Protagonist is a naive sheep

Protagonist does not act until forced to. It was starting to look up by the end but the rest of the book irritated the hell out of me.

Great listening audible book

Very well written and narrated. A lot of characters to get to know and keep track of. Just downloaded book 2!

Excellent story.

This author does a great job of weaving the different characters individual storyline together. The narrator is pretty good at making the characters sound different from each other. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Very entertaining!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The narration was great and I enjoyed all of the main characters. At the end it left me really wanting to start the second book immediately.

Worth the precious credit

I enjoyed the story building. The story slowly draws you in. While the plot is familiar it has enough twist to keep your mind engaged. Lookin forward to Book II

Predictable adventure/fantasy story

Good, if somewhat predictable storyline. It was a bit hard for me to get into the dialogue, but the ending left me curious.

A coming of age tale worthy of all the buzz!

This story was full of action, tragedy, and triumph within the context of epic struggle larger than the characters themselves. The success of this series is 100% warranted!

Veron fits the standard coming-of-age orphan trope to a tee, but like any tried-and-true trope, when done right, it works. I immediately sympathized with Veron after he is bullied by a group of street thugs. Tragedy after tragedy strike him until he hits rock bottom, which for an orphaned street thief, is pretty far down. I couldn’t help but root for the kid. From there, he meets the proverbial Yoda who teaches him that there is another way to live and gives him a new chance and means to do so. His kindness is endless and Veron soon wants nothing more than to earn the man’s respect. Veron’s development throughout his training is gradual and believable and we see it transform his personality.

What I think I enjoyed most about this story, however, was Veron's shop-keeper storyline that parallels his physical and martial training. Veron learning how to run a food market and then his own plans to create the first Renaissance Era super-store was fascinating. The research into guilds and markets of the time must have been extensive. Watching him risk everything to rise from the slums had me cheering for him and everyone he lifted up along the way. The antagonists were also really well-devised. Webb does an excellent job exposing tidbits of their perspective, just enough to understand their motivations, to make them feel real. We see a range of villains in this story from the simple sociopathic street thugs, to the war lord bent on regional domination. The best executed villain, for me, was Brixton, the wealthy son of a lord who wants nothing more than to please his father. He has the capacity for good, but struggles to reconcile the success of others around him as he tries to do things the 'right' way and doesn't see the immediate pay-off. Watching his progression made the betrayal hurt all the more. He was so close to being ‘good’ but we see the influence of his father’s pragmatism, the Machiavellian mindset wins and poor Veron pays the price.


Even the secondary storyline with Chelci worked really well. Her desire to escape the confines of royalty to live the life of a normal person was believable and I enjoyed watching her grow as a character into someone who understands the value of her own labor. She crushes the gender stereotypes and I expect she'll have a much larger role in subsequent books in the series.

Lastly, I must comment on the expert weaving of storylines that eventually come together at the end. As a reader, I love multi-POV stories and guessing how they’ll all connect. This story made me wait until the very end but the pay-off was worth it