The Light of Shadows

A Balance of Shade and Radiance, Book 1

By: Ryan Elledge

Narrated by: Jeff Cannata

Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A Rupturing looms. This is only the beginning.

Millennia ago, the first Rupturing of the World Shroud threatened to consume everything, the magical energy stored within the Wellsprings behind the veil leaking out with devastating consequences. But the Dawn Ones sealed that power away, sacrificing themselves so that life could continue. However, forces are at work once again that could put more strain on the magical barrier, and unbeknownst to most, a second Rupturing hangs in the balance.

Rav Trisarin is a woman of two worlds: the scion of a wealthy family and magical legacy, and the life she chooses as a thrill-seeker with a questionable relationship to the law. Together with her friend and former jailor Wymund Sylnorin, and impromptu mother-figure Annika Iatorii, they find themselves thrust into an investigation of fiery explosions in the city of Virdoba. At the center of this plot stands a mercenary named Tetamii Fiadar, a man with a powerful connection to the World Shroud and a goal of instigating international conflict.

Meanwhile, across the continent of Anera, a merchant with a stifled sense of wanderlust named Mareq Iq'Urlset sates his curiosity by digging into this scheme from the opposite side. Uncovering the people being played by Tetamii's deceptions. Two parallel investigations race against the stoked flames of bigotry and economic strain, with the potential for a war based on falsehoods ready to ignite should they fail.

The Light of Shadows is the first novel in A Balance of Shade and Radiance, introducing listeners to the magic-fueled action and intrigue of the Physicarium!

©2024 Ryan Elledge (P)2024 Ryan Elledge

A light and fun fantasy novel

If you are looking for a light and fun fantasy novel, this is a good listen. It does a fair job of keeping your interest and sprinkles enough world building and a magic system to ground the story without drowning you in details. The list of high fantasy names can get a little hard to track on the audio version, but it is a memorable cast of fantasy tropes. None of them overly dominate the story and drag the pacing down. The bad guy is classic evil mercenary, a couple of chapters from his perspective do give some insight on motives and provide a few nods toward further developments in future books. The main character leans a bit heavily into the rougish archetypes, but does have some emotional growth toward the end of the novel.

The action scenes are snappy and easy to follow. I am excited to continue to see this magic system grow. I think overall this a great first novel and will pick up the second whenever that comes out.

Finally, the audiobook narration is actually quite good. The reader is well known, but not in the audiobook world. He does a fair job on giving characters personality thru his voicing. A couple of voices are a bit off (to be fair a deep voiced male doing female can be challenging), but I found his reading engaging and interesting. He leans into the characterizations and isn't worried about having some fun while reading.

So if you enjoy a light fantasy story that you can knock out in a dozen hours, this is a great option.