The Shadow Saint by Gareth Hanrahan – Review

Published: January 9, 2020

Publisher: Orbit Books

Series: The Black Iron Legacy #2

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 567 (Paperback)

My Rating: 4.5/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Thieves, dangerous magic, and a weapon built with the power to destroy a god clash in this second novel of Gareth Hanrahan’s acclaimed epic fantasy series, The Black Iron Legacy.

Enter a city of spires and shadows . . .

The Gutter Miracle changed the landscape of Guerdon forever. Six months after it was conjured into being, the labyrinthine New City has become a haven for criminals and refugees.

Rumors have spread of a devastating new weapon buried beneath the streets – a weapon with the power to destroy a god. As Guerdon strives to remain neutral, two of the most powerful factions in the godswar send agents into the city to find it.

As tensions escalate and armies gather at the borders, how long will Guerdon be able to keep its enemies at bay?

The Shadow Saint continues the gripping tale of dark gods and dangerous magic that began with Hanrahan’s acclaimed debut The Gutter Prayer.

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I actually liked the cast of characters in The Shadow Saint much more than those in The Gutter Prayer. Yes, many of them are the same, but some have less page-time and others are in new roles or have developed to a point where I now like them much more. And the new characters… maaaaan, they’re great! I really liked the first book – totally freaky stuff, with all the ghouls and worm-people – but this really stole the show in my opinion. 

I think one of the most common things I (and other readers) said about the first book is that they wanted to see more of the Godswar. It sounded totally metal. Seriously, these people become unwilling saints and the gods manifest themselves on the battlefield and just MOW over people or turn them into monstrosities that are only partially human. Well, readers will get a dose of that in The Shadow Saint and it amakes the events in Guerdon more impactful to the world at large. What’s actually happening in Guerdon is more political than in the previous book, which was mostly wild magic and madness down in the less savory areas of the city. This time around the story leans more toward spycraft and dirty politicking, and it seems that poor Eladora Duttin is still at the center of it.

Eladora is Carillon Thay’s cousin and was closely mixed up in the crazy events of the first book. I mean, she nearly got sacrificed by her undead grandfather in lieu of Carillon. Fortunately she’s much more in her element this time as a close political consultant of Industrial Liberal leader Kelkin. Cari is still hanging around the city and has unique ties to the New City that popped up when the Black Iron God thing went wild. Perhaps the two most interesting perspectives were those of the Ishmere spy with his many names and his charge Emlin and the Haithi noble Terevant Erevesic who are from opposing factions from outside Guerdon. 

The new thing now is the so-called god bomb, which totally destroyed a deity that had manifested on the battlefield. Now both sides are desperate to get their hands on one because it’s a game changer in a war that has turned into an endless bloody exchange. This is really why these opposing factions are skulking around Guerdon – it would entirely change the war if they could be destroyed permanently. Terevant is sort of the lame second son of the Erevesic house and he’s sent to Guerdon to assist his brother at the Haithi embassy. Here he’s assigned to investigate a murder of a Haithi man that shouldn’t have resulted in his permanent death. You see… the Haithi don’t usually die. They die, but their soul remains attached to their bones and they serve out their days as skeletal soldiers, guards, etc. It’s way cool – totally love it! The Spy is charged with gathering information and protecting Emlin, who is chosen of Fate Spider. He can hear whispers and see threads of possibility, making him a perfect spy for Ishmeres so that they may try to get their hands on a god bomb. 

I really had a great time reading this and now I’m like twice as excited about this series as I was before. It’s intense and unique. The sense of danger is quite real and things E S C A L A T E. I need more!