Den of Shadows

Den of Shadows was absolutely amazing. It is full of mystery, intrigue and felt a little bit magical. This author knows how to grab your attention with beautiful world-building, without drifting into the realms of purple prose, and definitely had some interesting ideas.

Imagine that your town receives an invite to a mysterious event. A mysterious event which turns out to be a train, the Gamblers Den, run by a fantastical conductor and a crew of talented performers. Imagine this train will let everyone on, rich or poor, bringing a sense of unity to your town. But also giving you the chances to win some serious riches on some of the games on board. This train is a casino, carnival and party all rolled into one. And it is glorious.

This story and it's characters are largely quite theatrical, and I really loved it. It felt almost like a tale you might be told around a campfire, where the narrative is quite deliberately worded to really set the scene and tell a magical tale. However, there is nothing delicate about these characters - Franco, the leader of the performance is eccentric, intelligent and a little bit crafty but also quite influenced by his crew, despite leading firmly. I liked that he was so complex, and not so squeaky clean, whilst still being a showman. He reminded me of a certain popular character from a Leigh Bardugo book. The coquettish fire-breathing Misu is equally as intricate, and I wish her character had more chance to shine actually because she was lots of fun to read about. Equally, Wyld, the resident thief, deserved more time in the book than she was given and really grabbed my attention. The introduction of such a host of likeable, interesting characters shows really great promise for (I hope) any future books.

I love the concept and particularly that the story is constantly moving with the train to new destinations. I wanted to know why the train was struggling financially, and how Franco was going to get them out of a sticky situation that arose. The writing really is beautiful, I only wish I could have had a slightly more packed out story so I could enjoy the characters that little bit more. I absolutely recommend this brilliant book; I really hope there will be more to come!