“Nerdection Must Read”
Fantasy-philes, Cal Logan has just put you on notice! There’s a new fantasy adventure awaiting you in September in 2024: ShadowBane. Get ready to be transported to a world inspired by feudal Japan but infested with demonic monsters. You will be taken on an adventure to defeat a demon god and disassemble a cultist movement, all the while dodging dysfunctional autocratic government, harboring a doomed love, and negotiation trust issues within a broken family. Buckle up, buttercup! It’s going to be a bumpy ride…
Spoiler-free Plot Summary
Two prophecies have been foretold: Two bodies, but one soul – twins who will either save the world from the rise of demon kind or perish and doom the world to darkness. One of them shall rise, and one shall fall.
Shura and Jin are the last Shikonen – demon warriors, with immunity to demonic curses, poisons, and the dread. As the last of their kind, they pose the last stand against the scourge of demon kind and the Shin-Kami (new demon gods), for the Moto-Kami (old gods) seem to have fallen silent. While their bloodline has been disgraced, they must fight for the continuation mankind and the world and end the senseless massacres that have been occurring all over the continent. Between Shura’s cunning and Jin’s bloodlust, they must find a way to defeat the cultists and march on the Blackwood to defeat the Shin-Kami. With the help of friends, Wallace and Feng, the goodwill of a king, and sheer bloody willpower, they set off on their mission. They will face obstacle after obstacle – the fragile egos of nobles and their political greed, new demon gods and cultists, starvation and siege. Will they be able to withstand it all and save the world from an eternity of darkness?
My Take on ShadowBane
This is a stunning debut novel showcasing one of the many benefits of worldwide integration. Cal Logan is an American author who has written a fantastic Japanese-inspired fantasy novel. It is a 400+ pages of well-developed plot, cunning emotional arcs, and intense battle scenes that reflect his fascination with Japanese history and culture.
It is common in the high-fantasy genre to have long travel scenes and chapters that feel unnecessarily long. But Logan uses his scenes and words carefully, ensuring that all of them contribute to the gripping and addictive story. The story is fast paced with numerous gory battle scenes, monsters aplenty, and multiple near-death experiences for the main characters. However, Logan prevents burnout and overwhelm in his readers by also balancing all this action out with carefully placed quiet internal scenes, where the rage that usually festers within the main characters, Jin and Shura, is substituted for their sombre reminiscing and hopes for their uncertain futures.
There was a lot that I loved about this story. I became very invested in the mission of Jin and Shura, to win the war against the demons and the war of the Blackwood. I become increasingly frustrated by the political pushback they received from the egotistical kings and nobles and prejudiced villagers. I felt their fatigue and self-doubt as they travelled endlessly over the continent, sacrificing so much to purge villages of the plague of cultists and demons. I felt the sting of insults as their worth was questioned by the politicians who needed their demon-fighting skills so desperately, but still they refused to afford them the respect they deserved. I hoped for Jin and Shura’s loves stories, although I know, deep down that these are probably doomed. And I wept when friends were lost to betrayal and cruelty. Needless to say, I could barely put this down.
Rating and Content Warnings
Fantasy lovers should put September 2024 in their calendars to make sure they can get their hands on a copy of this as soon as they can. But be warned, this is the first book of a trilogy and it (maddeningly) has a cliffhanger ending.
Please note, this in an adults-only read. There is graphic depiction of violence in the form of battle, torture, execution; references to child abuse; references to sexual abuse; sex scenes; and coarse language.
About The Author Of ShadowBane
Cal Logan is a full-time personal trainer and competitive powerlifter. He started writing seriously in 2017, drawing inspiration from history, his time spent practicing mixed martial arts, and of course, books. Cal lives in Chicago with his wife, Taylor, and his dachshund, Rizzo.
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