The Shadow of What Was Lost: The Licanius Trilogy, Book 1

The Shadow of What Was Lost was easily one of the most impressive debuts in recent years; complex yet well-plotted with incredible worldbuilding and great characters - it marked the beginning of a very promising epic fantasy trilogy.I first read The Shadow of What Was Lost over 4 years ago when it was still self-published. It came to my attention for two reasons - Michael Kramer narrated the audiobook and more importantly, Brandon Sanderson recommended it. Blurbs were touting how this book will appeal to fans of Robert Jordan and Sanderson. I know that such claims usually needed to be taken with a grain of salt, but I can say that in this instance it was spot on. While I have read and as a whole liked The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, I have to readily admit how much I was aggravated by its bloat and numerous narrative issues. Let's just say that I've even skipped a few books to get to the end, i.e. the last three which Sanderson finished. Even from this very first book of the trilogy, The Shadow of What Was Lost felt like what The Wheel of Time could've been minus all those problems.The influences and inspiration from Jordan and Sanderson were very apparent from this novel, particularly in the worldbuilding and plotting aspects. However, this is not to say that Licanius felt derivative; it is not, at all. In fact, I would even say that it was incredibly well done. Islington clearly knows how to create a world that truly fascinated with its history and lore, and its dual magic system. Even better, he really knows how to handle the exposition well to avoid the dreaded info dump and keep the readers engaged. You'll have a lot of questions right from the start, and as a reader, you'll gradually learn as the main characters did as each of them was very soon thrown into dire situations and circumstances. The best part was that the intrigue never stops; as earlier questions were answered, more questions will arise. The complex yet tight plotting was skillfully weaved with mysteries and revelations that just never stopped coming. This made the book into an immensely compulsive read, even though it did not have a lot of action scenes. I blasted through this in two days; reread notwithstanding it is still a pretty big book.I did not know why I initially found the characters being a bit flat, and I wish to take back that statement. I enjoyed my reread more, and it was mainly because of my emotional investment in the characters. The main characters, Davian, Asha and Wirr, are young adults, and thank goodness, they are refreshingly sensible ones. Maybe after having read so much more in the last few years, I've grown to appreciate character work which doesn't aggravate me with silly dramas and plot devices. A lot of the information about the world's history and magic system came about through the characters' perspectives and experiences, which contributed to their development and growth, hence making each character arc distinct, realistic and relatable. Prior to this reread, my favourite character was Caeden primarily because his story was the most intriguing by far, and Taeris whom I found to be a misunderstood and sympathetic character. This time though, I liked each and every one of them, albeit Caeden still retained the top spot for having the most interesting story.Islington writes in a simple and direct manner, and the earlier part of the novel did feel like a debut with occasional clunky sentences and repetitions. Somewhere around the mid-portion of the book though, the writing started to be noticeably more polished. I hope that this improvement will continue throughout the series, because Islington has a whole lot of story to tell. The ending of The Shadow of What Was Lost was a resounding promise to an even more epic tale to come, and I can't wait to jump in to the sequel immediately.I would classify this novel as a classic epic fantasy told in a modern voice. As I grew up reading classic fantasy more than three decades ago, this has always been my favourite subgenre. It always feel like coming home to me when I pick up a fantasy book that harkened back to my earlier reading years, and it reminds me of why I fell in love with this genre in the first place. The Shadow of What Was Lost is one of the best debuts I've read that satisfies my yearning for classic epic fantasy stories.

I am a big epic fantasy fan and while strolling through the bookstore recently a book caught my eye with a bold claim on the cover stating something like, love the wheel of time, meet your new favorite series. I thought to myself that is not something I would probably want on the front of my new book....even though I would die being compared to the great Robert Jordan....do to the added pressure that would place on the book. Well, it did what it was supposed to and it piqued my interest enough that I had to take it home and investigate these claims. I started off with what appeared to be the standard fantasy tropes, which isn't a bad thing to me, but before long started slowly unraveling a mystery that left enough hidden to keep you reading. It was a little slow at the beginning, but as we started to learn more of what was happening and as the story started moving along it definitely started to pick up pace until it crescendoed with a satisfying battle and many more questions answered, which ultimately led to that many more questions. I am currently reading the second book which seems to be better than the first so I am very excited to finish this trilogy.

First I'll preface by saying I loved Licanius(hence my 5 stars), but I recognize that it's really not the series for everyone. It does some things very well, and others not so well, and in both cases those things matter more to some people than others. As a result I feel the most helpful review is one that touches on what some people may like or not like about the trilogy rather than give a glowling commendation or scathing review as I feel the answer is subjective.Things some people may like-Very elaborate but well encapsulated and realized plot- it's clear the author knew exactly the story they wanted to tell from the start. A big part of licanius is gradually uncovering more about what's actually going on and recontextualizing pasts events of the story that you simply didn't have the perspective to understand what was actually happening at the time they happened. And everything finally clicking into place in book 3 makes for a very satisfying finish.-The magic system is very hard and the setting well fleshed out, as a result often it's reasonable to figure things out before "the big reveal" by understanding the bits revealed previously- a good series for people who get invested in figuring our the mysteries and who like making predictions. There are a number of big major plottwist-series philosophy heavy, as particularly the idea of predestination vs free will is central to the storyThings that turn off some people:- The biggest weakness of the series is unfortunately the characters- most of the main cast are boyscout fantasy protagonists. The character who is the central focus of the series does get interesting, but even for them most of the payoff doesn't come until book 3. tbh overall this series will probably appeal more to people who are ok with a series that is carried more by it's setting than it's characters.-Prose is clear but utilitarian. Also expect lots of "Companionable silences" whenever multiple protagonists are in the same location- mirroring the first point from my 'things people may like' list, the plot, while the plot is well realized, it is complicated, and some find it convoluted. It is also going to hit you with a whole vocabulary of made up words, often having characters use said words before what they mean has actually been explained to the reader. The cast of characters is also fairly large-Flipside to the hard magic/developed setting is that the series spends a lot of time explaining things. Also some people find it boring to be given the tools to figure out plot twists before they happen.-The series is-the payoff is heavily weighted toward the backend. The first book standing on it's own feels like fairly tropey generic fantasy- in large part because you don't yet have the context to understand what's actually going on. This combined with the slower pacing due to all the descriptions make the first half a slog for some people-series philosophy heavy, as particularly the idea of predestination vs free will is central to the story. May especially be a turnoff to people who have strong feelings about calvinismSo yeah, you'll notice a long as the things some people may like are directly tied in with if not a copy and paste of something that will drive other people nuts. So While personally I love Licanius trilogy, I don't think it's for everyone.

Gostei bastande desse livro. Se você está atrás de uma aventura fantastica com personagens interessantes, e uma trama que não fica tediosa ou parada, esse livro é pra você. Islington conseguiu criar um novo mundo com bastante profundidade, “lore” e um sistema mágico bastante inteligente e intrigante. Gostei bastante do desenvolvimento dos personagens, e embora o autor mostre algumas marcas de ser iniciante, a narrativa não é prejudicada por elas. Estou ansioso pra continuar a ler essa saga!!

É realmente um bom livro. Não traz nada de novo, mas executa muito bem o que pretende trazer.

Para quem gosta de fantasia este livro é perfeito. Sabe aquela história que te prende, você não consegue parar e ler, pois cada capítulo acontece alguma coisa... a história vai se desenrolando e você vai ficando cada vez mais próxima e envolvida com as personagens. Realmente é muito bom!!!

This was a great political drama. Islington achieved a higher level of worldbuilding, with powerful characters (work in progress, tho), great plot and a complex and interesting magic system. I'm looking forward for the next book!

'Don't judge a book by its cover' is a bit of a cliche, but what about 'don't judge a book by its title'? I actually think the title is a good starting point for evaluating a book, and I was intrigued by this. 'The Shadow of What Was Lost' hinted at the best of epic fantasy, it promised a deep background story and a fascinating mystery. (The cover art isn't bad either).Perhaps I was reading a bit too much into the title. The story does have some of those things, but it has its flaws as well. I got a hint of that early on, in the first few pages, where the description of the setting was detailed but to me also confusing: I had no clear idea of where this was taking place, or what the layout was.To be fair to the author, there was a lot of good stuff here. He has a wonderful creative imagination, which shows in the vivid and detailed worldbuilding, and especially in the well thought out system of 'magic'. He brings the same talents to the plot, but here they don't work so well. It is very complex, with multiple protagonists and new ones being added in all the way through. I've nothing against complex or even convoluted plotting, but there is a very fine line between complex and confusing. It is a difficult line for the author to see, I know, especially as its exact position varies according to the reader, but for me Islington strayed rather too far over it and left me wondering what was going on and who was doing it. Several times.Another problem I had was with the characters. There are a lot of them: they are well drawn but to me lacked depth. I didn't find myself caring much about them - and in a book this long and complex, that's a bit of an issue. So is pace, and it needed to show a bit more variation and to speed up more at the climax to get me through it.In style, it reminded me most of Robert Jordan. For fans of 'The Wheel of Time' that would probably be a big plus, but I'm not one of those. I gave up on Jordan's epic after two or three volumes and have never felt tempted to return. Overlong and a bit baggy was my impression, and that also applies here.Overall, it wasn't a bad read, but it isn't page-turner, and several times I put it aside after a chapter or two. For many people it probably hits all the right buttons, and I expect will get a lot of five star reviews, but it didn't really do it for me. I liked it - three stars - but no more.Will I read the rest of the trilogy? Probably not. It's just a little too much hard work for too little reward.Though the titles are quite intriguing...