Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell

Reviewed by Wendy Hawkin

Sebastien de Castell resurrects his Greatcoats in this rollicking new fantasy series: Court of Shadows. If this first book, Play of Shadows, is indicative of what’s to come, we can look forward to years of intrigue, betrayal, and treachery from his quill. An astonishing literary achievement, the story is set in a fantastical setting, the duchy of Jereste, that is reminiscent of medieval Italy with its operas, dukes, princes, duels, vendettas, assassins, and theatre companies. Echoes of Gabriel Garcia Marquez resound in the sophisticated, politically-spliced writing slashed with magic realism.

To begin, we find our unlikely hero, Damelas Shademantaigne, running for his life to escape Vixen, the most feared duellist in Jereste. He stumbles through the stage doors at the grand Operato Belleza, where sacred historios are performed, and there he finds refuge. Since actors are protected by an archaic law, he joins the company and soon finds himself on stage among an eccentric and loveable cast of characters.

Destined to become a Greatcoat (a travelling judge) like his grandparents, Damelas’s antics on stage trigger an unexpected talent. He is a Veristor, a channeller, “surrendering self in favour of embodying the soul of another.” When the long dead murderer, Archduke Corbiers, takes over, Damelas’s theatrical channellings take him one hundred years into the past. There, he discovers a deceitful cover-up surrounding the lauded Prince Pierzi and his murdered wife, Angelaine. Soon, his fellow actors are channelling too and a host of dark lies begin to surface. But the Iron Orchids want that truth kept buried and send their bully-boys to destroy Jereste and assassinate the actors.

De Castell plots like the swordsman he is, striking when we least expect it, layering twist upon twist, and shifting with the greatest skill between past and present, spirit and actor, to create a literary feat of strength and cunning. His swordplay allows these actors, these Knights of the Curtain, to “outwit [their] enemies and draw them out of the shadows and into the light.”

Vancouver writer, Sebastien de Castell’s acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats, was shortlisted for both the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy, the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages.

Play of Shadows is at once poetic, political, violent, and romantic—a tour de force that brings the ritual of theatre to life and begs the question: Is history a truthful account or a pack of lies manipulated by politicians and enforced by thugs? The cover is exquisite, an intricately detailed magnet that draws us through the doors into a story that will delight, not only readers of historical fantasy, but denizens of the theatre.

Play of Shadows is published by Mobius.

W. L. Hawkin writes urban fantasy and suspenseful adventure for Blue Haven Press.