Julie E. Czerneda

ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

200 years ago, six sleeper ships were sent to colonize distant planets. Now one of their message probes reached the New Earth.

A lot has changed since then. Earth has found alien allies that allow them to use portal technology to gather resources from all around the galaxy. There is only one rule. All humans have to return, no colonizing.

Now that there is proof of human colonies in space, the aliens want them all moved back to Earth or there will be consequences. The arbiter of humanity takes the task upon himself to get everyone "home" and out of this mysterious danger. He will have to overcome cultural divisions that accumulated over generations of separation. But more importantly, he will need to cooperate with the aliens that remain a mystery after 37 years of coexistence.

I really enjoyed the story and how we slowly uncover the mysteries. I enjoyed how it all came together. Maybe the ending could have been less rushed, but I found it very satisfying.

The aliens were properly alien. There was so much to learn about them. I loved how hard the communication between them and humans was. They weren't some super intelligence that right away understood us and could communicate perfectly in our language. There were blunders and miscommunication on both sides.

We have six worlds and six different scenarios. Weird planets, weird cultures. Humans that were shaped in very specific ways by their environment. And even the humans of Earth were already changed by new technologies and certain events. Here I might talk about one negative of this book. The language is a bit hard to read at times. The 'd shortenings were used everywhere. In the case of the colony person's POV, it's obviously on purpose, but maybe it's on purpose for the whole book to suggest humans in the future also talk differently from us?

We have three POVs altogether. One is a character from one of the colonies, Beth. She appears right in the prologue and shows how different life can be in a different environment. Then we have the Arbiter, Henry. I really liked his characterization. He is this likable guy that carries a lot of power on his shoulders. He needs to make some hard decisions and despite seeming always strong to the observers; we see how he is cracking under that pressure. Lastly, we have the pilot, Killian. She is very determined and quite rebellious. I enjoyed her relationship with Henry and I am glad that for once, male and female alone in space can just stay friends.

Another character that should be mentioned is Flip, a synthetic construct. He is often used as a comedic relief but also brings a lot to the conversation about what it means to be a human.

Some parts were a bit slow, but I am not sure if they could have been cut. I think it added some tension seeing characters do some repetitive stuff or having to wait before they can continue with the mission since we know there is a time limit. There is a lot to learn and understand about the new technologies and the aliens. At the beginning it left me a bit confused, but everything gets explained with time.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. I rate it 4,5 but feel that it deserves to be rounded up to 5. It is definitely an impactful book that I won't forget and I will certainly read more from the author. … (mere)

I'm not entirely sure where to go with this book. I picked this up a long time ago (back when I was into Bookcrossing), traded it away and then re-picked it up at my local Indie. Admittedly its the cover that made me interested and I'm a sucker for amnesia trope stories in science fiction.

Largely I liked the cast and I liked Sira and Morgan, but it was not an enthralling read for me. Plus the "Interludes" tended to break things up, distracting me from Sira's current plight (most of the time, occasionally it was Morgan who was the focus of the Interlude, but mainly it was Barac who I had little interest in to be truthful). Sira also, while not unlikable, wasn't the kind of female I liked to read about in scifi books (there was nothing...deadly about her. She wasn't very snarky. She spent much of her time sullen or confused). She's kind of watery, a bit bland and sometimes refreshing.

Morgan...rather seemed like a lot of rogue-ish Captains (I'd venture to say he reminded me of Malcolm Reynolds, but Morgan came before Malcolm).

Overall I'm glad enough to have read this, but I wish it was as engaging as her later reads.

… (mere)

What a delightful find! Truth be told, I found it in the library clearance bin for next to nothing and grabbed it on a whim. Now I'm tempted to go tell them to put it back on the shelf!

I hadn't heard of this authour previously, but this first book of a trilogy has hooked me for at least two more.

Wonderful world building, alien races who are aliens not the girl next door, and an action filled plot that kept me up late reading just a bit more.

It really doesn't end, of course - it seems I'm a dinosaur preferring books that are self contained - but that's almost the only nit I have. Recommend!… (mere)

A Play of Shadow by Julie E. Czerneda is a fantastical novel packed full of action.

I will admit that this book was hard for me to get through. My best bet is because I haven't read the first novel in this series, so I just didn't know half of what had occurred before this novel. That doesn't mean this book isn't good though! It was just very hard for me to push myself to read it. It almost felt like a chore because I couldn't comprehend some of the past experiences of the characters. I did look up some information on the last book, but it didn't help me. That being said, I don't recommend jumping into this series without starting from the beginning.

This book did feel fantastical though! Julie is a truly mesmerizing author and I love her talent. I felt like I was reading a Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones styled tale. It's full of fantasy, action and lore that was truly interesting.

I did like Jenn and Bannan together. They felt like a real couple and the were truly lovable. I found their development to be my favourite part of the story. I fell in love with them instantly despite not knowing what happened to them in the previous book. Shout out to Julie for doing so well with them!

The magic in this book was also fun to experience. It didn't feel like the typical dramatic magic I've seen in romance novels (which is where I commonly see magic), so I enjoyed Julie's spin on it.

Overall, not reading the first book really screwed me over with this book. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I read it in order the way it was intended. I think big fantasy lovers will enjoy this book way more than I do. I like to dabble in fantasy, but it's not really my scene. Those who love fantasy will devour this book so quickly and will truly love it. I'm just not made for this type of novel! So I do truly think this book is amazing, but in my opinion it doesn't do it for me as a reader.

Two out of five stars - since it was really hard to get into and really hard for me to get invested in.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.… (mere)