I re-read The Ember Blade before The Shadow Casket because I had forgotten nearly all of the plot and I had also forgotten that it felt a little bogged down in places. The Shadow Casket is a similar length but, thankfully, it does not suffer from the same issues that were present in the first book.

It moves at a lot quicker pace and it doesn’t really stop moving until the end. A lot happens in the 800 or so pages and it’s a little head spinning at times. This has its good and bad points. The good is that it never gets boring and it actually feels like it is going somewhere but the bad point is that it occasionally feels like some of the characters get lost in the pace in which it is moving. Wooding does thin the herd a great deal, so to speak, over the course of the novel but he adds more characters.

I did enjoy the characters and they all get their arcs to complete in the novel. I enjoyed Aren, Cade and Fen’s stories. Klyssen also gets a healthy dose of character development, although it doesn’t really help to make him more likeable. You can understand his actions better but he’s still a horrible man.

I’m also very unsure of the shadow casket maguffin. Maybe I zoned out when it was explained why it is so important or maybe I’ve just forgotten but it doesn’t really come into play in this book. Maybe that’s for a later plot point but it was introduced and then just hidden away and forgotten due to the big battle at the end. I’m just a little confused right now.

All in all, The Shadow Casket was a massive improvement on The Ember Blade, which I enjoyed but felt it was a little too long. The Shadow Casket is a similar length but doesn’t feel too long due to the huge amount of ground it covers. Things end on a shakily hopeful note so I hope to see things start to get a little better for the Ossians by the end of the story as a whole.

“Heroes don’t have to fight. They don’t even have to be the best at anything. So what do they do? They keep going.”

Three years have passed since the events in The Ember Blade. Aren and the rest of the Dawnwardens hoped for a spark that ignited a flame of revolution, but the fire never caught. Instead, the rebels have left southern Ossia and journeyed north into the highlands, home of the Fell people, to strike an alliance. But treachery lurks around every corner. New dreadknights threaten the land. And a hidden, powerful artifact, the Shadow Casket, could shift the balance of power if claimed. Aren, Fen, Grub, Mara, and a host of new characters must band together to uncover a horrifying act of oppression if they want a chance at uniting the Fell clans and turning the tables on the Krodan imperialists.

“Feelings may be the enemy of intellect, but they are also its engine, and it’s a fool that wishes them away.”

Much like in The Ember Blade, one of The Shadow Casket’s strongest aspects is its characters. Wooding has developed this cast remarkably well, giving ample time to each POV, ensuring consequences that hit hard. Each character has different motivations and fallacies, and their flaws and decisions create wonderful and unpredictable chaos. One of the biggest surprises is how much I enjoyed reading one of the most hated characters from the last book, Overwatchman Klyssen; he’s a character you love to despise, but come to understand. Klyssen’s story reminded me of Abercrombie’s Sand dan Glokta: evil, but relatable.

Another aspect of the story that had me up late reading each night was how many surprise bombshells there were. There were some excellent twists, and devastating losses. None of it would have worked so well if I hadn’t been attached to so many of these wonderful characters. Though this is a long book, over 800 pages, at no point did I feel there was filler – every chapter propelled the story forward, further developed the cast, and built itself up for the next explosive set piece.

The Ember Blade can be separated into three acts: the camp, the road journey, and the heist finale. The Shadow Casket can also be divided into a similar structure. I won’t spoil what they are, but it gave the book a naturally progressive feel. The action is paced beautifully; Wooding has created some breathtaking environments to play in. During one sequence, it felt like we were treading into horror territory, and I have a sense that we’ll lean more into that theme in the next chapter of the Darkwater Legacy.

“The cogs of history were greased with the blood of sacrifices; it dripped from their teeth. Without it, they didn’t move.”

When I first reviewed The Ember Blade, I said it was everything I could possibly want in an epic fantasy novel. The Shadow Casket continues this tradition. It is full of action, heart, humor, and an expansive cast of endearing characters that I didn’t want to leave behind. One of my favorite reads of the year.

I think a re-read would be beneficial here as I'd forgotten most since the last novel. I was thrust right back into the loving lands with Aren but for some reason felt distainted and distant. The characters that I remember were still there, the areas so familiar but the story itself was flat and uninspired.

Absolutely awesome sequel. I highly recommend reading The Ember Blade as it was a fantastic book that was full of adventure. I was so excited to see the sequel. This sequel did not disappoint at all and I would highly recommend it. I cannot wait for the final book of the trilogy. Highly recommended fantasy series.