When I first came across Play of Shadows on NetGalley, I couldn't resist requesting it. The tagline in the synopsis immediately drew me in: "Swordplay, magic, intrigue, and friendships stronger than iron: the first volume in the new swashbuckling fantasy series set in the universe of THE GREATCOATS." With an opening like that, how could I not be excited?
The premise of the story is intriguing, and I was instantly hooked.

Following Damelas Chademantaigne as he flees a judicial duel promised a thrilling adventure filled with action and compelling fantasy elements. However, despite my enthusiasm for the storyline, I struggled with the audiobook format and had to stop listening around the 25% mark.

The narrator, Joe Jameson, is not at fault; his voice and delivery are solid. However, the constant switching of voices and the overwhelming number of characters introduced early on made the listening experience challenging and ultimately detracted from my enjoyment.

I thank NetGalley and Quercus Arcadia for gifting me an Audio-ARC of Play of Shadows. While the audiobook format wasn't for me, I'm still eager to explore the story further through an e-book copy in the future. The premise remains captivating and will shine in a format better suited to my preferences.

This was a really entertaining story with well-rounded characters, although there is a caveat. I laughed out loud several times and that scene with Zena (a thoroughly delightful character) and the 'cows' had me in stitches. Unfortunately however, Zena is the best of the female characters.

Sadly this is yet another book that seems to think that strong female characters means that they need to be unpleasant as well. It is a real shame that the only way modern authors - both male and female - seem to be able to write a female character that has a strong personality is to make her vulgar, rude and thoroughly unpleasant in nature. That kind of behaviour is awful in a man. Why on earth would anybody want that in a woman? Aside from Zena, all female characters in this book are the same - horrible.

As aforesaid, the characters in this book are well rounded and well developed, but unfortunately they’re all quite unpleasant too. Rude and sarcastic, which some people - and indeed many writers - seem to think translates to wit, but actually, it just makes for characters that one does not want to read or does not care about.

This is an audiobook, and at first, I couldn’t thought I could not cope with the narrator, but it turns out that actually he has done a fantastic job in bringing the book to life and making the most of the humorous elements by his characterisation and voice acting. Well done, good job

Shame about the swearing, cursing, vulgarity and the profanity. However, unfortunately this seems to be a scourge of modern literature and a very sorry indictment on our society that all writers seem to think that this is what readers want, and that this is perfectly normal and acceptable. Some of us don't.

On a final, lighter note "Oh, do shut up you simpering swank pot" - Abastrini’s quote. I found myself wanted to shout that Damalas Shadamataine many-a-time!

Hmmm.... This is not for me, I think. I didn't like the writing style at all. Sure, it was really well written and clearly the author is a master of their craft. But I found the prose to be somewhat pretentious and it was trying hard to show us how witty and genius the author is. No offense. I'm sure he is.
For me the book was dragging and I didn't get into the story at all. Maybe I'll try some earlier books by him, because I still liked the setting and the characterwork.

I've read one of the books in the main Greatcoats series and really enjoyed it, but this one unfortunately didn't work as much for me and I don't think I'll be continuing.

It's weird, because I feel like a lot of things were very much close to the mark for me, but somehow still missed. The main character sometimes irritated me and I've felt like the book was just too long. I've listened to an audiobook and still felt like it didn't hold my attention.

The last portion was good, and I've started enjoying the book more, but overall I feel like it could have been edited down. I'm sad it wasn't for me, but I'll definitely look out to the author's other releases!

I absolutely loved this book! Sebastien De Castell is firmly cemented as one of my favourite authors!

This was such a good time!

I loved the Greatcoats series- the friendship, the camaraderie, the action and the corrupt and insidious world. This new book set in the same world has all of that and then some more. The characters are endearing, the plot is dramatic and full of twist and surprises. The climax is nailbiting and managed to keep me at the edge of my seat.

I also loved that this book focuses on a group of actors with one of the main themes being - of the role that theater can play to showcase the truth of the matter even when everyone else has tried to hide it and/or change it for their own personal gains.

Really looking forward to see how the story will progress.

The adventures (misadventures) of an extremely reluctant hero were the subject of this fascinating and enjoyable story. Instead of carrying out the pre-determined duel, he chooses to join an acting group as a player. A lot of work went into creating the world-building, and there are many funny moments in the prose. I had a great time reading this.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not going to lie - I just could not get into this book for the life of me. Even after trying multiple of times to sit down or listen to this while walking or at the gym.

I just found the book too slow to start and the voice acting just not right for this book. It might be just me but this book just wasn't right

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to listen to this book.

I really enjoyed the story and characters. I thought it was very well thought out and loved the audiobook reader.

The only reason I dropped it a star is because I feel like I didn't fully appreciate the story with the audiobook. I think I needed the physical words in front of me to really be able to get into it. Maybe if I ever reread it I'll get a physical copy and see if that pushes it up. I am also not drastically invested in the second book though I'd definitely enjoy reading more about these characters I don't have a desperate need for it.

I will be highly recommending this book still.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me a copy for an honest review.

This is my second favourite of De Castells Greatcoats books and thats a very high bar to get to. Genuinely nearly perfect.
Firstly I want to say I love being back in this world, and I love the way De Castell expands on it in this one. I love seeing the expansion of a certain sect of magic and how their powers are so intriguing.
I will say this but at this point main character wise De Castell can do no wrong. I adore Damalas as much as I love Falcio, Estevar, Ferrius, Kellen & Cade. Damalas was like this great balance of the hopelessness and awkwardness of Kellen with a touch of Falcio and Cade, and I loved following this little idiot throughout the story. I also loved his relationship with the acting troupe and especially our great new side character Beretto, who is now there with Cest, Brasti and Imperius, and I genuinely loved the bond between the two.
This book also used my fav troupe, which is actors putting on a play and a chunk of the plot hinging on it, I eat that up like theres no tomorrow. The mystery around the play and the warring factions was equally intriguing, and I loved the way characters moved sides, and played each other. De Castell's worlds are also very funny but very dark, and hes great at reminding you that theres always something cruel and evil waiting in the background and to never really get comfortable in his world.
I will also shout out that I did this as a mix of audio and physical (because I was so busy I ended up buying the book on audio and Physical also haha) and I will say that I adore Joe Jameson as a narrator and I think he is easily a fav narrator of all time for me.

So gret !
I'm a huge huge fan of Sebastien De Castell, so getting back into the Greatcoats universe is an immense pleasure !
And I think the characters are extremely well constructed, and so différent from the first serie !
In short ? I love it !
The plot is thrilling, as we follow the bardait we've been hearing about for a long time.
Between political plots, court intrigues and role-playing, I was totally carried away.

Loved being back in this world, it took me a little while to adjust to the characters since we aren't following the greatcoats this time but I really really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more.

Sword fights, misfit actors and a little bit of magic- a combination I never knew I needed. I have always loved Sebastien de Castell’s sense of humour and I was so happy to read another one of his books. Once again he manages to charm the reader with his writing style.
Whilst it is difficult to return to a world and a series that has already been finished I think he did an admirable job. I was particularly pleased that he didn’t make his hero especially powerful or privileged just because of his connection to the Greatcoats. Like my favourite Sebastien de Castell hero Kellen, Damelas has to struggle and find his own way to be a hero.
I also found the audio narration quite good, the speakers voice was suitably theatrical although the speech was a bit slow at times.

I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this return to the world of the Greatcoats. Different enough to the original Greatcoats series to feel fresh and interesting, but with enough of the elements of worldbuilding that have already been established to keep it tied into the same cheerful swashbuckling feeling of de Castell's post-interregnum world of bardic orders, this book straddled the line between farcical and hilarious, with a wide array of characters but just enough danger to keep things interesting.

I listened to the audiobook of this, and Joe Jameson does a great job of bringing the characters to life - it's nice as well to see cameos/reappearances from some old friends from the original Greatcoats series. My only complaint would be that one character who's explicitly described as being difficult to identify as foreign is voiced with quite a strong accent - which I thought was a bizarre choice to make.

Overall, though, I loved this return to the world of the Greatcoats and look forward to the next already.

This was really good. I had such a fun time with it. I absolutely love Sebastien De Castell’s writing style. He is great at writing characters. Damelas is an excellent leading character. I really got behind him and wanted him to succeed. I enjoyed all the side characters and they bounce off each other perfectly. The atmosphere and world building are excellently written. This author can really write an action scene that puts you right there with the characters. The thing I absolutely love about Sebastien De Castell’s writing is his humour and his injection of emotions. One minute you’re fearing for the characters lives and the next you are laughing your head off. I also listened to the audio and the voice actor Joe Jameson does an amazing job of bringing these characters and story to life. I cannot wait for the next instalment of this series.

Thank you to Quercus Books for this advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this audiobook!

I thought the pace of the book overall was quite slow, and the narrators tone started to slightly annoy me towards the end.

However, the action scenes were so lusciously descriptive and beautifully written, it kept my attention and made me persevere with the story.

I really enjoyed this, as it was my first time listening to an audio by Sebastien de Castell. I think maybe next time, I will stick to written format, as I didn't enjoy the narration as much as other fantasy books and series I've listened to in the past.

8 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2024/04/04/play-of-shadows-by-sebastien-de-castell-review/

<i>Where the Raven flies, death always follows.</i>

—

Now, normally I’d leave this til last, but I want to lead with how amazing it is to return to the writing of Sebastien de Castell—as told via the dulcet tones of Joe Jameson, the narrator that has read (as far as I’m aware) every single one of his books. I’m a huge fan of Jameson’ read books, and would listen to basically anything narrated by him—as should you!

And with that out of the way—well, do you need any more reason to read this? It took me a little to get into, but once I did, I was hooked. After maybe the 2 hour mark, I had no thoughts of stopping—pretty good for an 18-hour book.

For a book about an opera, this was surprisingly good. Damelas may be a bit of a showboat, but that’s not exactly a bad quality for lead. Even less for a book about acting—specifically acting drawn out of history. The main problem with Damelas is… well, some people are going to find him whiny, and/or annoying. It’s the same problem Kellen had in the Spellslinger series. Stuff just keeps ruining his life, and he has opinions about it. Now, I didn’t mind it then and I don’t mind it now, so it’s difficult to say just how bad it is. I’d say… less so than Spellslinger, but I’m just guessing.

Aside from the narrator and the narrative, what more do you want? I mean, this is a book essentially about the theatre, but it’s also the successor series to the Greatcoats, so it’s bound to earn some patience in either regard. The characters are relatively good, though I’d’ve liked (and would like to see) greater development moving forward.

Speaking of moving forward, I do wonder just how much of a thrill this particular troupe of players can muster. Day upon day, night upon night… book upon book? Honestly, I’m a bit concerned moving forward, but nothing more. As far as I’m concerned, this Sebastien de Castell has earned some faith.

Overall it was an enjoyable read, the pace was fairly slow and low on action. I'm intrested in continuing with the story but not at the top of my priorities.

I love the author's writing style but I feel like this book was lacking some action compared to his other books if his that I read.

Really well written and well narrated novel. Good characters and lots of action. Actors on the stage tell the histories but hat happens when our main character joins them and history is about to be rewritten. Enjoy.

I was given an advanced reader copy in audio book form in return for an honest review.

This book was amazing. Its full of its own unique magic, swordplay and wonderfully courageous friendship. It is full of heartwarming and heartbreaking moments Its wonderful and grand. Our tale finds us in the great and grand city of Durest A city of secrets, poltical intrigues and of a large cast of players or actors. Where acting is considered a scared art.

And in our large and varried cast we meet our principal Damelas Shademantaigne. Having fled an honour duel and hiding among The Actors of The Knights of the Curtain and being greatful for the protection it affords him. Little does he know a hidden talent, and a ghost of a villan from history are going to drag him from the chours and into a staring role.

Changing history and causing an uproar . Can he surrive his gift ? Or will he find death waiting for him in the wings ?

I loved this story from start to finish all its twists and turns. I cant wait for the next installment of this amazing tale .