Shadows Fall

by Simon R. Green

Book Overview

Considered by the author to be his finest work yet, this is a novel of realistic detail, heartfelt emotion, and dazzling imagination that builds a world readers won't want to leave and spins a tale... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932100458
• ISBN13: 9781932100457
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Benbella Books
• Length: 506 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Welcome to Shadows Fall

Shadows Fall is a place where legends go to die. Not the big legends - people still believe in them. But the pulp fiction characters, not-so-popular comic book characters, and musicians who didn't quite make it big. Shadows Fall is a town outside the boundaries and laws of the mortal world, a place that's easy to find if you're looking for it and it stretches the limits of the imagination. That is the gift that Simon R. Green presents in this stand-alone novel; a town and a book that defy labels and genres. The town of Shadows Fall is ancient, and Old Father Time presides over its working. But something is going wrong in this normally peaceful town - people are being murdered in grisly ways and the man whose fate is tied to the town by an prophecy has just strolled back into Shadows Fall after 25 years away. There's danger in the air, an invasion brewing and it's all tied to the Forever Door, a mysterious portal leading beyond this world and into...somewhere else. For those fans of the Nightside series, this is an in-depth look at the town mentioned now and again by John Taylor and his collegues. For those new to the world of Simon R. Green, 'Shadows Fall' is a remarkable introduction to his work. Green himself considers this one of the best books he's ever written, and it's not hard to understand why. At times the narrative is a bit rambling and there are a lot of things happening at once, but overall the novel is so bright with creativity and magic that these minor flaws are easily overlooked in favor of the world Green has so masterfully created.

An Wondrous Epic Fantasy Where Dreams Never Die

There is a place where forgotten dreams live on and that place is Shadows Fall.Simon R. Green takes the reader on a wondrous journey of magic, fantasy and the fine line that divides reality and dreams. The story concerns a young man by the name of James Hart who returns to Shadows Fall where he once lived as a young boy seeking answers to unravel the mystery of his life. After his arival in the town he meets a legendary rock star by the name of Sean Morrison and a dead man walking named Leonard Ash.However something is very amiss in the town as people are slowly being murdered one by one. This would have to be one of my all time favourite books and it is the one I choose to take with me when I am on vacation. The book is a wondrous journey through a mythical town and the book works like the magic depicted in it. I could not put this book down and was lucky enough to be able to read it in one sitting.

Murder In the Shadows

Shadows Fall is the first novel in a loosely connected set of urban fantasies. The town of Shadows Fall is "where dreams go to die. A place where nightmares end, and hope itself can rest ... You can find all sorts of things in Shadows Fall. There are doors that take you to anywhere ... Mostly, though, it's a town where people go to die. People, and other things."In this novel, it is Carnival once again in Shadows Fall. Leonard Ash stands alone watching the people come and go. He has been dead, a revenant, for three years now, but he is still not quite ready to go through the Forever Door. He hasn't talked to the Mayor, Rhea Frazier, since his death and he takes the time to do so now, discussing various people, including Lucas DeFrenz, who was killed in a freak traffic accident and then came back possessed by the angel Michael, God's Assassin. As they are talking, Suzanne Dubois interrupts them with a message from Richard Erikson, the Sheriff, to come quickly. They find Lucas DeFrenz lying dead in Suzanne's shack. Someone has killed God's Assassin.A few weeks later, James Hart returns to Shadows Fall after his mother and father have died in a car crash. He has been gone for twenty-five years and doesn't recognize anything. He watches the daily dogfight between World War I biplanes (the English pilot crashes and burns this time), walks down a Parisian street and then one out of the European Dark Ages, and finally sits down on a wooden bench in a park. There he meets Leonard Ash, tells him his story, and receives some answers to his many questions. When they go to a bar, the sheriff joins them and remembers Hart's parents, telling him that his parents were linked to some sort of prophecy concerning the destruction of the Forever Door and they had packed up and left shortly thereafter.The sheriff recommends that Hart ask Old Father Time about the prophecy and his parents, but has to leave to quell a disturbance between overweight pixies and biker grizzly bears. Ash volunteers to accompany Hart to see Old Father Time and they cross the park to the Sarcophagus, converse with their dopplegangers just leaving the slab of stone, and then enter through a snowdome into a blizzard and hurry through the open door to get out of the swirling snow. Before reaching Time, they have to traverse through the Gallery of Bone, an unsettling experience in itself, and then pass Madelaine Kresh, Time's assistant. Time is currently a gaunt man in his late fifties or early sixties, dressed in Victorian finery. Old Father Time doesn't really explain the prophecy, but states that, since his return, Hart is at the heart of the matter. Hart also gets to meet Jack Fetch, a scarecrow with a carved turnip head, who has incredible strength and is fascinated by Hart, finally bowing to him.Doctor Mirren performs autopsies on all seven victims -- to date -- and finds nothing helpful. When he tries to raise the spirit of the last victim, he receives more than he exp

I always thought this place existed....

Very, very few books can make me get that "choked up" feeling at all, but this one managed to do it within the first chapter. That in and of itself is an accomplishment. Simon Green paints Shadows Fall as a wonderful way station between here and the hereafter, a place where anything is possible. He makes it a wonderful place where we would all like to visit... and then tears it apart. There are lots of intricate plots weaving around each other, and he doesn't pull any punches with the story, either - good characters don't make it all the way through the book. But it's okay, because it's done well. This is easily one of my favorites that Simon has done, and I wish I could read more about this strange and wonderful town....

A marvelous mix of satire and fantasy, this is a must read!

Simon Green paints a glorious image of a town in which forgotten people go to die. Bringing back memories of such memorable characters as Bruin the Bear, the book entices the reader to engage in one's own day dreaming about the past. Not stopping there, he goes on to tell a tale of how such memories are corrupted, and brings together a tale of action and adventure with a most gratifying climax. A must read!