I picked this up at my local B&N, looking for a read to satiate my never-ending desire for good fiction. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
"Plague of Shadows" does a wonderful job of establishing the identities of its characters without having to rely on overused tropes one would commonly find in swords and sorcery literature. The writing is vivid and striking, and provides me with enough details to envision what's going on. Not once did I feel overwhelmed or mired by too many details. I was never able to tell what was going to happen next, and always on the edge whenever danger showed up.
For me, the highlight of this story is the way Mister Jones weaves past and present together. When I looked at the plot description of the novel, I was momentarily confused, because at first glance, it looks like the sequel to another novel and would require purchasing that in order to fully understand the story. But I quickly discovered that I didn't need to read any sort of prequel prior novel (much to my dismay and my wallet's elation). In the most simple of terms, the backstory for Elyana and her fellow adventurers develops as their adventures in the present do, with character motivations that slowly reveal themselves through a series of "Interlude" chapters scattered throughout the narrative. They were so effective in binding past and present together that I easily enjoyed the Interludes just as much as the main meat of the novel.
10/10, would read again, create PCs based off of Mister Jones' characters, and pre-order a prequel novel the instant it shows up on Paizo's website.
