This anthology has a theme – and it’s generally a theme
it’s handled quite well. Shadowed Souls
are people who do not stand neatly in black and white morality and definitely
straddle that uncomfortable grey shadow zone (ooooh title reference).
Firstly we have Cold Case by Jim Butcher with a
story from the Dresden
Files series. And if anything this is the story that defines the
meaning of the book.
I like the exploration of Molly, now one of the younger
Winter Queens with all the power and moral ambiguity of the Winter Court. The Winter
Court has always been savage and dangerous and vicious – by design. It’s the bulwark
against terrible outsider evil, it’s a court that has been built to fight an
eternal, brutal war against monsters. The Winter Court is the very essence of
dubious morality; of using monsters to fight monsters
I also like the how we go some way to explaining the rather bizarre horniness of the Winter Court. After all, Winter =/= generally mean sexytimes (except in Canada when hockey is cancelled). The bleak idea that Winter fae are super horny because of the war – because of the need to constantly breed because the war inflicts atrocious attrition on them is horrifying, bleak and very much in line with the theme of the court and the book.
So we have Molly, a character we know is a good and
ethical and moral now with a whole lot more power and urges she has to learn to
control – and having to do some really terrible things and make some really
terrible choices for The Greater Good. Which is all the harder because Molly is
a child of one of the Knights of the Cross, a man so good he gave literal
demons multiple chances to repent. That’s a hard path to follow. We see both
the good – upholding her duty to her people – and the terrible, her having to
enforce the rules and sacrifices of the Winter court. And it is brutal. I love
it
I am less thrilled with HOW Molly’s sexualness is
portrayed here. So, yes, the Winter Court is horny, we know this – but in Molly
this is interpreted by lots and lots of flirting. Which is fine, flirtiatious
and sexually charged female characters are not a problem: but when Harry had
the Winter
Mantle he wasn’t sexually flirting – his thoughts were creepy and outright
pushing for rape. It’s a stark contrast between male and female sexuality –
especially when Molly also comes with a celibacy contract. And, yes, the story
of sacrifice and suffering inherent to the Winter Court is powerful – but the
backstory sets it in dubious light.
We do have a latino mage and several Native American
supernaturals who play a decent role in the book
Sleepover by Seanan McGuire
While the opening story defines the theme of the book, I
don’t see this book as fitting into the theme. The protagonist is a succubus
but not inherently or unduly evil nor forced to make evil choices. She is
coerced into a mission – but the mission is to rescue a child. That’s not
morally ambiguous. And while we have a definite misunderstanding about why that
child went missing, again there’s no real grey area so much as just a complete
misunderstanding on the part of the humans as to how these beings work
I do love the whole concept of the world created – so much
so that I think this book would be an absolutely awesome lead in to a new
series so we could look at the Lilim and the Bogeymen and the culture and
societies that are there that people have completely gotten wrong. If this is
an excerpt of a longer series, count me in because the introduction of the main
character and the world building definitely has me hooked
Also, lesbian protagonist who nods at LGBT cultural
milestones without being defined by them – definitely here for this.
