The book begins twenty years after the end of a war that saw the godlike Augurs removed from power and wiped out when their powers mysteriously failed them.

It’s a novel that earned its nomination as one of Reddit’s favorite debut fantasy novels of 2014. It’s clearly modeled after Jordan and Rothfuss and Sanderson, but it’s done well enough that it’s more a celebration of those previous authors and stories than a forgery, and Islington’s world-building adds some interesting touches that could allow the sequels to expand into uncharted territory.

While the general setup is familiar as your own handwriting – a young man discovers he has mysterious powers and must go on the run so he can learn how to master those powers and help his friends defeat the mysterious and terrifying army swarming down upon them – Islington executes the story well with likeable characters, strong pacing and a touch of humor. What makes Islington’s debut so exciting in this, the first book in the Licanius Trilogy, is his storytelling ability. It’s also an unfair comparison, as Jordan spent decades honing his craft before he began The Wheel of Time, and anyone expecting Islington to match Jordan’s confident writing style in his debut novel is setting him up to fail. It’s a comparison that’s certainly complimentary, as Shadow evokes much of the same adventure, scope and coming-of-age entertainment as The Wheel of Time. If you’ve read Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, it’s almost impossible to miss the clear influence the series has had on James Islington’s debut novel, The Shadow of What Was Lost.

The shadow of what was lost series