Review: In the Shadow of their Dying by Michael R Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark
Blurb:
The third best assassin. A second rate mercenary crew. One terrifying demon.
As Sharaam crumbles under siege, a mercenary crew hires an assassin to kill the king. For Tash, it’s a chance at glory—to be the best blade in the dark Sharaam has ever known. For Pitt, it’s a way to get his cutthroat crew past the Tsarii siege and out of this hellhole, maybe even with some gold to their name. For Iananr the Bound One, it's a dream of shadows and human blood.
In a nutshell: brutal, filthy, indulgently-nihilistic grimdark from two of the genre’s heavyweights.
Review:
This review contains minor spoilers.
In the Shadow of Their Dying is perhaps the darkest, most hopeless thing I have ever read with my eyeballs. Not only that, but it ticks that checkbox well–not once was I bored, or overwhelmed by the story. For something contained in barely over 150 pages, this novella pulled off a lot of neat twists and turns, and it goes to show that the combined force of Michael R Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark is not a one-trick pony.
The story predominantly follows the third-best assassin in Sharaam, Tash, and his failed attempt to kill his own king while an enemy force, the Tsarii, besieges his city. We also follow his dishevelled cohort of mugs and spies, including Pitt, Wint the Shroud, and Lashiahar. The band for the most part, are a lot of fun to read, and also desperately tragic. They are hopeless fools that seem to have nary a chance to survive, but I found myself rooting for them in the small moments where I got to see one of them consider something in their future.
The most interesting thing about the book, however, is the way that the other POV character is written. Iananr is the demon summoned to protect the king that Tash fails to kill. Written in a voice that was both believable but also jarring, Iananr is one of the most vile creations I’ve read in fantasy. I found my investment in her character varying. On one hand, I respect the way she was written; her voice adds a great weight to her character, and the way her character is depicted is for the most part, incredibly well done. However, I did find myself getting lost on occasion because of the stylistic choices associated with how the story was told while she was the POV. This was rescued by the ensuing hilarity between her and another main character towards the end of the story.
There is a lot more to be said but considering this is a novella, it’s pretty astounding just how much story and worldbuilding is packed between its pages, and it’s also very easily spoiled. My final thoughts on this one are, in summary: try it out. I’m not a huge grimdark reader, but I really enjoyed this novella. It gave me glimpses into a kind of darkness I’ve rarely read in SFF (but was counterbalanced well with heaps of humour), and it fits so many character dynamics, bits of lore, and interwoven plotlines together in a very short page count.
