Review: Out of Shadows by Oliver Carman

Blurb:

A killer haunted by blood and death, plagued by a lifetime of bad decisions; Brennan Redhands is a failure.

When his daughter Gwenna is abducted Brennan will stop at nothing to save her, and must carve a bloody path across the brutal land he once fled.

But a magic has awoken in Gwenna that threatens the whole world, with old feuds that refuse to die, an ancient sword that has a will of its own, and an insane boy warlord hell-bent on the apocalypse; it seems all are determined to get in Brennan’s way.

Yet a secret festering in the recesses of Brennan’s mind is tearing him apart and the most terrifying enemy of all is the voice in his head - if he can’t put that down - the world will fall to darkness.

Review:

Ah, a Grimdark fantasy with violent and depraved gods being only a footnote in the chaos within. Oliver Carman has done well with his debut novel. I asked him for a review copy, and upon receiving it, I delved head first into “Out of Shadows”.

With corrupting magic, undead, and betrayal, this was one of the more entertaining and interesting books I’ve read this year. 

If I had to sell this book to you in less than a minute, I’d tell you this:

“Brennan is a retired soldier, hoping to raise his daughter in a town far away from the politics of rulers. His hopes are dashed though.”

But once again, that doesn’t fully capture what “Out of Shadows” is. All it gives you is a small personal conflict our main character, Brennan, is facing in this novel. There is so much more than that. Old acquaintances, old rivals, and old nightmares appear to haunt Brennan. Every other page of this book is something new, something that takes the previous story and changes it further.

First of all, we have Brennan Redhands, a retired mercenary/soldier who has claimed many lives, and Gwenna, his daughter, who is able to call forth a magical song (this isn’t just her, it’s part of the magic system, I’ll get to that soon).

Brennan Redhands is that guy who shoots first, and then asks questions later. More often than not, he doesn’t have that much of a plan, aside from walking into whatever trouble he has and slashing about with his blade. Doesn’t work that well for him though, with him being older and rustier than in his prime. Luckily for him, there are a few unnamed, for now, keeping up with the blurbless characters being nameless, people in the book who help him from time to time. Unfortunately for him, those same people or others have an equal interest in stabbing him in the back. Throughout the book, he opens up a bit and starts confronting his childhood trauma that helped shape who he was as a teenager. He still wants to stay away from all the politics though, despite the attempts to get him to take part.

Gwenna, she’s a sulky teenager who gets dragged to an ambush site by her father, so that he didn’t have to worry about her being alone while he went after the raiders. That plan worked well until she got kidnapped by a Blueskin and dragged towards an unknown destiny. Besides that, she’s not the main focal point of the book, and all we learn, more or less, is that she is not who she sees to be.

Adding to that previous point, we have the plot of “Out of Shadows”. It is quite aptly named. Brennan, a retired veteran of the blade, is dragged out of his retirement unwillingly. Then, through a series of coincidences, betrayals, and some loyal friends, he finally makes it to a point where he can bury the war hatchet, and retire off in the woods, until he learns about something and from that point after, he ends up focusing on that. Overall, despite seeming like a very simple plot line, it is not that simple. Several times over, I wished I had popcorn on hand to read the next few pages of suspense, with most of the outcomes being surprising. 

Now, to world building. Carman has created a world unique in and of itself. There is tangible lore, giving us some information and leaving some out for later novels and novellas. This book focuses more on the Old Gods and the One God, the new one. And with that a conflict of old against young, father against son. Will I be elaborating what I just said? No. Besides that, there are two continents we get to know, one of which being the one Brennan is traversing, and the other, the old continent, being the realm of the Blueskins. The Lynn being the land of humans, and the Rattling Isles the land of monsters, or so it seems. Despite there not being a map, the locations we are given are there, ready to be experienced in the mind. 

After that, diving into the magic system. If anyone who can use magic does so, they might cause a blackening, a sign that magic had been used. Being near such a space brings unease, and those who go near claim to hear unnatural voices, shapes of monsters and the like appearing on the surface of those spaces. All a sign pointing to the Darkplaces, a realm of demons and other monsters. Too much magic summons such things forth and those things either kill the magician and everyone around and stay in the realm of humans, or they drag the magician back to their realm. How do magicians pull off their magic? Humming and singing. In a language with no name. That is connected to the One God, the new (or not so new) deity in play. Is he evil or is he wanting to bring about peace and order? Only time, and the book's climatic ending, will tell.

Adding to this, there’s a magic blade that pulls to the blackenings, darkplaces and the creatures within to destroy them. I won’t say much more than that, but it was an interesting artefact that somewhat balances the playing field for the humans, issue is though that only a specific bloodline can wield it, and that bloodline is scarce, more specifically, one in a however many live within this world. Interesting gimmick, and despite the ending, I hope to see this blade again.

If I had to say something about what I didn’t like about this book, I’d have to say that some of the plot lines happened far too quickly to be that enjoyable. If we got a few more pages exploring the PoV of another character, explaining how that chess piece ended up in that area, that would’ve been a welcome helping hand in following along the more rapid paced parts. Like, for instance, Brennan and the burning of yet another village - some people make it out despite it being seemingly impossible to do so - it would’ve been nice to see a quick excerpt seeing how they escaped. That’s just my gripe though. Others might have similar or different gripes, it’s all in how we observe the pages and events.

Overall, if you want a grimdark fantasy with some viking tendencies, and a ton of action, I’d hand this to you with a sign saying “too busy reading about a man in his 40s surviving multiple fights, come back later” and a lot of popcorn and coffee. 

As always, if you’ve gotten this far, thank you for reading this review, and I hope I’ve helped nudge you towards your next read or another book to add to a TBR list. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, don’t fret, we here at SFF Insiders have a consistent schedule for reviews, interviews, and cover reveals, with each review being about either the same book with different perspectives or books with wholly different plots and worlds.

Wherever you are reading this review, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!