“Shadows and Fire”
Author: Jennifer Fales
Having just finished reading “Shadows and Fire” by new author Jennifer Fales let me start off by saying it was an interesting read. Fales has a great writing style and the book’s characters and their dialogue are very believable which is extremely important since “Shadows and Fire” is definitely set in a Science Fiction / Fantasy world.
The premise of “Shadows and Fire” is this: more than a millennia has passed and mankind is no longer content to play “God” with our simple, common, household animals. Scientists and breeders have given up splicing animal genes together in an attempt to create that “better” housecat; that “cuter” puppy or that “faster” racehorse. Instead they have moved on to “bigger and better” or should I say “badder” even though that’s grammatically incorrect?
As evidenced in every century, wars have relentlessly raged and in an attempt to dominate those major and minor skirmishes mankind has created a hybrid species of man and beast. Using human and animal DNA the government attempted to create a better soldier; a perfect soldier. What they wound up getting wasn’t what they wanted, or expected, and as I read “Shadows and Fire” part of me idly wondered if the results would have been different had they had used human volunteers versus experimenting on those who were incarcerated but…I digress.
“Shadows and Fire” revolves around a tortured soul who has fought too long and lost too much and for what? These failed experiments were castoffs and branded “evil” by a church that Father Augustin later discovered would do anything, right or wrong, to get its way. “Shadows and Fire” also follows a set of twins, a brother and sister, who were born into this world as unwitting pawns of these failed attempts.
I’m not going to provide you with any more of this story; suffice it to say that “Shadows and Fire” is a fun read. My only complaint is that the book is a very short 108 pages. For someone who reads as fast as I do that only equals thirty minutes to get lost in a good book which honestly isn’t enough time!