A Dream of Shadows
Peter Eliott
Dark Dystopian Fantasy
Vazeer the Lash has spent his entire adulthood on the verge of peril while operating as a criminal in the violent metropolis of Hell’s Labyrinth. Vazeer, intelligent and poised, longs to leave the life of smuggling that betrays his cultured personality.
His chance comes when he is commissioned to overthrow The Raving Blade, one of the most notorious and cruel power brokers in Hell’s Labyrinth. Vazeer joins a rogue’s gallery of accomplished Shadow Bidders, each a master of distinct and nefarious skills. Among them are an ex-pirate, whose enormous size and skill with weapons make him a veritable one-man army, a brilliant actress who finds herself playing a key role in a criminal world where she doesn’t belong, and a calm, mysterious assassin who draws events ever forward towards a series of increasingly dire consequences.
Vazeer has 48 hours of mortal danger and sadistic enemies standing between him and freedom… but good and evil are not as straightforward as they seem.
Uncaged Review: In this dystopian world, the metropolis known as Hell’s Labyrinth is run by Underworld bosses. Shadow Bidders are the criminals that take on bids for a living. Each Shadow Bidder has their own distinct skills, ranging from actress to lockpicker to assassins. Vazeer the Lash is a master smuggler, a type of pirate in this desolate city. Deciding to take on one last “sketch” (job) that pays overly well should set him up to retire. Unfortunately, it’s the most dangerous he’s ever embarked on. Along with five other Shadow Bidders, they plan to take out The Raving Blade, the cruelest power broker in the city.
This book was a very slow start, although if you make it to the 50% mark, the book takes off. There are so many twists and turns in this book, one minute you will be believing one thing, and the next that idea is stripped from your mind. This book is written well, I just wish it would have taken off a bit faster. This is an intensely dark book, and once it gets moving, you won’t put it down for long. Reviewed by Cyrene
4 Stars
