A Shadow in Summer

How it reads

A Shadow in Summer is fantasy (epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are power and politics, nature and class and society. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It opens a series. It ends on a cliffhanger, so have the next book ready. At 336 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.