Reviews for Shadows Fall

The average rating for Shadows Fall based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-31 00:00:00 Victor Lanzillotti Another one of my top ten, I think. And a devil to get a hold of. This is one of Simon's earlier books, and certainly a benchmark for all that has come after. I'm pretty sure that this and Blue Moon Rising are still the best work he's ever done. So. What is Shadows Fall? It is where dreams go to die, where legends live when no one believes in them anymore. It's where every toy you've ever lost ends up, where old friends can be found, old gods and monsters can be met, and every other dream and figment that no longer has a place in the minds of humanity ends up before it goes through the Forever Door and passes out of this reality entirely. There is magic and mystery and monsters and everything you've ever forgotten about. It's a really weird place. But necessary. It's the safety valve for reality, since there's only so much that humanity can believe in at any one time. And under the watchful eye of Father Time, the city - and the Forever Door - fulfill their function with a minimum of fuss. Until the murders. Until the return of James Hart. Until the time of the Wild Childe, the Warriors of the Cross and the prophecy of the end of the city. The main theme of the book is one that always gets to me - redemption. The idea that no matter how hard you may have screwed up your life, no matter how late you think it is, there's always one more chance to redeem yourself and be the person you've always known you were. Given the nature of the town - the last stop for the hopes and dreams of mankind - redemption is a key issue. Humans and non-humans alike find their chance to make good on their lives and leave the world with their heads held high. I occasionally find myself worrying that I have missed what I am supposed to do in this life, that I missed my chance back when I didn't know what it was. Given that, a book like this resonates pretty hard with me. Plus it's just a really neat idea - where do those old comic book characters and daytime TV cartoons and gods and monsters go? In their heyday they had fans, followers and believers, but when those people go away, where do the dreams go? And all credit to Simon for coming up with a wonderful, memorable answer. Also, he has a quality that I really admire in writers - he will kill off characters, no matter how cool and fun and interesting they are. And he makes a lot of cool and interesting characters, it's one of his strong suits. People die in this book. A lot of people, and not all of them die well or heroically. But their deaths serve a greater purpose, and even though you feel sorrow at their parting, you at least know that the death is.... right. The book was out of print for a long while, but it's been reissued. I highly recommend that you go get it.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-03-04 00:00:00 Tara Sutherland Simon Green is probably the best science fiction/fantasy writer going right now and he has said he believes Shadows Fall is his best work. I'm not sure I agree with that, but it is one of his best as well as a fun and engrossing fantasy novel. Shadows Fall tells the story of the city of Shadows Fall; a place where living people who were famous, but died too soon, go to live on for a while until they go through the Forever Door to their final destination. It's also where mythological or fictional characters become living beings when there is no one left who remembers them any more. The characters range from Bruin Bear (who most will recognize as Winnie the Pooh under another name) to a very famous singer who died in Paris while still in his twenties and a hero of the pulp age, Lester Gold, The Mystery Avenger. The problem is that a prophecy predicted that if a former resident named James Hart ever returned Shadow Falls would be destroyed...and James just walked into town.