Blacksent: Book of the Umbra by Michael A. LaFlamme and Michael D. Poe is the first book published by these two authors. I have long been an advocate of giving new authors a chance, as breaking into the business is industry is difficult at best and excruciating at worst. I firmly believe that there are many, many good books out there that people will never hear about strictly because of being published by smaller publishing houses or self publishing. So, I urge everyone to give these new authors a chance you never know what you will find until you open the book. Here are my thoughts on this novel.

The plot of this novel focuses on an assassin seeking to leave his heritage behind through acts of heroism and valor. His heritage always tries to draw him into darker-side of things making for a tug of war type of dilemma. Ncon has one last kill to make, but it will be the most challenging one he has ever attempted. There are also a couple sub plots mixed in as well such as how several of the characters come into the group, and the trials they faced. The story is told through a series of tales from the past with present adventures mixed it. I am not certain this was the best way to tell this tale and it may for confusing transitions at times, I would have liked a more finite separation between past and present adventures and such. The actual plot of the novel is decent but the implementation of it left me wanting something a little more substantial. It read like an adventure book at times, a few of the plot points felt like they were just going through the motions instead of creating something fresh and interesting. When I finished the book I was strangely unsatisfied.

The characters is this novel are hit or miss for me. Some characters I liked, Ncon and Figment (maybe one of the best names I have ever seen in a novel) are highlights for me. I enjoyed the concept of both of these guys but, to me, the execution of them left a little be desired. I was simply not able to connect with them to the level I was hoping. Other characters such as Cona, Zandor, Dallon, and Haelan were rather disappointing to me. It almost felt as though they were present in the story just to further the story and did not offer much in the way of originality to the story. It was the feeling of been there done that and most of their storyline points were rather predictable. Also, it seems as though the majority of character progression is done via dialogue which doesn’t lend itself well to really deep and detailed development. The development that is here comes across as superficial. I wish the authors would have spent a little more time focusing on really developing the characters because I think they all have potential, but in this book it largely went unrealized.

A couple criticisms about this novel:

1 – The dialogue really hindered my enjoyment of the novel. What I mean is that during the dialogue characters say things that have no business being in a fantasy novel. Two things come immediately to mind, such as “the wheels of the celestial bus go round and round’ and ‘magik eight ball’. Those terms reek of the modern language and have no business being in a fantasy novel vernacular. It really took me out of the book and ruined the flow for me.

2 – The lack of real depth in the characters. It seems that the only way readers are able to really learn about the characters is through conversations and dialogue. I never felt as though I was able to get to know the characters, even though I really wanted to. There were numerous times I wanted more explanation of what happened, why a decision was made, etc.

3 – Thin descriptions of scenes and settings. There are several times in this book that I wanted/ needed a little more information of what the scene/setting looked like. It didn’t seem to me that there were enough details to give me a good mental picture of what everything looked like.

Some things I liked about this novel:

1 – Ncon and Figment make for two good characters. I liked what I read about them. I think there is definite potential there for great characters, but like I said about I never felt really connected to them.

2 – The overall plot line is also solid and enjoyable. It is obvious that the authors put a considerable amount of time and effort into fleshing it out and allowing it to take shape. It never felt forced or bogged down.

Make no mistakes about it, like building anything great, this book has good bones to it. With some refining and more development in certain places I have little doubt that these authors can produce some fantastic books. Think of this book as a teenager, it does some really good things but there are also some things that leave you scratching your head. Some definite growing pains, but some glimpses of good things to come as well. I think this book would be best for people who are just starting out reading in the fantasy genre because they won’t be looking at this book with such a critical eye. Readers who have read a lot of fantasy may also enjoy it, however they may have to temper their expectations a little. I will also add that while I may not have given this book the most glowing review, it has peeked my interest enough to want to read the next novel to see how the authors have improved their work. I am curious to see what comes next.