Book Review-Shadowplay by Laura Lam

Title: Shadowplay

 Author:  Laura Lam

Series:   Pantomime #2

Published:  7 January 2014 by Strange Chemistry

Length: 400 pages

Source: netgalley

Other info:  I really liked Pantomime

Summary : The circus lies behind Micah Grey in dust and ashes.
He and the white clown, Drystan, take refuge with the once-great magician, Jasper Maske. When Maske agrees to teach them his trade, his embittered rival challenges them to a duel which could decide all of their fates. People also hunt both Micah and the person he was before the circus—the runaway daughter of a noble family. And Micah discovers there is magic and power in the world, far beyond the card tricks and illusions he's perfecting...

Review probably includes spoilers for book 1, Pantomime.

Review: Following the events at the circus, Micah and Drystan are on the run, wanted for murder. They end up at the Kymri Theatre, and learn magic tricks under Jaspar Maske, a  magician who lost his licence to perform after the break up of his magic act with Taliesin. While here, lots of things happen-Micah learns new things about himself, others, and what other people want with him too.

Micah is still quite angsty over the ending of Pantomime, but luckily it doesn't intrude too much on the action. He's a bit more sure of himself, and he's just as awesome as in Pantomime. Drystan's deadpan sarker comes through a lot, for comic relief-see fight with Taliesin's grandsons and .  I like him.

Shadowplay, plotwise, is very different to  Pantomime. We learn a few things about Micah that you -really- don't expect. Then there's everything about the Chimaera, which I thought would be a minor thing but are definitely aren't now.  Anisa, the Damselfly that wee didn't know much about before, is back, and I understand her a lot more now. I'd like the Penglass to be elaborated on a bit more, but I think that will happen at some point.

I'm still not entirely sure about the whole trees thing. I get there's a party  called The  Foresters who want the typical “down with the aristocracy who forget the workers thing” thing  but something makes me think there's more to them and whether or not there is is something i'd like to know or have explained.

The romance in this is nice. My OTP will --forever-- be  Micah/Aenea, but Shadowplay has made me like Micah/Drystan a lot more, because you can tell they grew closer after the last  night at the circus, putting across their romantic relationship more than in Pantomime when they were more of the best best friend type.

There’s a few infodumps at the start for backstories, but I don’t see how else you can get them in first person. Until we got to the middle where Anisa and Micah go through the  backstory of the Chimaera, which is just an amazing way of putting it through.

The thing that swayed this from a 4 to 5 was the chapter with the duel. Everything about that. The magic tricks are so beautifully described, and other things happen, and they  ending to that chapter was really nice because it showed character development and the magic tricks and...yeah. kudos for chapter

The ending was very sudden. I'm not sure where -that- came from, but I hope it gets resolved or furthered soon.

 Overall:  Strength 4.5 tea, just more a 5, to a great sequel to a magical series.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Author Interview- Laura Lam

Today, we have Laura Lam! I’m really excited about this, because I LOVED Pantomime and cannot wait for Shadowplay. Here’

s Laura talking about some things.

-How do you feel about the Micah/Gene intersexual being marketed as a plot twist?

This is a very tricky question. I will say I never wrote it intending it to be a plot twist. I can see both sides--some people have really enjoyed being surprised, not realising that two characters were one and the same, and I like that they had their preconceptions twisted like that. You thought Gene/Micah were going to be a couple? Nope. And though it's about the intersex experience of Gene/Micah, it's not really an "issue" book per se, thus why more emphasis was placed on the fantasy elements and circus in the marketing.

On the other hand, it makes it very difficult for people who want to read about an intersex person to find out about it, and I found it awkward keeping it secret at the start. I still now feel the urge to give a disclaimer, worrying I'm "ruining" it for people by revealing the "twist."

-How do you pronoun Micah/Gene?

I usually use "she" when the character is Gene and "he" when the character's Micah. I've tried various gender neutral pronouns (hir, zir, etc), and I'll use them sometimes, too. I don't mind at all what pronouns others use.

-What kind of research did you do regarding intersex?

I read a few books on the subject. I recommend "Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex" by Alice Domurat Dreger, which focuses on the history of intersex conditions and how in the 19th century people changed from displaying these anomalies to trying to "fix"them. I also read the memoirs of Herculine Barbin, an intersex individual in the 1800s who was raised female in a convent and later lived as a male. Herculine's story is very sad.

For a more modern context, I recommend "Intersex" by Catharine Harper and "Intersex: For Lack of a Better Word" by Thea Hillman. I also watched the documentaries "Me, My Sex, and I", "Gender Unknown" and a few others. I've watched interviews by Hida Viloria, an intersex writer and activist. I researched a lot on the internet. I watched transition videos on Youtube (which is trans, not intersex, obviously, but I think there's some experience overlap), which are beautiful and inspiring. I still do a fair amount of research and keep up on intersex current events because I'm really passionate about it. I am against surgery on children too young to consent if there's no pressing medical need, I'd like countries to allow non-binary genders on official documents, and provide more protection against discrimination.

-Was there anything difficult about writing an intersex main character?

I am very aware that, as a cisgendered woman, I'm an outsider looking in. I've tried to do my best to put myself in Micah's shoes, think about how he'd react to things, his confusion and desire for acceptance. I suppose the biggest difficulty was portraying and balancing both his masculine and his feminine sides.

-How did you decide who Micah would end up with-did you think about representation of bisexual characters?

I always knew who he'd end up with because that character was in the book I started before Pantomime, which had Micah as an adult of 27. I did want to make it clear that Micah's sexuality is different from his gender identity--he's attracted to both males and female, and he himself doesn't identify as solely male or female.

-How important do you

think books with LGBTQIA characters are?

I think they've very important, especially for YA. It's important to reflect our society accurately, and there are intersex and people from all shades of the LGBTQIA. To marginalise them for YA, or SFF, or fiction, is a disservice. Teenage years are when people are discovering their gender identity or sexuality, and reading fiction can sometimes help them work through their thoughts and feelings. They even call this "bibliotherapy." So to sweep different experiences under the rug makes it seem like something that should be shameful rather than celebrated.

So far, there's been no homophobic outcry in response to Pantomime, and I think that's surprised some people. Though I might have gone and jinxed myself now by saying that. In fact, the only controversy has been some people wishing the blurb was more open about the intersex nature of the protagonist. I think that's great.

-Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Thank you for having me and thanks to everyone for reading :-)

If these great answers don’t make you want to read Pantomime straight away, stay tuned for Lisa and Leo talkinga bout why they loved Pantomime.

For now, you can find Laura at twitter, her blog, tumblr, and facebook.  Pantomime is on goodreads and amazon. 

Cover reveals for two awesome series-Emma Mills' WITCHHUNT and Laura Lam's SHADOWPLAY

Exciting news for two series that I really love-we have covers for the next books in the series!

First up is Emma Mills' Witchblood series-the final novel in the series, WitchHunt, has a cover.

I like the way all the covers in the series look together-pale face with bright eyes is a nice theme when done with different colours.


Blurb-contains mild spoilers for Witchlove

‘I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want you to go,’ Daniel said, a couple of minutes later.

I looked at him and smiled.

‘I’ll be fine, I will.’

‘You’d better be. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Those months I stupidly spent apart from you… they were torment for me,’ he said.

‘They were torment for me too.’

As the Christmas season is ripped apart by the news that Jess’ old friend Alex has been turned into a vicious killer, festivities are dropped, Jess returns to England and the hunt begins. But Alex isn’t the only one being hunted, for Mary has found a way to extinguish the entire bloodline of Malden witches, and it is Jess’s book of shadows that’s the key. As things hot up, Jess finds she must leave Daniel and the safety of Manchester in a final hunt for her nemesis, Mary. In a fight-off that only one of them can survive, loved ones will fall… daemons will rise… but who will survive?‘I know it’s selfish, but I don’t want you to go,’ Daniel said, a couple of minutes later.

I looked at him and smiled.

‘I’ll be fine, I will.’

‘You’d better be. I don’t know what I’d do without you. Those months I stupidly spent apart from you… they were torment for me,’ he said.

‘They were torment for me too.’

As the Christmas season is ripped apart by the news that Jess’ old friend Alex has been turned into a vicious killer, festivities are dropped, Jess returns to England and the hunt begins. But Alex isn’t the only one being hunted, for Mary has found a way to extinguish the entire bloodline of Malden witches, and it is Jess’s book of shadows that’s the key. As things hot up, Jess finds she must leave Daniel and the safety of Manchester in a final hunt for her nemesis, Mary. In a fight-off that only one of them can survive, loved ones will fall… daemons will rise… but who will survive?

Released 4 November 2013

Emma has a  website, twitter, goodreads, and Facebook.

 There's also a  giveaway to gain likes on Facebook. It's easy to enter, so go for it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now for Laura Lam's Shadowplay.

Blurb: The circus lies behind Micah Grey in dust and ashes.

He and the white clown, Drystan, take refuge with the once-great
magician, Jasper Maske. When Maske agrees to teach them his trade, his embittered rival challenges them to a duel which could decide all of their fates. People also hunt both Micah and the person he was before the circus--the runaway daughter of a noble family. And Micah discovers there is magic and power in the world, far beyond the card tricks and illusions he's perfecting...
A tale of phantom wings, a clockwork hand, and the delicate unfurling of new love, Shadowplay continues Micah Grey’s extraordinary journey.


IT'S SO PRETTY. I like the little details on the cards and the makeup.
I really can't wait for this.

Laura has a blog, twitter, and facebook.