Customer Reviews

4 reviews

• Sue Joslin

  M T Ceres has taken the tried and tested idea of demons and other mythical creatures breaking through from other dimensions into ours and has turned it on its head. Although I found this book a little over-complicated at times, she takes us to a fascinating world where humans and mythical creatures are transported into another dimension where a demon lord seeks to rule over all, and a disparate and nomadic band of rebels seek to fight back against a dystopian reality that only they know is not real. Very much in the style of Russian literature, Shadow On The Other Shore follows the stories of various groups of characters, to a point where their stories merge. The characters are well-written and multi-dimensional making them feel very real and believable.

• Elizabeth

  Although this is a dark dystopian tale it has moments of humour that relieves the tension. M T Ceres writes such fascinating stories with an incredible wealth of characters. The story is more complex than her earlier works from the Gaiadon Universe which are more high fantasy orientated but the author has captured a world in transition and an enslaved society in the North.

• Dawn

  If you want a book full of unexpected turns and twists The Shadow on the Other Shore is for you. This book makes you think about what is happening and has you loving and hating the characters. MT Ceres weaves one character with dementia/alziemers perfectly and is also able to portray what the caregiver goes through while the person with this terrible disease is having a bad moment/day. The ups and downs of each characters are nicely woven.

• Tom Nicoll

  The trick with good fantasy is to make it seem real and in this respect, the author has succeeded, This is a believable tale, and the descriptions of the world and people are thorough, albeit set on a planet in another dimension, I felt that I had been transported elsewhere in this immersive tale and while I can’t say I couldn’t put it down, I did return to the story every day until I finished it.
  The story begins in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet Gaiadon, but it is the far North that is subsumed under the glacier Amnesia, a remnant of a war between Gaia and the demons who invaded the planet which is covered retrospectively in a subsection of Chapter 21 The Crone Arianrihod, and is the story about a human, Padrain, who can recall the kidnap, and coming to Gaiadon. In the rural zones, the landscape, climate, and atmosphere are temperate due to a wind anomaly called Gaia’s Howl, it is hotter toward the demon city Lodewick. I enjoyed the fight scene in the warehouse where lengths of cork oak were drying as well as the alien nature of the group of insurgents called The Ten, an excellent bunch of supporting characters for one of the main protagonists, Troy.
  Another skill in good fantasy is the art of naming and language, I feel it is paramount to a believable fantasy world and good reading experience, SOTOS, and the Gaiadon Universe don’t disappoint in that respect, although the language isn’t unique. The old languages of power are based on Irish and Scottish Gaelic in the North and Māori in the Southern Archipelago, but the demon city Lodewick is named using a form of old English, but not the ye olde kind! The capitol Lodewick is in my opinion one of the best written but worst kind of cities if you know what I mean, but I wish there had been a map of the city itself.
  However, like all good fantasy, this story holds up a mirror to our own reality, particularly the theme of self-ownership, mental health, and the loss of fundamental rights, in this case by the hand of the demon better known as the lord of the dark flame, Conquest, and his manipulation of reality. The author portrayed the madness, paranoia, and schizoid behavior of people who were caught between two worlds perfectly, it was thought-provoking and ultimately very sad.
  The characters were interesting, and I cared about them, I liked them and hated them, and I did not trust some of them, Ganaim Al Tine, Arianrihod, Weasel, Reynard, and even Sonii Romarii who has a strong moral compass is tested. I wanted to know what happened next although without any spoilers there are no happy endings in this tale.
  There were a couple of supporting characters who the author did not go into too much backstory about which may leave some readers grappling for a way into their purpose in the plot, but I have read other books from the Gaiadon Universe where they are covered, and would advise not reading Shadow on The Other Shore first as this is not the entry point story. It was interesting to read a scene in this story through Celeste’s POV which directly links to a scene in Black Void, it was clever but only if you have read Black Void!

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