Shadows’ Sorrow, by Galadriel Pittman (publisher, 2018)

Raven and his horse, Taikon, are a telepathically-linked team of Deinya warriors, sworn to protect against the returning dark forces of the Rakon. As if their current quest weren’t hard enough, Raven becomes the unwilling master of an honourable thief – and the party grows from there.

Tara, the thief, is my favourite character in the book (except perhaps for Taikon the horse). She’s skilled at reading people and situations and knowing how to fit in and gain whatever information or goods she needs.

The world of Shadows’ Sorrow has a medieval feel, poised for a battle between the opposing light/dark forces and the people who serve each side. In this book we begin to see the history of this conflict and the prophecies which may help the Deinya to succeed. We begin to see characters grow, and they have the rest of the series to become who they’ll need to be to defeat the darkness.

I enjoyed the novel, and would like to see what happens next. It’s a clean read (purists might take objection to one or two words) and it introduces interesting characters with significant potential for growth and heroism.

Shadows’ Sorrow is book 1 in the Morovian Destiny series. For more about the author and her work, visit galadrielpittman.com.