Shadow Fall is the third book in Seressia Glass's urban fantasy series about Shadowchaser Kira Solomon and her fight against the forces of Shadow. After a lackluster second book that had major pacing issues, Glass manages to right the ship and deliver a great character study of Kira, as well as an interesting new villain for her to fight. While the book is a bit slow at times, it is still hard to put down.
Kira Solomon is still getting used to being able to actually touch a human being without putting them in a coma, and thus her relationship with the ancient Nubian warrior Khefar is starting to develop nicely. The only problem is that Kira has been touched by Shadow and is constantly in fear that it will overtake her. Khefar has vowed to use his blade to "unmake" her if she falls into the dark. This could become more prominent when an Atlanta museum exhibit based on the Egyptian Book of the Dead turns out to be more real than anybody ever intended. As Kira learns more about her past and her origins, everything comes together in events that Kira may find impossible to stop and that may even force Khefar to keep his vow.
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Shadow Fall, we join Kira in learning even more about her past, including secrets that she may otherwise not have wanted to hear. It's an interesting look at our hero, as well as giving her even more dimensionality as she fights the Shadow within herself, as well as learning that it may be possible to use that Shadow without actually falling to the other side. This examination of Kira's character really keeps the book moving.
Shadow Fall is also a book of relationships, as there is not a lot of action (though there is some). Glass examines the growing relationship between Kira and Khefar, a man who has moved into her life, her house, and her bed, even with the subject neither one of them wants to talk about hanging between them: her battle with Shadow and his vow to unmake her if necessary. Will he be able to do it when the time comes? It's wonderful to see how happy just sharing human touch makes Kira, too.
I also enjoyed the developing situation between Kira and her two friends, Wynne and Zoo. Wynne is basically an atheist, not believing in much that is metaphysical (though she does somewhat believe in magic, since Zoo is a witch). Now that she has met at least two gods, she finds herself having a crisis of faith that she needs Kira's help with. In addition, Kira injured Zoo before when she was under the influence of Shadow, so that hangs between all of them as well. I do hope events in Shadow Fall don't remove these two from the picture; the series would be less for it.
What action there is in the novel is well-written as always. Glass does a great job with these scenes, considering her background as a romance writer. They keep the book moving, and the climax of the book is even more riveting because of it. The ending of the book leaves the series with an excellent spring point to launch future books in the series.
There are a few slow spots in Shadow Fall. While I love characterization and character studies, sometimes the characters' thoughts and musings became repetitive and I wish that they would just move on to something else. These moments are thankfully few and far between, and Glass grabbed my attention again when she did finally push forward with the story.
Overall, Shadow Fall makes up for the rather pedestrian Shadow Chase, giving readers much more to chew on and furthering Kira's story in a way that kept me glued to the page. If Glass can keep this up with future novels, I'll be following Kira all the way to the end of her story.