#shadow's edge

The final piece of the Radiant Collection, Shadow's Edge is a sentient artifact.

One of the three gems used from Radiant Sister to forge this shield, served as a connection to Rosalind's sister Shadow, who ruled over a layer of the Abyss.

Severed from the connection to her goddess after being shattered, Shadow's influence was unchecked and eventually began to take over the shield, The Luck Bringer and transform it into Shadow's Edge.

Shadow's Edge

Shadow’s Edge

Armor (shield), artifact (requires attunement)

“This round shield was created using the shattered fragments of a legendary longsword. Something dark and powerful took hold within one of the fragments and now this shield, once golden and made to protect, can cause as much pain as the sharpest blade. It has three large orbs embedded in it in a triangle pattern. The one at the top is larger, and dark crimson in color, the others, once gold, are now a pale yellow.”

While holding this shield, you have a +3 bonus to AC. This bonus is in addition to the shield's normal bonus to AC. Additionally, you have resistance to radiant and necrotic damage.

Whenever a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to reflect damage back, dealing bludgeoning damage equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1) + 6. You can use this property a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses on a long rest.

Stunning Shadows. When you deal damage using your reaction after taking damage, you can force the target to make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn. Once you use this property of the shield you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Absorb Pain. When you are subjected to an effect that requires a saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage on a success, and heal for an amount equal to your class level plus your proficiency bonus. Once you use this property of the shield you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Sentience. Shadow’s Edge is a sentient chaotic neutral shield with an Intelligence of 17, a Wisdom of 10, and a Charisma of 19. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 120 feet.

The shield can speak, read, and understand Common, Abyssal, Sylvan and can communicate with its wielder telepathically. The voice is feminine, deep and echoing. While attuned to it, it also understands every language you know.

Personality. Shadow’s Edge speaks with an overbearing tone, as though accustomed to being obeyed and never questioned. Its patience wears thin very quickly. The shield's purpose is to strengthen itself, and the one who wields it. It doesn’t care if its user dies, as that means they weren’t worthy enough to hold it. Destroying the Artifact. The sentience within the shield comes from the gem, but claims it is another being that lives within the abyss. Once a mortal, this entity known as Shadow, seeks to cleanse the abyss but has some ties to this shield. If the gem is struck by a weapon reforged from the same shards as the shield, it can be destroyed, severing Shadow’s bond to the shield. When trying to destroy the shield, it has AC 24, 50 hit points, and immunity to all damage, except from the artifact weapons, Changebringer and Bright Daughter.

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ew i made an OC.

Read the last book of the trilogy, Beyond the Shadows, in less than a week. And it’s about 700 pages long. Couldn’t believe I did that myself too. I’ve become a pretty slow reader in the past couple years, but was surprised at the speed I finished it. Finished it last night and can’t stop thinking about poor Kylar :((((( I really hope he finds happiness in someone or something at some point. 

But yeah it was sooooo good (with some flaws of course) but I’m hoping to find fellow fans to nerd out about it with. So if you’re a fan, hit me up, please! I wanna know your favorite character or favorite part or favorite book of the trilogy! In short, I just want to nerd out. There must be other fans of this trilogy on Tumblr. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 

Anddddd next up: I’m going to start the Shadow and Bone Trilogy to get ready for the show being released on Netflix on April 23! So excited for this show! I hardly watch TV anymore. I’ve mostly become a reader. But yeah, I want to read Shadow and Bone Trilogy so I can understand the Grishaverse more. (I’ve only read the Six of Crows Duology, but I’m going to reread those as well after Shadow and Bone Trilogy.) I loooovvvveeed Six of Crows and liked Crooked Kingdom a lot, so, even though I’ve heard Shadow and Bone isn’t as good, I’m still excited to read something else in the Grishaverse!

Excited to meet other fans when the show airs too! Because we’re all gonna come out of the woodwork, then, I’m guessing. 

But, yeah, so much to read, so little time. And so excited for Shadow and Bone! And please tell me there are some Night Angel fans on here???

[Inspired by this little post by twilightfeathered-fury. Spoilers for Darksiders 2]

They’d finally reached Shadow’s Edge, the supposed location of the Demon Key. It wouldn’t be that easy of course. Basic pattern recognition clued you in long ago that the world likes to present you and your friend with nothing but twists, turns, and unnecessary hurdles before offering a scrap of progress. Like the universal rule of threes and all that.  

You tune in and out of Death’s conversation with his ‘mother’. The demoness seems interesting, you will admit, but your surroundings manage to turn much of your attention away from her. Pfft, and Death was so worried you’d fall to Lilith’s demonic charms. As pretty as she is, she’d never be able to compare to the worlds you’ve visited. You’d always dreamt of walking on alien planets and now… it’s finally come true! Oh, if kid you could see you now.

Never mind the fact that these might not even count as planets. Different dimensions? What constitutes a ‘Realm’ anyway? Death never got around to explaining that… Hmm, questions for later. Right now you’re far more interested in the etchings on these massive pillars!

They’re almost reminiscent of ancient Egyptian obelisks and their hieroglyphs with how they stretch upward in just about the same way, up and towards the broken ceiling with its giant hole. The sky itself is just as interesting. Looks sort of like…

…

You must have made a strangled noise or something in your now frozen state, since the other two occupants in the room immediately turned their full attention on you.

Even Dust seemed concerned judging by his soft caw and light pecks at your pant leg. At least, you’d think so if you could focus on anything other that the gaping maw of horror right above you.

It took a moment, but Death managed to calm you just enough for you to squeak out:

“Is that… a Black HOLE?!”

You’re shaking. The only reason you even process the fact is because you can contrast it to Death’s steady hand on your shoulder.

Another moment passes and you’ve finally calmed enough to snap out of it and realise that someone asked you for an explanation.

Do they… not know what a black hole is? When one is looming right above their heads? The very idea seems ludicrous, though you do have an inkling at the back of your head that not everyone was as fascinated by Outer Space as you were. Or perhaps, as humanity in general was.  

So, you explain all you know about the subject - if that thing up there really is a black hole and what it means for the realm of Shadow’s Edge.

By the end of it, even Lilith is glancing at the sky with a look of consideration. To think, they’d been slowly edging towards an event horizon this entire time.

*This review contains spoilers*

“Logan Gyre is the king of Cenaria, a country under siege, with a threadbare army and little hope. He has one chance—a desperate gamble, and one that could destroy his kingdom.

In the north, the new Godking has a plan. If it comes to fruition, no one will have the power to stop him.

Kylar Stern has no choice. To save his friends—and perhaps his enemies—he must accomplish the impossible: assassinate a goddess,” (Brent Weeks).

Beyond the Shadows, the final book in The Night Angel Trilogy, picks up right where Shadow’s Edge left off. I would describe it as the best book in the series. I liked this novel because it maintained a good pace; it was also filled with action—there was always something going on. Sometimes, this was a bit overwhelming, but I definitely preferred it to a book that has so little going on that trying to read it becomes a chore. I also appreciated how this novel was the least graphic and gory in the series. The violence in the previous novels occasionally felt excessive, which is not something I appreciate or enjoy. Thus, it was easier both to get through this novel and to enjoy it. Finally, I liked how Weeks took the time to explain Kylar’s immortality because I don’t feel as though most stories take the time to do that. For example, we as readers often recognize gods and goddesses, (and perhaps other beings associated with heaven and hell), as immortal. We may even view immortality as being an innate quality associated with godhood, but this isn’t the case—the Norse Gods could die. I also thought that Weeks’ description was an interesting take on immortality—each time Kylar died, one of the people he loved died in his place, paying with their life to maintain his. It was definitely a nice and unexpected twist.

With that being said, there were definitely some things that I didn’t like about the novel and issues that continued from the earlier two books in the series. First of all, there were several spelling, grammar-related, and punctuation errors, which kept Weeks’ prose from flowing smoothly. It also made several sentences extremely confusing—I had to go back and read them several times before I understood what he was trying to say. Second, there was minimal if any growth amongst the book’s main characters—they remained bland, boring, and one-dimensional. For example, Kylar’s magical powers grew—so we could have expected him to mature in some way—feel a greater sense of responsibility, feel uncomfortable with his growing power, etc. However, despite the rise in his power, his character remained unchanged—Kylar remained a marginally sarcastic, selfish, and brash individual. Furthermore, since his immortality gives him the ability to make a second or even a third attempt at a challenge, it doesn’t feel as though there’s so much as a chance that he won’t succeed especially given the skillset he developed as a wetboy, (e.g. stealth, fighting with various weapons). In a way, Kylar’s immortality bothered me—even when he was facing harsh, impossible odds, Kylar’s predicament never seemed dire because you knew he would come back to life. In a way, it took a lot of the fun out of the book. Maybe, it even kept him from growing as a person—he will have all of eternity to do that. Furthermore, Kylar’s response to finding out what was in Durzo’s note, (from the first novel), was wayyyy to predictable, how else would he have responded? Even so, it would have been nice to see more depth to his reaction, perhaps more sorrow, more guilt, something… Another example of a bland and boring character would be Elene, who has been presented as a “pure,” kind-hearted and gentle woman since the beginning of the series. A woman who is beautiful despite her scars. She may have been a bit less sure of herself when she was younger, but that’s to be expected. In any case, her sacrifice at the end of the novel didn’t come as a surprise—her very character suggests that she would make some great sacrifice to help mankind. Furthermore, even her ability to forgive Vi for “ringing” Kylar didn’t come as a surprise—if she’s being presented as a woman without a “bad bone in her body,” then anything that would give a normal person trouble wouldn’t give her any trouble at all. In essence, everything these two characters, (and the rest of the characters), accomplished seemed “blah,” (for a lack of a better word), and predictable because they have (barely) changed since the first novel in the series. As a result, the novel became more predictable and less exciting as well.