Shadows of the Limelight

Online serial fiction in an original setting by Alexander Wales. Started in April 2015.
==First read==
===Format===
Ongoing, but likely to be on my computer or phone.
===Journal===
Chapter 1 (The Rooftop Races)
26 pages.
Read the day it came out.
There was nothing much of note at this point, the central idea which I'd been instantly intrigued with when I saw the author mention it on reddit hadn't really been fleshed out yet so I was waiting to see how it would go. I wasn't that into the characters or the setting in this chapter - it did make me wonder if fanfiction actually works to some extent because it contains your favourite characters.
So I figured I'd see if Alexander Wales could write an original setting that would pull me in.
0
Chapter 2 (The Queen of Glass)
19 pages.
With this chapter we started to what I considered to be interesting depth to the setting, with the concept of inventing narratives being introduced. I was surprised to find I felt that the writing was a bit amateurish, but I was happy to run with that and see what merits the fic would present given time.
1, just?
Chapter 3 (Nighttime Ballet)
27 pages, 2nd May 2015.
Still a bit meh. I feel like the characters aren't interesting. I think it's the lack of internal monologue to any of them. If Dominic's supposed to be the main character, he needs to be more relatable.
0
Chapter 4 (An Interlude at Sea)
28 pages, 10th May 2015.
Mildly interesting back story on one of the characters. I do enjoy chapters like this, with a bit of exposition, but I'm still not feeling it with SotL. Someone on reddit said the characters aren't emotional enough, maybe that's something to do with it. Has previous fic by Alexander Wales been written in settings with emotionally-repressed characters, so that we didn't notice he can't write more rounded characters?
0
Chapter 5 (The Belligerent Bard)
27 pages, 16th May 2015.
Fun to see the powers being played with a bit, but it's still low key.
0, maybe verging on a 1.
Chapter 6 (The Flower Queen's Court)
22 pages, 23rd May 2015.
I liked the stuff about the Harbingers. And the idea of figuring out how to beat another illustrati. A lot of it was still a bit boring though.
1, I guess, if only because it's starting to get somewhere.
Chapter 7 (Rapier Wit)
22 pages, 30th May 2015.
Nice to see Dominic's powers getting better, and the intrigues over the duel were interesting. Still feel the writing's a bit unmasterful. Occasionally I feel like I'm reading something I wrote back in my Achaea days, and some things that could have been left implied and made the characters seem more competent and scary are instead spelled out in dialogue. Needs more George R. R. Martin and less Brandon Sanderson, perhaps?
1 (not this chapter particularly, just starting to feel a bit more interesting)
Chapter 8 (Rapier Wit)
18 pages, 7th June 2015.
Liked this one. Rioting, brief looks at other illustrati in action, surprises, events moving on. AW wasn't happy with it, and I guess it could have been a bit more 'wow', but on the whole this fic has been lacking that since the beginning.
1
Chapter 9 (The Letter)
17.6 pages, 13th June 2015.
Not much happened, I don't think. I'm all for waiting for the pay off to be earned, but I do sort of think this fic needs a bit more, I don't know, something, to keep me reading. I don't like the setting or the characters at the moment, so it's not really keeping me itching for the next chapter.
0
Chapter 10 (Detente)
19.1 pages, 20th June 2015.
Still kinda bored. Apparently there are '2 big sections' left, which makes it sound like we're already halfway or more through. I was sort of expecting this, with the Patreon and all, to be a longer term serial and was forgiving its lacklustreness as at least building up the setting, but looks like I'm just not going to enjoy this much.
0
Chapter 11 (Trials)
18.8 pages, 4th July 2015.
Not much to say. Weird bland intro with Dominic gaining more powers but it not being really portrayed very entertainingly, and a pointless dialogue (possibly foreshadowing a future relationship, I guess). Gael's sham trial and exiling. Just nothing seems interesting.
0
Category:2010s books
Category:Fantasy books