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Book Review: Shadow Pass
Aug. 13th, 2011 03:08 pmShadow Pass is the sequel to Sam Eastland's Eye of the Red Tsar, which I quite liked. Unfortunately, Shadow Pass doesn't live up to its predecessor. The pacing is slower, and the book lacks the sense of impending menace that the first book portrayed so well - a major flaw, given that Shadow Pass takes place during Stalin's purges.
The characters seem increasingly like one-trick ponies - the trick they know is excellent, mind, but it's one I've seen before. Oddly, the characters in Pekkala's flashbacks to tsarist times have considerably more complexity than the Soviet characters. The tsar in particular - obstinate, kindly, but tinged with an erratic ruthless streak - is a standout. Eastland should seriously consider writing a prequel.
Lastly, the issue of Pekkala's possible (probable) complicity in the purges is scarcely dealt with. Now, on the one hand I can respect this. If you don't want to really grapple with an issue, it's often better (in my opinion) to ignore it than to deal with it sloppily.
Writing a book about a government agent in Stalinist Russia during the purges without dealing with the issue of his complicity is like writing a book on an antebellum plantation and ignoring the slaves. The issue is so enormous that it hovers over the book even if the author never brings it up; it's impossible to pretend it's not there, so you have to deal with it even if you'd really rather not. And if you can't bring yourself to do that - perhaps you should consider writing something else.
The characters seem increasingly like one-trick ponies - the trick they know is excellent, mind, but it's one I've seen before. Oddly, the characters in Pekkala's flashbacks to tsarist times have considerably more complexity than the Soviet characters. The tsar in particular - obstinate, kindly, but tinged with an erratic ruthless streak - is a standout. Eastland should seriously consider writing a prequel.
Lastly, the issue of Pekkala's possible (probable) complicity in the purges is scarcely dealt with. Now, on the one hand I can respect this. If you don't want to really grapple with an issue, it's often better (in my opinion) to ignore it than to deal with it sloppily.
Writing a book about a government agent in Stalinist Russia during the purges without dealing with the issue of his complicity is like writing a book on an antebellum plantation and ignoring the slaves. The issue is so enormous that it hovers over the book even if the author never brings it up; it's impossible to pretend it's not there, so you have to deal with it even if you'd really rather not. And if you can't bring yourself to do that - perhaps you should consider writing something else.
