A DREAM OF SHADOWS

In Eliott’s fantasy novel, an assassin’s contract leads him into a mystery.

Vazeer the Lash is, by his own admission, a villain. But villainy is relative in Hell’s Labyrinth, formally known as Sullward, a crime-ridden city in which survival comes at the edge of a blade. When he bids on a mysterious and lucrative contract, Vazeer is drawn into a treacherous game. The assignment is the elimination of Count Ulan Gueritus, a known torturer nicknamed The Raving Blade who mutilates and brands his victims. Amenable to a justifiable homicide, Vazeer joins a team of five fellow criminals in an elaborate scheme to hunt the target in his own home, posing as expected guests. As their tenuous plans unravel, the conspirators discover that nothing is as it seems, including the identity of their target. Blending beautiful prose (“In the claustrophobic web of alleyways, the air was as smothering as a horse blanket, textured even, to the point where you could separate out its various threads of sour pungency and dull sweetness”) and gritty suspense, the novel keeps the reader on edge with every passing page. Though the action is intense, the violence is seldom graphic. Vazeer the Lash repeatedly justifies his moniker in his fight to survive, proving to be a thoughtful antihero who, despite a flippant demeanor, struggles with the cruelty of his world. Evolving over the course of the story, Vazeer commits to letting go of his dark and tortuous past—but it appears that the darkness is not yet done with Vazeer.

Part fantasy, part mystery, this suspenseful tale is completely unforgettable.