This book started strong, continued strong and ended the same way. My favorite part was how at the beginning of each chapter it pretty much summed up what happens in a way that didn’t give up too much of the story. Jackson Blackwell or Shadow Master was the perfect narrator and the apex villain. He practically filled every cliché with monologues and manipulations. Words just can’t describe how much I enjoyed this book from start to finish. The supporting characters were okay–I could take them or leave them most of the time, but the main guy made the story (thankfully). The exploitation of all the clichés that are prevalent in the fantasy genre is fantastic. When two villain’s faced off the fact that they exhibited normal behavior (i.e. telling the other about the poor acoustics of the room thus making it hard for witty banter) was very hilarious. I especially loved the complexity of Blackwell. He kept telling himself he was a villain and he did some pretty terrible things throughout the book, but (almost) everything was justified. Great story with great narration. This book was given to me for free at my requests and I provided this review voluntarily.