Cloak and Spider (Shadowdance)

ANALYSIS: When it comes to David Dalglish's books, I always set aside some extra time because I know once I start reading, I won't be able to stop until I complete the story. His Shadowdance series has become an alltime favorite of mine with its complex story of politicking between thief guilds, squabbling cities and ultimately a battle of wills between a father and his son. When it comes to Haern, he is by far the favorite character of most David Dalglish readers. I happen to enjoy his tale too but in my opinion, the more fascinating character is Thren Felhorn, a guildlord who is ruthless, far-sighted and a swordsman extraordinaire.This novella traces his origins and reveals half a dozen pivotal movements in his life which have lead him to become the fearful character that we meet in A Dance Of Cloaks and the remaining books. I'll be listing each story and talking about it briefly:1) Stealing Spoons - The first story introduces Thren as a nine year old orphan in the city of Mordeina who faces a cruel person named Muzien the Darkhand while trying to steal a pair of silver spoons. Thren and his bosom buddy Grayson are then cornered into coming to a Sun guild meeting where a strange game of "And Then There Were None" seems to be starting and Thren and Grayson will have to pit their wiles against forty hardened killers.2) Stealing Hearts - This is the second novella and it features Thren, and Grayson when they are young men making a name for themselves. The target is one of the Trifect and a family heirloom, however they have strong competition from someone who is as tough as them and has a deft advantage as well.3) Stealing Crowns - The third novella shows Thren and Grayson's induction into the thief guild culture in the city of Veldaren. Thren is pitted against the leader of the Spider guild as they race to see who is the better thief. This is the first story wherein we get to see Thren's ruthless streak arise and it is a chilling one.4) Stealing Life - Stealing Life focusses on the birth of Thren's son Aaron and it is a heart-warming story. Perhaps the only light story in this entire collection and even then it has its share of darkness to it. I very much enjoyed this story as it showcased a different side to Thren.5) Stealing Memories - The penultimate story in this collection is the cruelest one of the collection and easily the most riveting one as well. This tale looks at a covert battle between guilds namely Thren's Spider guild and Carr's Scorpion guild. After the light hearted nature of the previous story, this one is entirely gut-wrenching as it shows what happens when Thren's plans go awry. The first cracks in mental facade are shown and even then he's cold-hearted to the extreme. This story bears a lot of importance for the events happening in the forthcoming A Dance Of Shadows ( book 4 in the Shadowdance series) and therefore is the most significant one of this collection.6) Cloak And Spider - The titular story of this collection is a folktale which Thren narrates to his son Aaron, when asked about what is Aaron's role in the Felhorn family. This story almost reads out like a prophecy and should be interesting for readers to draw their inferences in regards to the Shadowdance series. From a narrative point, it is a smooth story that ends on a sombre note as it easily leads into the events that make up the prologue of A Dance Of Cloaks. A terrific finishing short story to round off an intriguing collection about a character who perhaps rivals Tywin Lannister in his calculative maneuvering and ruthless persona.Cloak And Spider is a fascinating prequel novella to a series that itself is a prequel series to the author's self-published debut series. however this novella effectively stands on its own due to the tight narrative focus on Thren Felhorn and his legendary but infamous exploits. The stories are are tightly written with each one opening and ending swiftly but not before a crucial facet about Thren is revealed to the readers. These stories also reveal a lot about his orphan friend Grayson, the love of his life and the mother of his children. This collection while being a must read for all David Dalglish fans, is also a good starting point for all new readers who do not wish to invest a whole lot of time to his longer works.CONCLUSION: To all those new readers, I would heartily recommend reading this novella collection as it elegantly illustrates all of David's writerly plus points, while also giving a compelling omniscient view in to the first half of Thren's lifestory. I can vouch that once you read this collection, most readers will ever so curious to know more about Thren and what happens next in his life in A Dance Of Cloaks and the rest of the Shadowdance series.

A short novella but it really gives a succinct origin story to Thren Felhorn. But when I say short I mean SHORT, 104 pages to be exact. It's less of an in depth character study than it is a Rocky montage of Thren's upbringings to the point right before the beginning of Dance of Cloaks. Aside from length, the only problem with this book is that I wanted to know more about Thren's master, the enigmatic elf Muzien the Darkhand. You get just a taste of what the elf is like but in 104 pages his role is regrettably short.That aside, the novella is well worth it.

I first discovered David Dalglish's writing years ago, when I got my first Kindle and was looking for good (and free) fantasy books to read. His first The Half-Orcs book was among the free books I downloaded and I was instantly hooked with the story and kept reading, and reading. By the time I wrote this review, I calculated that I've read at least 17 of his books, and each book at least twice. Not that I'm obsessed or anything, but he has easily worked his way into my favorite authors list, alongside others like Tolkien, CS Lewis, and GRR Martin.But enough about me, I'm here to talk about his new book: Cloak and Spider, a Shadowdance Novella. (Don't worry, I'll try and keep the spoilers to a minimum.)Cloak and Spider is an origin-story of the father of the character whose own origin-story is the Shadowdance Series, a character we first met and loved in The Half-Orcs series. So it's basically a prequel of a prequel of Dalglish's original series. Unlike his other books which feature a large and sometimes complicated story, Cloak and Spider is a collection of six short stories that tell us about six defining moments in the life of Thren Felhorn. In the Shadowdance and Half-Orcs series, we meet Thren as the very powerful, very clever, and very ruthless, leader of the Spider guild, and father of Aaron, who turns into Haern the Watcher, but we don't learn what made him the way he was - that's what this book is for.In the first story, we start off meeting Thren when he is a young street thief, with his friend Grayson. They are living in Mordeina and aren't members of any guild. They survive off cutting purses and pocketing stolen food, like most of the orphan children in the city - but they are different. Together they plan a hit to steal some silver spoons from a merchant, which they can sell for what seems like an fantastic amount of money to them. The plan seems to go well until they are grabbed by the mysterious Muzien the Darkhand, the leader of the Sun guild. We later learn that he saw great potential in the boys and decided to see what he could make out of them, by throwing them up against the smartest and toughest members of his guild.The following stories tell us about the final stage of training Thren and Grayson go through, we meet Marion, the sister of Grayson, see the boys turn into men and take over the Spider Guild in Veldaren, witness the birth of Aaron, followed by some other major turning points in Thren's life.The stories are fast-paced and short, and Dalglish does a fantastic job of getting you invested in the main characters quickly - through lots of references to his other books and his fast-paced style of writing. Dalglish proves how well he knows his characters, as when you read about Thren, it's so easy to see why Aaron/Haern is the way he is, there is so much about them that is similar, but also so different.In summary, I loved Cloak and Spider, and as usual David Dalglish has written a fantastic book. If you enjoy a good fantasy story, then I recommend that you go and read it :-)Although, since it is only a couple of short stories, anyone who loves a lengthy read with complex sub-plots will be disappointed - but maybe you could read the entire Shadowdance Series back-to-back, and that'll make it feel longer.

Having only read the newest renditions of the Shadowdance series (through book 3) I though I might be missing some background from not having read Mr. Dalglish's previous works. I figured this would make for a good read while sitting in the airport waiting for a trip. Boy, was it. It gave me a totally new outlook on Thren and made me want to reread the first three books even after just finishing them a little over a week ago in order to see Thren's actions through my new found information. There is a lot of detail and history put into this world and I hope Mr. Dalglish keeps giving us more!

Tells a good story and I guess one could say brings back fond memories of the future. I thought maybe a bit heavy on the advertising in the end but then again that was another story.

I am huge fan of the author! This was a wonderful series and I was glad to read the this novella to better understand how the story evolved. The reader quickly becomes part of the storyline and can't wait for the next chapter. The characters are so real and I felt I really knew them and could picture what they did in my head. Great series .

David Daglish's books are an awesome read. Good Stuff 10/10

Another great work by Mr Dalglish adding much more depth and colour to an important supporting character over the last few years. It also shows that father and youngest son were /are not to different and if either had faced the others choices in life (roles were swapped) the same outcome would have likely occurred. (In my mind the watcher is actually a darker characters even though the intentions are good)... but as the novels often show.. good /bad.. it's all perspective.

I love Dalglish's tale-telling and character-building. The story of Thren Felhorn's rise to power, his pain, his losses built the world that I fell in love with in the Shadowdance Series. Thank you for rewarding us with the history, and brutality that led to his rise as the fearsome man we know. The softness behind his decision for Aaron was surprising, and gave him a human undertone to that venomous Spider we grew to fear. A little love for a man who needs it, but perhaps doesn't deserve it.

After finishing the first book in the Shadowdance series I was happy to see a prequel novella existed. Rather than be one story this was a collection of short stories bound together, all focusing on the life of Thren. We got to see his introduction to the underworld, how he rose to power in the Spider guild and how merciless he is when he's been wronged. All were interesting stories, I would have liked to see more of the training he went through when recruited by the Darkhand and also the gaps between his time leaving for Veldaren and becoming guild leader could have been plugged but those are things I can hope to see explored later on. The title story is the shortest in the book and also my favourite. It's not even really a story, more like a deleted scene from A Dance of Cloaks, but knowing what takes place at the beginning of the first book makes this scene so much more powerful and without a doubt a vital inclusion. I only have one legitimate complaint and it's something that I was finding tiresome by the end of book 1 and seeing it included here made me realise it's not going away. It doesn't matter what the situation, people are forever flushing red, particularly around the neck. This is overused to the Nth degree and if I never read about a person's neck suddenly flushing red I'd be very happy.

This book is a very short but very lively read. There are no spoilers in this in relation to the full series so it would be a good shout if you are not sure you will like the writing style.Don'e be surprised if you finish this is one sitting! its hard to put down