Book Review: Shadow of the Winter Moon by Cam Sinclair

Shadow of the Winter Moon was an entertaining mix of violence, conspiracies, and character driven intrigue.

We start by following two young boys escaping their old life into Kraven, Huni and Tober act as our eyes into this new world. Through the boys we are introduced a large and bustling city full of dangerous criminals and one hell of a secret. A secret that lies within the mind of Reelum Hangs, only, he is nowhere to be found.

One man on the hunt is Sharrock, after recently switching employers and in hiding, his only role is to seek out Hangs and bring him in. His only clue is a puzzle like box containing something ancient and powerful, an idol of a vipers head the size of an acorn. As Sharrock and his child companion August uncover more than they bargained for they find themselves hunted. Their violent path is filled with urgency, only they aren’t sure why. Will they be able to find the answers they seek before ending up trapped inside the conspiracies themselves? Time will tell.

The world of Kraven was expansive and was described as quite an impressive city. Throughout our journey in this book we see many walks of life, from the beggars and the downtrodden pissing away their money at the local dive bars to those who come from money. Sinclair has done a really good job of bringing life to Kraven. The hustle and bustle of every day comes through the pages and there is never a dull minute.

I also quite enjoyed a lot of our characters, granted there were quite a few and I got confused at time, but each of them was unique and enjoyable to read. Except for Jiro. I really didn’t like Jiro, but I think that was the point. Sometimes with a multi POV book like this you can dislike or be disinterested in a character so much that it takes away from the story, I did not find that here and was highly entertained the whole way through. The character that really shone through here was Sharrock, he is a thug by nature, used to breaking down doors to collect taxes and deliver back to his boss, but he was also shown as intelligent and soft when it came to his companion August. We got to see his relationships with others be multifaceted and I thought that was quite impressive as a reader. Sharrock gave me Logan Ninefingers vibes. Another brutish character which I happen to have a fondness for. 

My favourite aspect of Kraven were the cult like factions growing within its walls. The Nephilaclia are a reptilian God like creature with interest in Reelum as well as the rest of this world. We as the reader get to see the brutal initiation process and start to learn about what their goals are. It was really cool and I can’t wait to know more about these creatures.

A couple of criticisms would be the sheer number of characters introduced into a 350 odd page book, coupled with very short chapters flitting between our major players caused confusion for me as to what was happening. Within the first page or so of the new chapter I would be back with the story, but it could be a little jarring. Adding on to that there was A LOT happening in this book. We have two cult like factions which would cross over in my mind, and I would have to remember they were separate but had similar goals. There were also several sexual scenes I didn’t know were totally necessary for the story to progress. I would warn you to check your trigger warnings for this book, very early on. (TW, Sexual Assault, Rape, Violence and Animal Abuse)

All in all I had a good time with Shadow of the Winter Moon, and think this is a solid debut from Sinclair. I am very interested in seeing how the author progresses the story and look forward to following his writing career.