Book Discussion: Shadow Road by A.E. Pennymaker

Hello hello reader and writer friends, 

Today I'm beginning a new series, simply called "book discussion", in which I can discuss individual books. If that wasn't obvious enough already. 

This is different from reviews in the sense that I go into more detail about my thoughts and whatnot than I do on my Goodreads/StoryGraph/etc. reviews. My reviews are meant for helping someone decide if they want to read something or not, my discussions are for just talking about the book in general. Then at the end, after my sign-off, there will be information regarding the author.

So without further ado, let's talk about this book. 

(Okay with a little bit further ado, here's a description (by me, it's not the official one) of what the story is about so you're not totally lost as to what I'm talking about: 

Shadow Road by A.E. Pennymaker is a steampunk adventure novel following a young woman, Bren, as she accidentally embarks on an adventure thanks to her senile father. Disaster finds them, and her father is presumed dead while Bren finds herself in unfavorable circumstances with two seafaring gents (well not quite gents, we'll get to that in a bit) who both need something from each other, from her, and from her now-gone father.)

The Action 

The action in this story was so good. All too often I read a story where the action just work out. It isn't bad and not necessarily poorly written, it just doesn't really work. It doesn't carry the intensity, imagery, or conviction that good action scenes have, and they often drone on or fizzle out fast. 

A.E. Pennymaker's do. Maybe I've just never read a battle between ships before (come to think of it, I actually don't think I have), but the battle sequences in this story were very good and gripping with real consequences, and I stayed up many a late night to see them through to their end. 

The POV Choice

The author decided to deliver this story from the written perspective of the main character, Bren. That is to say, she "wrote it", and we're reading her writing the events in her journal. This is an okay thing, I don't take any serious issue with it, but I didn't realize this is what she was doing for quite some time in reading it, until Bren directly referred to writing the previous events down. 

That's not a huge deal, I probably just missed something that would have clued me in earlier on, but it did make less interested in reading because of the endnotes. 
I've not read a lot of stories that use endnotes from this century, much less from a fantasy, but I'm not a big fan of them. I much prefer world building to be implemented throughout the story, shown and not told, instead of being given it via endnotes or a glossary. I digest and understand it much more in practice than in instruction, so to speak. 

In this particular case, the endnotes weren't really "mandatory reading"; you could just skip past them and still get the gist of what the situation or item in mention was, so it wasn't a huge deal, just wasn't something that I was enjoying. 

But once I realized that this story was being told through Bren's journal entries, I understood the author's decision better. It made the story feel more real,  because in real life we don't think "I reached into the plastic bag and drew out a bagel - a rounded piece of bread split horizontally and with a hole in the center - for breakfast," we'd be much more likely to think (if one was narrating their own actions) "I reached into the plastic bag and got a bagel". 

The same goes for fictional characters in other worlds. Bren knows what a... *flips through the book* ... "Starkaelle", is. So it makes sense that she wouldn't explain that to herself (although, on the rare occasion that I journal, I usually to over explain things just in case someone from the distant future reads it and has no idea what I'm talking about) and I can thus see why Pennymaker chose to go about telling the story in this way. 

However. 

The footnotes and endnotes were incomplete. There were times where she said some thing and then there was no explanation, so I just went on pretending I knew (which, if I'm honest, I did for quite a few of the noted subjects). 

So that is whatever it is. Not really an issue, but also not my favorite thing. 

Writing Style

The writing style was fairly good. It was never in-your-face with prose, but when it did venture out be more profound, it succeeded. I didn't cringe at it, which was very nice, because cringey prose are a great way to pull me out of the story, and I also can't remember finding any typos or bad grammar. 

There were some repeat phrases, though, that began to lose their touch after the first few times. And these were in regards to Captain Arramy. 

"He nodded. Once." 

"A muscle in his jaw ticked."

These two phrases are used constantly in regards to the captain. As far as I can remember they are the only repeat phrases, but they were used quite a lot. 

Another thing I noticed about the writing style is that it's portrayed almost like a historical fiction and less as a steampunk fantasy. The most fantasy-esque part is that it takes place in a different world, and the most steampunk part is the electricity and a couple of other things. The story being written in the form of journal entries, the world building, the settings, the character types, the plot, the lack of info dumps, these are all things I associate with historical fiction.

This isn't a problem at all, in fact I found it really interesting and think  it'd be a good book for historical fiction fans that are wanting to try out a new genre. But for someone looking for a loudly steampunk story, this might not be the best option. 

  

Pacing

Pennymaker's pacing was pretty good throughout the story. The beginning was a bit slow, but the chapters were short and by chapter seven I was invested. 
When disaster and dark moments struck, the author did a good job at not leaving the reader in a puddle of depression. She made it realistically emotional and gloomy, but then carried on in a way that didn't negate the weight of the circumstance and also didn't crush the reader with it. 
That's something that I absolutely can't stand in reading: the nonstop gloom-and-doom. 

The Characters

This one's going to have some sub...subjects. Sub-subjects. Yeah that makes sense. 
Anyways, it's going to have sub-subjects, there's three main characters and a bunch of side characters and I have thoughts on all of them. 

Bren

Bren was okay. I wasn't a fan of hers early on, and that was in large because of the prologue. The whole "I-love-him-but-he-doesn't-love-me-back" thing has never been something I've enjoyed reading, and that is the exact impression I got from the prologue. 
But I stuck with it and by chapter nine, she was okay (for the earlier chapters, her reactions to her father's state and neglecting what he said frustrated me greatly, though I did know why the author was showing and what she was portraying). Her reactions to various events and her thought process seemed realistic, though at times it could be frustrating, and she had humorous and relatable thoughts and actions. Generally speaking she was likable, but there's a certain something that happened that was really not likable which is mild spoilers and we will discuss it after talking about the next two gents.

NaVarre

NaVarre hit some dashing-pirate-whose-an-okay-guy cliches, but I really liked him, that aside (or perhaps that's just a likable cliche). Think Hook from Once Upon A Time, but he has both hands and is not in an annoying romance predicament. Had he had the aforementioned romance predicament, he might've been the exact same character minus one hook. 

His dialogue with the other characters was interesting and of course [spoiler spoiler spoiler] which does set him apart from Hook in OUAT (he was also a bit less dramatic), so he's pretty good all things considered and I quite liked him. 

Arramy

This guy. 
I don't even know what to say about this guy. 

When he was first introduced, I really really liked him. I was like "yesssss strong older stern-but-caring honor-bound yet careful-rule-breaking military characterrr". Because yes. And when Bren kept commenting about him in a more negative way, saying things that generally painted him out to be a big oaf, I was very confused because I was getting a stern-serous-kinda-gruff-but-still-gentlemanly-do-the-right-thing-er kind of man, not a big impolite oaf. 
Every time she would mentally say one of those things, I was greatly confused. 

But then, he did start being that, in so many words, and it was weird because he really hadn't seemed that way at all, but once she started thinking it he did. It was indeed very strange. Stranger still was when she began to think "why do I want him to like me" thoughts. Which I put down to "well, he is an authority figure that is respectable, anyone would want him to respect them back, plus Bren is young and impressionable" and whatnot. 

But, I still liked the lad. He was still a respectable captain who was looking after those under his care, which is always an appealing character type.

And then this thing happened. 

((Mild spoilers ahead, skip ahead to the next bold lettering if you wish to not have this mildly spoiled.))

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This whole time, I was dreading the potential of a love triangle between the three leads, but figured it probably wouldn't happen because A. the prologue already mentioned a lad that Bren fancied after all of this and B. Arramy is noted to be older than Bren, + NaVarre implies Bren's youth in contrast to both of them, saying she's likely "just out of finishing school" or something of the sort to depict how naive and young she would be in the context of secret conversation and whatnot. 

Keep that in mind a moment.

They're trying to create a diversion. Bren notices an older couple eyeing her and Arramy, thinking about how odd the circumstance must look as she was too old to be his daughter and too young to be his wife. The diversion consists of Arramy spontaneously kissing Bren full on the mouth and "deepening it" when she didn't pull back, to play the part of the overbearing male companion. Bren slapped him, and the situation passed, Bren getting on him for it and him saying "oh don't worry it'll never happen again *glaring at her as if he was the one who was spontaneously kissed on the mouth in public by someone too old to be kissing him*"
Honestly the circumstance made me laugh at parts. The improvised argument they had was pretty great and her embarrassment was funny, so I did enjoy it. Still, this began my dread of the love triangle once more.

NaVarre never made any romantic fuss, though, thankfully. I'm still confused because the prologue described a lad who matched his description, so I figured those two were the sailing ship, but there's a whole sequel I've yet to read so perhaps that just isn't resolved yet. 
So no triangle so far. However Arramy kept saying and doing things that seem to suggest he is legitimately interested in Bren, and Bren keeps thinking about Arramy. Which I put down to hyper-fixated embarrassment over the kiss (which would be understandable), plus the fact that it was her first kiss (by the by I really liked that detail; though it was just a passing mention, her being upset even briefly about losing her first kiss like that made me empathize with Bren in a way I didn't expect to),  and I'm hoping that it will remain that way. 

Because honestly, while I do see that this story has room for a romance, I would enjoy it more if it were just these three characters, none quite trusting the other but all needing something from them anyways so they're working together, eyeing each other out of the corner of their eyes the whole time while trying to solve this mystery. 
Though at the same time, Pennymaker has opened that door and I don't see how she could get out of it if she wanted to. So if she does continue on with this odd circumstance of romance(? I'm still not positive that's what it is), I hope that it doesn't result in a love triangle. Because while I can still like NaVarre despite his cliches, the love triangle between a dashing pirate, the female protagonist, and a handsome officer is a bit far for me.

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((End of spoilers))

The side characters

As I've now said, I liked each of the three main characters fairly well. They weren't perfect, but characters aren't supposed to be, so that's okay. They had a lot of great spots, too. But the characters that A.E. Pennymaker did a very good job on are the side and background characters (mainly Raggan; he was absolutely wonderful; 10/10 favorite character, barely Laffa (she had me genuinely laughing out loud) and the doctor (who is amazing)).
They all felt very real and realistic and they made the incredibly long amount of time spent at sea interesting, whereas it otherwise could've been horribly boring seeing as there's only so much that can happen. 

Conclusion

This was a quick read with great action, humor, and pretty good characters and storyline. It's not a book I full on loved, but I did really enjoy it and I definetly plan on picking up the next book (I just placed an order for it today, along with "Held Captive" by Grace A. Johnson), hopefully in time for the novella coming out in May and the third novel coming in June. 

I recommend it for pretty to people into lower fantasy and lower sci-fi, as well as low steampunk if that's even a genre, but I (as a primarily high-fantasy reader) really enjoyed it so whose to say you won't as well? Give it a go if you're interested, and if you've already read it I'd love to hear your thoughts (just be sure to give spoiler warnings when needed). 

This novel will be added to my Independent Book Recommendation page and I hope the other books in the series will follow it shortly. My actual review of this book can be found on both StoryGraph and Goodreads at some point: I'm posting this before those, so who knows when they'll be up. 

Until next time,

- Edna Pellen 

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A.E. Pennymaker's website: www.aepennymaker.com

Shadow Road: Purchase link