When I first received Shadows from the Past to review, I opened the book to find that it was Book Three in Legends of the Four Races, Book Three in the Weapons Trilogy, and Book One in the Necromancer Trilogy. Being unfamiliar with E.A. Rappaport's work I was quite intrigued as I have never seen anything quite like that before. Apparently Rappaport is creating "an interlocking matrix of nine fantasy novels" made up six different trilogies: "The Weapons Trilogy," "The Transmuter Trilogy," "The Netherworld Trilogy," "The Betrayal Trilogy," "The War Trilogy," and "The Necromancer Trilogy."

Quite frankly as this concept seems quite complex I was a little afraid that by not having read the other books that I would be completely lost. However, once I started reading I quickly saw that this was not the case and that Shadow from the Past worked well on its own without any prior knowledge obtained from the previous books. This book focuses on Jarlen, an orphaned Arboreal, and Tyraz, a Ferfolk warrior, who are seeking to find out who is behind two similar, mysterious fires.

The writing is very straight-forward and moves along at a fast pace. The characters and story are interesting and I think that young readers who enjoy fantasy novels should definitely give Rappaport's work a try. I think it would be fun to go back and read the other stories and see how all of these works fit together in their respective trilogies. I just find this concept to be extremely ambitious and creative.

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