Earlier this year, I declared Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell the best book I’ve read in 2024. That remains true, but de Castell’s Play of Shadows now stands as its equal. Both are part of his new Court of Shadows series, with Crucible of Chaos serving as a prequel to the rest of the tale.
Set in the European-style Kingdom of Tristia—the home of de Castell’s fantastic Greatcoats series—Play of Shadows tells the story of Damelas Chademantaigne, the grandson of two famous Greatcoats before the order was disbanded long before the first Greatcoats novel, Traitor’s Blade. Taking place several years after the events of the last book, Tyrant’s Throne, Play of Shadows reintroduces a few familiar faces from that series in supporting roles, although First Cantor Falcio val Mond, now fully retired, gets only a brief mention.
Damelas is a charming coward fleeing a judicial duel with the Vixen, the most feared professional duelist in the Duchy of Pertine. When the Vixen’s bravos pursue him, Damelas takes refuge in a magnificent playhouse called the Operato Belleza, relying on an old law that grants a temporary reprieve from dueling obligations so long as he remains a member of a company of actors. And so begins Damelas’s unexpected new life as an actor in a Shakespearian-style troupe known as the Knights of the Curtain, setting the stage for this captivating tale.
Damelas and his fellow Knights of the Curtain are the heroes of this story, which reminded me of the theater subplot in Scott Lynch’s The Republic of Thieves mixed with a dash of Shakespeare in Love. This makes the book refreshingly different from most fantasy tales, though magic still plays a subtle yet pivotal role, setting up what promises to be a fascinating new series.
During a performance of a tragedy involving a historical ruler of Pertine named Prince Pierzi and his rival, the notorious villain Archduke Corbier, Damelas finds himself changing the lines as if he were speaking the words of Corbier himself. We soon learn that Damelas could be a Veristor, a performer with the preternatural power to become a vessel for someone from the past whose story holds critical clues to solving a mystery in the present. The spirit of Corbier comes alive through Damelas, suggesting the archduke might have actually been the hero in his conflict with Pietzi.
Damelas’s portrayal of a heroic Corbier catches the eye of the current Duke of Pertine, one of Pietzi’s descendants, along with that of his assassin, a beautiful and mysterious woman known as the Black Amaranth. Soon, everyone seems to be after Damelas, including the duke, the Black Amaranth, the Vixen, her bravos, and members of a shadowy cabal known as the Court of Flowers. To save himself, his fellow players, and perhaps the duchy itself, Damelas must solve the mystery of what really happened between Prince Pietzi and Archduke Corbier before time runs out.
At its heart, Play of Shadows presents a well-crafted mystery steeped in the duchy’s history. There is plenty of action, including de Castell’s signature duels and his penchant for putting his heroes in impossible-to-win situations. But like so many of his stories, it’s the cast of lovable characters, the witty dialogue, and the intricate puzzle to be solved that makes the book so compelling. I enjoyed it as much as Crucible of Chaos and more than de Castell’s prior Greatcoats books, which were excellent in their own right. Needless to say, I’m looking very forward to the next book in the series, Our Lady of Blades!