Heroes of Time Legends: Murdoch’s Shadow
By Wayne Kramer
The Grimstone is at the bottom of the sea, and Captain Murdoch is returning to port. He doesn’t have the cargo he was paid to have. He’s lost the chance of obtaining the Master’s Bar from the guild. His crew is not getting paid.
Worse, the man who hired him and the Seadread (rival ship/pirate) is dogging his steps. They know about his ruse. They’ve already figured out he stole the Grimstone. Will they believe him when he’s dumped it into the sea.
Worse, his crew learns just what he did. They were fine with thinking the Seadread had robbed them. They were united by this misfortune, but when they learn the Captain threw their prize over the side for the sake of the world, well, there’s plenty angry.
He has a mutiny on his hands. How is Captain Murdoch supposed to put his sailing career back on track with all these odds against him?
And that’s just the start of this story as we also delve into his daughter Starlina. Last time, she had been forced into the adventure, in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this time, she’s charting her own course after things happen. It’s good stuff.
First off, I love the prologue. That’s a character that you want to hate as well as expanding more of what’s going on, but what I really appreciated is Captain Murdoch chose to make the right decision. He saw the evil the Grimstone could cause, and tossed it into the sea.
He did the right thing, and it’s costing him. The right thing isn’t the easy thing. Isn’t the safe thing. It isn’t the profitable thing. That’s a great thing to show in a story and I’m glad that Kramer went there.
Of course, he did the right thing but maybe not the right way, so there is more fallout he has to clean up.
The writing flows and builds on the consequences of the last book. Characters are developed, the action carries you along, a heart attack happens when someone gets stabbed in the chest, and the stakes have never been higher.
This is an amazing follow-up to the first book and both are well worth a read. Kramer knows what he’s doing in the crafting of this story!