THE SHADOW GLASS by Josh Winning – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning
Published by Titan Books on March 22 2022
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 400
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: An ode to fandoms and the nostalgia of 1980s fantasy films, The Shadow Glass drips with magic, humor, perfect pacing and thrilling adventure.

“Jack, didn’t you hear Brol’s story? The Shadow Glass was stolen from the kettu castle, Nebfet was enchanting it when Zavanna found her…none of that happened in the movie. We’re in new territory. We’re in a real-life sequel to The Shadow Glass! I always wanted to find out what happened next, and now we’re living it!”  – Toby

What happens when fiction and reality collide? Josh Winning’s response to that question is his addictive fantasy The Shadow Glass, a loving homage to the 80s and 90s that harkens back to cult 1980s films like The Dark Crystal, The NeverEnding Story and Labyrinth. I picked up this book primarily because of the cover—I mean, come on, how can you resist the fox figure and those bright colors? Even the title font is a nod to the design of The Dark Crystal’s title. I expected a quest story full of magic, and that’s exactly what I got, but The Shadow Glass is so much more. Winning has tapped into some of my long buried childhood memories and emotions, and the results were magical.

The story revolves around thirty-something Jack Corman, son of the infamous Bob Corman, the man behind the beloved puppet fantasy, The Shadow Glass, a movie that flopped when it was released in 1986 but now has a dedicated fan base. All Jack remembers about his father are the bad things: his declining mental health, his addiction to alcohol, and his embarrassing public displays. As a child, Jack loved The Shadow Glass and the puppets from the movie, but time has taken those good memories away, and now Jack hates his father and everything to do with the movie.

But when Bob dies and Jack inherits his childhood home Kettu House (named after the fox-like creatures in the movie called kettu), he comes face to face with his past. Sitting in a glass cabinet in a place of honor in the attic is Dune, the original movie puppet and the one character from the movie that Jack loved the most as a child. Instead of evoking fond memories, though, the sight of Dune brings back all of the anger that Jack has for his father, and he decides to sell the kettu puppet for the hefty price of $50,000.00.

At the same time, Jack’s estranged cousin Amelia comes to the house, telling Jack about her plans to produce a sequel to The Shadow Glass, and she wants Jack to write the script. Amelia, you see, inherited Bob Co., Bob Corman’s film company, and she believes in Bob’s vision and is eager to give the movie’s legions of fans the sequel they’ve been clamoring for. But Amelia has a problem. The original prop of the Shadow Glass—a magical mirror that plays a pivotal role in the film—has gone missing. Jack wants nothing to do with the new movie or the missing prop, but everything changes when he goes to investigate a strange sound coming from the attic. When a weird flash of lightning seems to strike nearby, Jack is stunned when The Shadow Glass puppets in the attic suddenly come to life. Two kettu named Brol and Zavanna tell Jack that Iri, the magical realm where The Shadow Glass takes place, is dying, and the only way to save it is to find and reassemble the scattered shards of the Shadow Glass. 

But the clock is ticking, and they only have a short time to complete their quest. With the help of Zavanna and Brol, as well as a super-fan named Toby and his friends, Jack reluctantly joins the hunt for the missing prop. But someone else is after the Shadow Glass as well, someone who wants to shut down Amelia’s sequel for good.

The Shadow Glass was such an exciting, feel-good story, and I loved every minute of it. Winning does a great job of combining fantasy and the real world into something unique. At the same time he evokes the optimism of retro 80s fantasy films with his lovable puppets Zavanna and Brol, fierce fighters who will do anything to save their beloved Iri. It was fun to watch Jack go through a range of emotions when confronted with the impossible. At first, he thinks he’s dreaming. After all, kettu and Iri aren’t real! But little by little, events from the past start to add up. Was there some truth to Bob’s mad ramblings about Iri and Dune, and could that explain why his father seemed so crazy? Jack doesn’t know why this is happening, but he can’t deny what’s right in front of him: his father’s creations have come to life and they’re becoming more and more real with each passing moment. 

This truly is a love letter to fantasy fans everywhere. I would bet than anyone who reads, watches or plays games in the genres of fantasy and science fiction is a fan of some sort, and if so you’ll probably recognize yourself in Toby and his Guild friends. I absolutely loved Toby’s character. He’s a teenage boy obsessed with The Shadow Glass franchise, and he wants nothing more than to see a sequel. When he first comes face to face with Bob’s puppets come to life, he isn’t fazed in the least. After all, his love of The Shadow Glass is so fierce, how could it not be real? He and fellow fans Sumi, Anya, Nell and Huw can’t believe their luck, not only in meeting the son of Bob Corman, but going on a quest with him to save their favorite fantasy world. Their enthusiasm and delight were infectious, and the story wouldn’t have been the same without them.

But my very favorite parts of the book were Winning’s themes of childhood memories and the power and magic of belief. At one time in his life, Jack believed in Iri and its inhabitants. He even wrote fan fiction after the film came out, imagining “what happened next” in his father’s intricate fantasy world. What if Iri really does exist because of that belief? It’s a fascinating concept, and it brought back memories of my own childhood love of magical worlds and the absolute certainty I had that magic was real. I loved seeing Jack go from a skeptical adult to a man who realizes there’s still an important piece of his childhood buried inside him.

As for action, there are plenty of thrilling fight scenes between the bad guys—the deadly skalions and their evil queen Kunin Yillda—and Jack and his friends who are trying to locate the missing Shadow Glass shards and save the world. The evil characters were a bit two dimensional and overdone, but I fell in love with everyone else, from the smallest puppet, a cat-like ball of fluff called a lub, to loyal and fierce Zavanna, Toby and his friends, Amelia and Jack (whose tense relationship has time to heal during the story) and even Bob, who isn’t in the story but whose presence infuses everything. There’s a very cool twist later on involving Dune and Jack, and I loved the emotional scenes where Jack comes to terms with his father and their fraught relationship.

I can’t end this review without mentioning Josh Winning’s writing, which is so good. His dialog is pitch perfect and hysterically funny at times, and appropriately enough, the entire story has a colorful, cinematic feel to it. Each chapter is interspersed with interesting excerpts from The Shadow Glass screenplay, interviews with Bob Corman, fan website blog posts and movie reviews and the like, and all these bits added a wonderful layer to the story. Winning ends his tale on an upbeat, emotional note that seriously gave me all the feels and left me wishing I could visit Iri myself. Highly recommended!

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.