Review of the Outstretched Shadow

Last updated on: April 3, 2018 at 8:00 am by Coyle Neal

Review of the Outstretched Shadow 2018-03-25T14:00:40-06:00 Coyle Neal

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My first foray into the extensive set of works by Mercedes Lackey has been an encouraging one. If you’re like me, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section at the bookstore is always a bit overwhelming. Sure, there’s a fairly small list of sci-fi classic authors to choose from (hint: always check to see if they’ve got anything by Cordwainer Smith or Clifford Simak), but that particular section at the bookstore is usually just a wall of multi-colored covers that provide no way to distinguish the quality works from the utter tripe. And a significant portion of those books are written by Mercedes Lackey. With more than 140 books published at a rate of roughly 5.5/year (according to that postmodern bastion of knowledge, Wikipedia, at any rate), at least some of those works have to be tripe.

The Outstretched Shadow, however, is not. It’s a fairly thoughtful young adult book with a surprising degree of complexity in its treatment of difficult moral themes. Spoilers abound from here on out, so if you’ve not read the book (or listened to the excellent audio edition) you should stop reading this, go read the book, and then come back and read the rest of this review.

We first meet Kellen Tavadon, the son of the Arch-Mage of Armathelieh, as a reluctant student of the arcane mysteries of the High Magic. And frankly, he’s an insufferable little twit. He doesn’t like all the hard, repetitive work that is required to master the high magic–and he really doesn’t like that he has to do it because of his father’s position in the city. Lord help him if his father had been a master carpenter or tailor or any number of other occupations that require hard work and dedication in order to thrive at the job. Now eventually this… discontent with the teaching of the High Magic becomes a plot point, but it’s a long time in coming and we’ve got to deal with a ton of angst in the meanwhile.

In the midst of his teenage angst, three small books drop into Kellen’s world. The books of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars show Kellen another way. If the High Magic isn’t for him, maybe he’ll have better luck with the Wild Magic. After some experimentation, Kellen begins to learn the secrets of this new kind of magic, only to get caught and accused of heresy by his own father. When he refuses to reject the Wild Magic, Kellen is exiled from the city of Armathelieh. A few hours later, the city literally releases the hounds on him. Stone, magic, hounds, but hounds nonetheless.

Armathelien Tough Love/ Image Source: Knowyourmeme

Image Source: Macmillan

Using what he’s learned of the Wild Magic, Kellen manages to escape with the assistance of Shalkan the Unicorn. Together they fight off the stone hounds and arrive outside the boundaries of the city’s lands at the hut of another wild mage–who also happens to be Kellen’s exiled sister Idalia. Under her tutelage and with the continued assistance of Shalkan, Kellen begins to practice using the Wild Magic, only to find that he isn’t much better at it than he had been at the High Magic. Disturbing visions and dreams of demon hordes begin to haunt Kellen, and he wonders if he isn’t really supposed to be using Demon Magic (the third kind of magic in this particular world) and eventually fall under the thrall of the demon Queen Savilla. Will Kellen lose himself to evil? Will the demonic assault on the realm of the elves succeed? Will the city of Armathelieh continue to slip into arrogance and isolation and away from the side of good?

Clearly, this is a complicated book–and just the first of a series. And yet the complex plot points provide plenty of room for nuanced reflection on difficult questions. For example, on his introduction to the Wild Magic, Kellen learns that all magic has a cost. Spells require service or sacrifice–though a choice is always given as to whether or not the price will be accepted. The price can also be shared among the recipients of the spell. Eventually Kellen finds that the same is true of the High Magic, though the ‘price’ of the High Magic is spread out among the citizens of the city so much that no one ever notices it. Each citizen gives (unwittingly) a small portion of their own personal power to the communal pool, which the city mages then use for the ‘common good’ (which, over time, has become the good of the rulers rather than the good of everyone).

This is probably a poor summary of a complicated concept in a long book, but I think it’s still a concept worthy of reflection. In an age of instant gratification where we all want to be served rather than to serve, the idea that sacrifice is necessary–even personal sacrifice–to achieve good ends is an unpopular one. We all want positive results without even the slightest pain. And yet, that’s not the way a fallen world works. Sweat and tears build the good things we enjoy–Christ’s accomplish our salvation, and our reflect that accomplishment through common grace.

Additionally, The Outstretched Shadow includes a wonderful picture of how real-world morality works. Throughout the book, Kellen thinks about the difficult moral decisions that he will face. When he knows he’s going to have to make a decision, he (surprisingly thoughtfully) thinks about all the ways he might make a decision that goes wrong. “If I do X, Y terrible thing could happen; but if I do Y, then Z terrible thing could happen” is the sort of reflection that Kellen engages in more and more as he matures. And yet, where this kind of thought could easily slip into moral relativism, when it actually comes down to it the right choice is always clear.

The same is true in our lives. When we’re thinking academically about moral decisions, we can see a lot of shades of gray. The right thing can be obscure and hard to trace out. And yet, when we’re in the actual situation, we know that lying or stealing or siding with the demons against the elves is simply the wrong choice. That’s not to say that every real-world situation is crystal clear of course, just that many of them aren’t as complicated as we make them out to be. Actually doing the right thing is obviously a different matter entirely…

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO. There aren’t many elves where he lives.

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