The Conclave of Shadow: Missy Masters, Book 2

Excellent story telling, and far enough from reality not to worry over the less believable stuff. Fun. action. Power plays. Reluctant hero/heroine.

I'd read and enjoyed the first book in the series, but I'd forgotten a lot of the details. I wish I'd read this sooner. I spent the first few chapters trying to recall the situation at the end of "The Dragons of Heaven."But once I got oriented, it was a fast and exciting read. Missy Masters can control shadows and enter into the Shadowlands. She is also her grandfather's heir as the superhero Mr Mystic, and is convincing enough that people believe that it's the same person. Only a few friends know the truth. Missy is also the spouse of an ancient dragon god from China who appears as human, and the parent of twins with supernatural powers. That got her involved in complicated power politics in the supernatural world.The previous book was half in China, half in the US. This one is rooted firmly in San Francisco. The actions of the previous book have unbalanced the powers of various realms that meet in San Francisco, and if she can't restore that balance, the consequences will be dreadful. It's up to Missy to cobble together a coalition of unlikely allies, including her own two children - now adults - her friends, and her frenemies.This is a book full of fascinating characters and a lot of action. If I had one criticism, it's that it has too many fascinating characters. I'm looking for more books in the series to get to know all the players better.

If you have not yet read the first book, The Dragons of Heaven, stop what you're doing and go read it. As soon as you finished, you will be desperate for more, and you will find yourself back here, contemplating this sequel.And then… Look out! In this second installment of the adventures of Mr. Mystic/Missy Masters, Helms captures all of the wit, charm, and excitement of the first novel, while crafting a completely new and different type of multicultural urban fantasy. I eagerly await book 3 and whatever surprises it holds.

These stories are implausible and a bit ridiculous, but that doesn't stop me from absolutely loving them. I love Missy's world, even if I don't always love Missy. She's selfish and over-dramatic, but I love to read about her world and adventures.

Wild ride plus a few pensive moments! Loving this series and can't wait for more.

As a big fan of the first book, I was excited to get this! It's an even faster-paced adventure with Missy meeting and alienating or befriending a bunch of new people. There are some great background reveals that I can't go into because spoilers, but the plot races along with charm and wonder and pulls you along as a happy passenger.

The Conclave of Shadow is the second book in the Missy Masters series as written by Alyc Helms. Disclosure: I received a free advanced copy of this book as part of the Angry Robot Army review program via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion of the work.Missy Masters continues to fight crime as Mister Mystic, the superhero her grandfather once was, in the streets of San Francisco. Despite helping save the world she hasn't been all that into appearing in the public eye especially given how those events resulted with being reunited with her children then estranged from them and her being pledged to be the champion of an enemy. But when magical forces steal special technology from a museum exhibit, the Argent Aces turn to Mister Mystic for help in understanding what is going on. And she can't exactly ignore this sort of affront, especially when the sigils used to execute the heist seem to originate from the Shadow Realms.All is not well in the Shadow Realms as the shift in power from the last book has resulted in the Voidlands growing out of control and beginning to encroach on more Shadow territory. This expansion has real world consequences experienced as increased seismic activity. Missy will need to find new allies in this battle but how does one find friends among the denizens of the Shadow Realms?What I Liked: The internal mythology of these books continues to be quite fascinating as you have the Chinese aspects that dominated the first book now joined by the other forces of Shadow. There's a lot more story there as the Shadow Realms have their own set of rules and how our heroes deal with all that makes for some interesting reading. We also got to learn of another realm, this being where djinns come from. And this just opens the door for other mythologies and beliefs becoming part of the larger narrative in time.The book also had a lot of great action moments whether it's people in the real world trying to fend of an attack taking place in Shadow or the big chase across San Francisco as Missy Masters and her allies tries to execute their big plan to stop the advancing of the Voidlands. It was a great way to tie a lot of different things together and still have an ending that was a little unexpected but still satisfying.What Could Have Been Better: Given how the last book ended, I sort of wished we would further explore her new role that has brought her into conflict with her children and the divine love of her life. And while we do get to see the aftereffects of that choice in terms of now icy relationship with both of her children, we don't get too much else. We have one effort to petitionf or help and an odd cameo towards the end and that was it. There's a lot more to unpack there but this is not the book that will address those questions.The book ends with a lot of things riding on Missy's shoulders and as much as other people try to help out, they can only offer very limited assistance that sort of feels like when all Cloud's friends help him jump higher at the end of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Thus it's a lot of cameos and maybe a touch of action but not much else given Missy has to run off to the next stop on her quest. And given the increasing diversity of the folks around Missy, it's only natural to want to see more of them.TL;DR: The Conclave of Shadow is an interesting follow-up to the first one that provides more questions for readers to ponder but not as many answers. It still has some pacing concerns but once the action kicks into gear then it really goes pretty well.

I really want to like the Shadows books more than I do. I LIKE mixing up supernatural traditions from different cultures. I LIKE insider references to sci-fi and fantasy comics, movies and TV shows. I LIKE mouthy heroes.But I don't like Missy.She has seen and visited several progressively worse otherwords and fought their creatures, trains in martial arts with a supernatural Chinese Guardian of San Franciso, has studied under both her superhero grandfather and a Chinese Celestial Dragon ... and still has the same temperament of your normal mid-20s Californian urban dweller (or what I know of them from TV/movies.) She recognizes when other characters act like "a surly teeanager" but never when she does the sameHowever, I am fascinated with all those other characters and how they interact.(Note to whoever edited this book: You are consistently confusing the words "me" and "myself". They are not interchangeable. On the same page, "using them as obstacles between myself and Lao Hu" - wrong; "without accidently impaling myself on it" - right. At least, you are not using "I" in place of "me".)

This is a great squeal. In the first book, we learned some of Missy Master's back story and who she is. In this one, we get to see more of the world she lives in, the dark Shadow Lands explored in more depth and given real substance and flesh. The prose is tight and lively, the story fun and pulpy without any of the racism or sexism that pulp usually comes with. The story turns on the character's relationships with each other: parent and child; sibling and sibling; lovers and rivals. These are characters who screw up and try to make good, who are driven by their past experiences and who they'd like to believe they are, who get so fixated on doing right they go very wrong.And what really makes it stand out is that nearly all of the leading characters are female. Just well-rounded, interesting, complex characters who happen to be female. Such a welcome break from the norm!If you've read Dragons of Heaven then pick this book up--it won't disappoint. If you haven't read Dragons of Heaven, go read it and then pick this book up. Missy is the beleaguered pulp hero that the 21st century deserves.

The Conclave of Shadows is the second book in Alyc Helms' Missy Masters series. You should definitely pick up & read the first book before you buy this one.Picking up where the superbly fun, ultra-twisty  The Dragons of Heaven  left off, Missy tries to re-establish normality in her day-to-day life in San Francisco. Her alter ego, Mr Mystic, has been hiding from the press attention and the clutches of Argent, the western world's premier (capitalist, corporate) superhero organisation.It is not to be. Her acquaintance Abby, who is an Argent hero, looks her up and drags her back into the spotlight. Meanwhile. San Francisco has been experiencing a series of increasingly powerful minor earthquakes, the supernatural protections that Lung Di had put in place to separate the worldly realm from others are crumbling, and her friends and family are all juggling competing interests and problems...Conclave of Shadows affirms that Dragons of Heaven was not a fluke. Alyc Helms really can write, and write very well indeed. Infused with wit and humour, filled with a fundamentally open and kindhearted warmth, this is the contemporary speculative fiction at its stylistic best. Contemporary, in that it features multicultural characters of various sexual orientations, women characters who are central to the story, and adversity which is not powered by pure villainy, but by conflicts of interest between complex individuals and entities that each try to be as good as they can, within their own moralities...Is it just me, or is there a trend for (women) writers to write books that are a bit more huggy in recent times? I'm thinking Karen Lord, Becky Chambers, and now Alyc Helms. The Missy Masters series differs from Long Road to a Small Angry Planet and Best of All Possible Worlds in one key aspect: it mixes the huggy warmhearted approach to its characters and events with a big dollop of action adventuring. It's what the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be, if it had just a little bit less testosterone...This is not to say that Conclave of Shadows is perfect. The second half of the novel is a bit repetitive - it feels like a character in a video game having to pass level after level, battling a boss at the end of each stage. And, after all the twists of Dragons of Heaven, the number of major plot revelations in Conclave feels oddly subdued. The biggest obstacle to my own enjoyment of the book is that there are too many characters. I kept forgetting who's who, especially among the male side characters.The Missy Masters series is definitely on my must-buy, must-preorder list from now on. Urban fantasy at its very best. It's on a par with Ben Aaronovitch's  The PC Grant Novels: Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho, Whispers Under Ground  series, Daniel O'Malley's  The Rook (The Checquy Files Book 1) series, Genevieve Cogman's  The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library series Book 1)  series. Thrilling, funny and fun. Go get it now! The Dragons of HeavenThe PC Grant Novels: Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho, Whispers Under GroundThe Rook (The Checquy Files Book 1)The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library series Book 1)

Really good follow-up to the first book (although, I'd say that you don't necessarily need to have read the first book to enjoy it.) Helms is really coming into their own here, with none of the pacing issues of the first book, and a really fun superhero/urban fantasy romp.