Review of "Falconbrow" by Peter Eliott

Score: 94+/100 (9.4+ out of 10)

Falconbrow is the fiery prequel to one of the most illustrious series to come our way: Peter Eliott’s Shadow Bidder Series! The series has won numerous OCA Super Championships, and the third book in the series (Chasm of Night) was our 2025 Fiction Book of the Year, overcoming our most competitive field that year!

And what could make this situation even better? Well, Falconbrow is the origin-story of one of the most beloved and compelling characters in the series!

This is a dark, violent, literary fantasy crime novel about Terza Jaidenson, later Terza Falconbrow, a girl from Sullward’s Lower City who is shaped by trauma, art, family collapse, and the brutal criminal world around her. The book openly frames itself as a coming-of-age story in a harsh world with sexual violence, coercion, family addiction, and physical conflict, and that warning is accurate. This series was never for the faint at heart, often featuring torture and violence. However, it's extra uncomfortable when the focus now shifts to a fourteen-year-old who is constantly leered at and occasionally coerced. It does, however, put forward the idea that this is a fallen world filled with corruption and evil, impacting even young and innocent.

How about this for an opening line: "Terza Jaidenson bled between her legs for the first time at the age of fourteen, and several weeks later, she killed her first man."

What an opening! That immediately sets the tone for the whole book.

Now, don't get the impression that all of this book is dark, dreary, and disturbing. We've encountered much darker, much drearier, and much more disturbing works of fiction. This book isn't one of those that's intended to make you miserable. Rather, it makes you think about what life would be like in a world in which crime ruled. A world in which crime was normalized, even expected.

This book actually does have some bright spots including Terza herself. Terza, despite eventually committing acts of theft and violence, is far from a terrible person. In fact, it's hard not to root for her. She is extremely likable and well-rounded. She comes across as a inwardly good person who eventually has to do bloody and terrible things to survive. In fact, there are times when she's quite kind and compassionate. We remember a scene (though we forget the specifics) in which she had an opportunity to let someone drown, but went out of her way to rescue them at great risk to her own life and safety. Another aspect of Terza that stood out to us is that she's not just a thief or a killer, she's actually a passionate artist. This is notable given that Vazeer the Lash, the protagonist of the main-line series, is obsessed with art.

Most notably, she sketched Giradera of Azmoul, an ancient female battle queen Terza idolizes. That piece matters because Giradera represents the kind of woman Terza wants to become: powerful, visionary, feminine, commanding, and dangerous. It also matters because, if we're not mistaken, this also becomes the most prized work of art in Vazeer's entire collection, even prompting and inspiring him to finally confront the main villain of the series, Count Ulan Gueritus.

By the way, Ulan Gueritus is in this book as well, along with several other recognizable characters from the series like Count Tygean and Lethro—some of the best supporting characters to ever come through our contests over the years!

Regarding, Ulan Gueritas, we're told he was "a young, highly vicious
Underlord considered the number three man in the Lower City, an
individual who had, in the course of his dramatic ascent, accrued a
rather sinister alias. The Raving Blade of Hell’s Labyrinth, they called
him, and this was on account of a streak of devilish madness and
cruelty."

So, in other words, he's far from his peak in power, but he's getting there. He already has a reputation for brutality and cruelty, which are really things that reverberate through the whole series.

Something we noticed is that all of these characters are far from their peak or reaching their stride. However, that's to be expected in a prequel/origin-story. It's interesting to see how they are, how they're viewed, and how they function before the main series begins.

The climb is often more interesting than the destination.

By the way, we also learn why Terza chose the falcon to represent her, viewing the falcon as symbolizing freedom, being a creature that can go and survive anywhere.

Similar to how a lot of these characters don't reach their stride, this book starts off very strong, then somewhat loses momentum about half way through. Yes, Terza is put in peril, but the central conflict—whatever that may be—doesn't make itself obvious or evident until much later. Really, this seems to be a book about Terza finding herself and finding her way, wherever that may be. This is one of those books in which the story isn't really "good .vs. evil" or "hero .vs. villain," it's an internal struggle of self-discovery that Terza undergoes.

So, it's no surprise that Terza's first ever Shadow Bid (mercenary gig) is super late in the book, almost like a side-quest or an afterthought. The build to it seemed to be the main story.

The Shadow Bid has some silliness slapped onto it with pirates and stuff. Terza's comrades constantly make fun of her, calling her a "Bird Brain" and a "Purse Thief." Believe it or not, the Shadow Bid itself is one of the funniest and most lighthearted parts of an otherwise dark book.

The best part of the book is Terza herself. She is not just a “badass heroine.” She is messy, jealous, artistic, wounded, funny, violent, needy, proud, and often wrong. That makes her feel alive. The book understands that strength can be both survival and damage. Terza’s violence protects her, but it also changes how she relates to love, friendship, sex, family, and ambition.

The world-building is also excellent. To be honest, this series always has excellent world-building.

Hell’s Labyrinth feels grimy, old, corrupt, and lived-in. The criminal economy with Underlords, Ripening Halls, Shadow Bidders, Grell Runners, Contract Blades, Sketchers, Masques, Eyes, and Finishers is dense, but it has real structure. It does not feel like random fantasy terminology. It feels like a whole underworld with rules, money, danger, and reputation. You even get references to the "Swell Driver" (storm) that will eventually make an impact on the series.

The prose is lush and intense. Sometimes it is beautiful. Sometimes it is a lot. This is not a breezy read. The writing leans heavily into long sentences, bodily imagery, emotional analysis, and grim sensual detail. For readers who like literary fantasy, that is a strength. For readers who want fast, clean, simple fantasy adventure, it may feel dense.

We loved lines like, "...the words coming out of the man’s mouth weren’t making sense—or rather, they weren’t synchronizing properly with the fiery thing in her chest." There's something very visceral about writing like that.

Check it out on Amazon!