Review of "In the Ghost's Shadow" by Clifton Brown

​Score: 91+/100 (9.1+ out of 10)

Ok, so this is a rather interesting book for several reasons (we'll get to later). With that said, it's a mixed bag that we have a lot of mixed opinions about.

In In the Ghost’s Shadow, Mason “Brick” Redstone starts as a college senior hiding extraordinary powers, fresh grief from a deadly mission, and a dangerous “dark seed” awakened by rage. He is still deeply hung up on Tish, the brilliant, intimidating classmate who has treated him badly for years, but a sudden class project throws them together and turns the opening into a volatile enemies-to-lovers setup with a lot of emotional charge. Very quickly, though, the book widens into something much bigger than campus romance, tying Brick to genetic experimentation, secret enemies, and a family war that has been brewing for years.

It should come as no surprise that Brick is the titular "Ghost Shadow." He is a cybernetically gifted/cursed being who is uniquely able to access the Akashic Field, which is compared to the Force in Star Wars. The Akashic Field allows for the manipulation of sub-atomic particles and, ultimately, reality itself. So, Brick has enormous power and potential. That's cool and interesting.

The central relationship is Brick and Tish, but the novel’s major twist is that Professor Sandra Brennan is secretly involved too, and she is working with her scarred twin, Zindriya. Sandra wants Brick romantically and intellectually, while Zindriya wants access to his mind, his inventions, and his potential ability to tap the Akashic Field, which the book frames as a reality-shaping force beyond ordinary physics. That betrayal pushes the story out of flirtation and into kidnapping, captivity, and a much darker power struggle.

From there, the book becomes a rescue story, a corruption arc, and a transformation story all at once. Tish changes the most. Once she realizes how deep the conspiracy goes, she stops being just the sharp-tongued love interest and becomes a full force in the narrative, especially after surviving an explosion unharmed and realizing Brick has altered her in ways she barely understands. At the same time, Brick’s captivity and torture fracture him psychologically, and the novel leans hard into the idea that survival can turn love, identity, and power into something unstable and dangerous.

There's a lot of great stuff in here: serious, gritty stuff. And the romance angle works too (at times, not all the time).

At the same time, this book has a really strange comedic/humorous vibe to it. Characters are constantly joking and making what we'd call anachronisms. They're constantly talking about or referencing things like Star Wars (they try to quote Yoda), Little Shop of Horrors, Bizarro-Superman, Deadpool, and more.

The book has this pulpy, chatty, pop-culture-aware rhythm where even serious characters are constantly tossing out quips, snark, analogies, and little references. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it absolutely does not. There were moments where we genuinely enjoyed the banter and thought it gave the book personality, especially in the early Brick and Tish material, where the flirtation, sarcasm, and weirdness help distinguish their chemistry from a more generic paranormal romance. The “After-Tish Anonymous” joke, the “or something” callback, and the campus legend of “The Rink” all help establish that this book has a playful streak underneath the pain and violence.

There's a scene in which Brick meets the parents like a Adam Sandler movie.

Here's the thing: this is also a book with torture, kidnapping, betrayal, genetic experimentation, psychological fracture, and reality-warping stakes. So when the dialogue keeps winking at us, joking around, or sounding like people from our exact pop-culture moment trapped inside a heightened sci-fi/fantasy melodrama, it can create tonal whiplash. We kept going back and forth on that. There were times we thought, “Ok, this is kind of charmingly campy,” and other times we thought, “Should this really be this playful right now?” That tonal inconsistency is one of the biggest reasons this book landed in the low 90s for us instead of higher.

There's a lot of cognitive dissonance. You'd think that Brick and co would be in the middle of a lot of violence, action, and tense stuff (and they kinda are, it just doesn't always come across that way). Brick is essentially Corren/Psyche from A Fragment of Chrome by Miikka Rautioaho, a cybernetically-enhanced human + having some of Elyon's powers from The Saxen Saga. But Corren was a mercenary who was constantly fighting for his life and his mission. Elyon was a living superweapon who was incredibly charismatic and lovable. In contrast, Brick is presented as some guy with unique augmentations and powers yet who doesn't quite know his purpose, which is fine for the first novel in a larger series, but does kinda leave the reader wanting more.

But the biggest cognitive dissonance we get from this book is the attention to the raunchy sex stuff. Yes, sex in a work of fiction can demonstrate trust and a strong bond between characters. The thing is, the sex stuff seems almost comical, silly, and ridiculous.

Probably the wildest material is with Zindriya. The narration describes sex with her as being like sex with a bobcat while riding a rollercoaster, then revises it to being like intercourse with a Klingon woman, with porn, WWE, and UFC all wrapped up in the same bundle. That is not subtle, and honestly it is one of the strongest examples of the book sounding unintentionally funny in its erotic writing.

She's described as "having sex all night long." There's a description of a female character (Korolev's wife) having three orgasms in a row.

There are descriptions of characters "going at it all night."

There are other weird things that aren't overtly sexual, but are simply strange and unnecessary, like a character saying, "I gotta go tinkle."

First of all, this is something a 3 year old would say, not a college senior. Second of all, when the heck is this book supposed to take place? We have this cybernetic technology and futuristic quantum mechanics involving the Akashic Field, yet these characters are screwing around talking about Little Shop of Horrors and seemingly using 21st century technology. Lots of cognitive dissonance.

Perhaps that's the point, but things like this really got us out of the zone. It made it hard to take the narrative seriously, even when serious stuff was supposedly happening. Maybe that's just us.

This book is a part of a larger series, and perhaps it's setting up for bigger and better things. It features a relationship with solid chemistry and a character with tons of power and potential.

Check it out on Amazon!