When I first read Maxym M. Martineau’s Kingdom of Exiles, book one of her Beast Charmers series, I was enthralled with the world she created, making that title my favourite read of 2019. She finished that series with two more titles, The Frozen Prince and The Shattered Crown. She also made an interesting pivot: while Kingdom of Exiles was definitely an adult fantasy romance with spicy sex scenes between Beast Charmer Leena and Undead Assassin Noc, she reworked it for the trade print market as an upper end young adult book by aging down the characters and reducing the explicitness of the sex scenes, then continued the rest of the trilogy as YA. (There’s an FAQ on her website about the change). With the end of Noc and Leena’s main storyline, the focus shifts now to some of the secondary characters who were introduced in the original books, and a spinoff series Guild of Night. Shadows of the Lost tackles two of those characters, Kost and Gaige. This review will contain some spoilers for the original series as a result.

With Noc regaining his ancestral kingship of Lendria, it’s fallen on his longtime companion Kost to take over Noc’s role as the Guild Master of Cruor. Leading a group of undead assassins is a challenge at any time, but especially in the fragile situation that exists now, with Hireath, the peaceful beast charmer city, having been destroyed by a legendary dragon beast, and Gaige, at one time a powerful beast charmer and member of the charmers’ council, under Kost’s wing. Because Gaige had died in a fierce battle and Kost, unable to imagine life without a man he’d come to call friend and maybe something more, had implored Noc to raise him to become an undead assassin like himself. As a result, the charmer symbol on Gaige’s wrist, once vibrant and bright, had turned to a faded etching, his bestiary link severed, and he’d lost the connections so vital to his core being, with the exception of one beast – Okean, for whom Gaige had been given a golden key, allowing him to call Okean from the beast kingdom to Cruor whenever he wishes. It’s bittersweet, reminding him of all the beasts he can no longer call and the beast kingdom he can no longer visit at will. Now, dark shadows, those an assassin learns to wield to perform their craft, follow him but don’t obey him. Gaige refuses to take part in any of the elemental training every newly raised assassin is required to take to learn how to control the shadows ,leaving him at risk of being consumed by the shadows and lost to the world entirely.

While Kost and Gaige’s friendship appears broken, Kost isn’t willing to give up on Gaige. He knows the adjustment he himself had to make when he was raised, the severing of his old life, the heartache of lost love and betrayal. Being patient with Gaige isn’t just his job, and if he hopes to regain the fragile steps they’d made towards a romantic relationship, he knows he has to give Gaige time and space to adjust. But time isn’t on their side, with dark shadows (Gaige’s? Someone else’s?) beginning to take on a life of their own, Gaige’s nightmares bleeding into daytime, undead beasts creating havoc outside of their normal realm, and an unknown enemy stalking their every move. Can Kost and Gaige find their way back to each other before it’s too late?

Whew, this story is a rollercoaster of action and adventure from start to finish! It’s hard for me to say whether reading it without having read the first trilogy is doable, as I reread the Beast Charmers trilogy before starting this one. There is some explanation of what has gone before to catch readers (old and new) up to speed, and the book also includes a bestiary and short character summary at the end. Like any good fantasy series, there’s a map at the start too, helping the reader picture the various places mentioned in the story.

So, high points for epic fantasy and adventure, sidekicks, secondary characters, and humour, especially with Calem and Ozias, two of Kost’s longtime friends and assassins. Where the story falters for me a bit is the romance between Kost and Gaige – the emotional battle of Gaige blaming Kost for having Noc raise him as an undead assassin just goes on and on, though it does get resolved somewhat in the latter half of the story. I say somewhat because while the story doesn’t end on a cliffhanger and Kost and Gaige are officially together by the end of the book, the enemy isn’t vanquished and all signs point to more books down the road. Interestingly, after having toned down the sex scenes in the first trilogy to be YA, this book has a higher heat level, in keeping with the author’s description of Shadows of the Lost as an “epic New Adult fantasy series with a bit of spice”, perhaps looking to see if it gets picked up by TikTok readers. The original trilogy is billed as “Fantastic Beasts meets Assassin’s Creed” and that holds true for this story as well. All in all, it’s an enjoyable and action packed-read and definitely a series I’m planning to continue.