The Shadow Pavilion

The Shadow Pavilion (2009) Liz Williams

There are certain people who are not happy about the changes The Emperor of Heaven is making. But you’d think plotting assassination would be beyond Celestial Beings.

You’d be wrong.

The assassin is a strange creature; a centuries old child of a demon and a human who lives Between, and is balanced between Male and Female, and this balance seems rather tenuous.

In the meantime, a Tiger Demon who is also a top Bollywood star is starting to cause problems for her manager and agent–who are also the two who summoned her to earth to start in their films.

Plus, Zhu Irzh and Jhai have a wedding to plan.

But best of all, we spend a lot of time with Badger.

There were cockroaches, which the badger snapped up with a slight and surprising sensation of guilt: he wasn’t sure that it was professional to snack on the job. Still, one had to keep up one’s strength. And they were certainly tasty.

“I was bundled into a bag,” the badger said, sourly.

“Bad luck. Come to think of it, they must have been pretty good to get you.”

“Thank you.” The badger was grateful at this attempt to save his face. Zhu Irzh wasn’t such a bad sort, really.

And so much more. I really adore the Badger.

But there are many other bits of wisdom, dropped seemingly randomly throughout the story.

Pride was all very well, but pride was frequently expensive.
…
anything. The depths of my personal ignorance are as yet unplumbed…
…
This is how it begins. You start with the highest intentions, driven by the purest motives. You will not, you tell yourself, stoop from these elevated goals, because you can’t afford to. You have to set an example, to yourself as much as to others. Once you let that go, it’s a long downward slope, rocks gathering speed until you’re caught up in the avalanche, falling, falling, with the lights of Hell speeding up below you.

I’m not sure you’d want to start here, but it’s a marvelous addition to the story.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Open Road Media

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