Virtual Shadows by Mary Fan: The Final Book In The Jane Colt Trilogy!

Hey Guys!

Joe here with another review for you all!
Today I’m going to be reviewing Mary Fans ‘Virtual Shadows’

Here’s a bit of the blurb to get you intrigued:

Betrayal is the deadliest weapon.

Life on the galaxy’s lawless Fringe isn’t easy. Nevertheless, Jane doesn’t regret sacrificing her comfortable life to protect the young man she loves. But the very place she took him for safety is slowly killing him, and her world is shaken again when her brother, Devin, reenters her life.

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I received an ARC e-copy of this book from the author for an honest review.

I read, reviewed and really enjoyed the first two books that the author sent me. (Artificial Absolutes and Synthetic Illusions, I’ll leave a link at the end of this review to those two reviews)

So after reading those I was waiting patiently for the next and last book in the Jane Colt Trilogy to be finished so I could get it into my eager hands to read, mostly because I wanted to continue the characters crazy, fun missions which takes them above and beyond.

Mary Fan has an amazing ability to write such impeccable Science Fiction stories, with impressive and powerful characters, beautifully created planets and systems and she has a knack for being a writer who is able to draw you into any circumstance through her fluid and enjoyable writing!

Virtual Shadows is the third and final book in Mary Fan’s Jane Colt Trilogy and wow! It certainly hits all the marks and goes even further!!

The story itself is a rollercoaster of emotions.

From Jane’s high-octane gunfights and Ines’s just overall badassery to Riley’s laidback hacking Chapters, everything in this book leaves you on the edge of your seat and wanting more.

The plot for this story, in my opinion, really lived up to and past the first two stories; really taking Jane and the others lives to the extreme. This sense of extremity and fore-coming calamity that we saw from The Tempest Queen really allowed for a sense of distress and concern for the main characters.
I found that all the characters (Bad guys and Good guys included) had really strong voices and a strong presence throughout the entirety of the book, there was never a point of getting lost as to who’s talking in someone’s chapter or who was doing what.

The characters in this book are some we’ve had the pleasure of meeting before and others we’re just getting to know or we’re just meeting!

I’m going to discuss a couple of these characters, as they’re all really well developed characters, but only a few of them really stood out to me in this book!

So firstly we have The Tempest Queen!
The Tempest Queen, Or Madara Roxas, is a ruthless leader of the Fringe Planet Venovi.
After losing her sister, years before in a war between Kydera and her home planet, Roxas has planned her revenge against Kydera and it’s people.

To me Madara Roxas is a very well written villain, a Woman who does not care much for her subordinates, a Woman who desires a justice of mass-murder and utter destruction.

When we first meet her character, Roxas is smiling while watching footage of Ines being tortured. We instantly see how powerful and manipulative she is and how much of a threat to the galaxy she is.

She is a very well developed villain and character in her own right, which makes her so much more intelligent and believable of these terrible crimes.

The second character I’m going to discuss is Jane Colt!
After following Jane throughout Artificial Absolutes and Synthetic Illusions, I’ve really grown attached to her character.

Jane Colt is possibly one of my favourite female characters ever just because of how strong willed, comedic and thoughtful she is.

Yes she is very hot headed and very stubborn, but she is one of the most influential characters within this story and she really impacts every chapter she is in.

The third character I want to talk about is Ines Valentin.

We met Ines in the second book under the persona’s Flame Dancer and Silver.
From the second book onwards the first thing we learned about Ines is that she is a badass!

My favourite thing about Ines is that even though she is this highly skilled assassin with years of training, multiple deaths to her name and a reputation that always increases, she is so very compassionate and very caring when it comes to it. This is something I enjoyed though, as it shows people who are mostly devoid from love or caring can show that they do too have feelings, which they need to evoke sometimes.

I have mentioned this in a subtler way before but one of the great things about Mary Fan’s writing is the reality of it. Yes we’re reading a book that’s set in the vast abyss of space with Spaceships, Laser-guns and Laser Ribbons, but it’s believable and the imagery Fan creates allows us to picture it in the highest quality as if these weapons, planets, people are all reality.
The author is also very talented at writing strong female characters without having some sort of backlash within their development!

The entire reason I adore Science-Fiction is the possibility of worlds full of life out there, worlds so vastly garnished with life that its impossible for us not to find it; but as we as a planet are no where near far-space travel, Science-Fiction quench my thirst and Mary Fan’s Jane Colt Trilogy is one of the reason’s I wish these ideas were ‘real’!
In a nutshell what I’m saying is Mary Fan is an amazing writer.

Overall, this book was a very enjoyable and fun read with characters I will always remember!
If you’re able to, check out the entire Jane Colt Trilogy by Mary Fan! I guarantee it’s worth it! :)
Here are my reviews of the first two books!

Artificial Absolute Review: http://bookolio.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/artificial-absolutes-one-of-my-fav.html

Synthetic Illusions Review: http://bookolio.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/synthetic-illusions.html

Thank you again to the author for sending me the ARC copy to review!
And thank you for reading it! :D

See ya on the flip side; Joe J