Perfectly creepy, wonderfully retro. This was everything I wanted it to be and more. I"m just a big wuss so the horror side of things was harder for me. Plus I've not actually seen Labyrinth (I know, I know) so the nostalgia didn't work for me. But the book is still excellent, and I definitely recommend it! 4 stars.

I'll be honest... it's been a hot minute since I read this book. I could have sworn that I wrote a review when I finished reading it, but alas, here we are... years later and no review. While I can't provide an in-depth review on the plot or characters, I can say that Josh Winning will forever be an auto-buy author for me after reading this. I loved how nostalgic yet new this story felt, and I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually got turned into a movie or TV show. The exploration of childhood trauma/neglect in the foreground of the story was unexpected and ended up being one of my favorite parts of the book. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a dash of horror blended with childhood 80s nostalgia.

Perfect nostalgia for anyone who loves the work of Jim Henson.
It’s comforting, chilling and a must for readers who love classic 80s films and the fun chaos of Willy’s Wonderland.

A lot of readers would love to relive in their favorite stories. The same can be said for nostalgic watchers of older fantasy movies. Personally, I still think about Labyrinth and its message on the importance of community and respect (and, of course, David Bowie). The impact of these older movies for children, with expert puppeteers on hand, created magical worlds decades before Harry Potter and modern fairy tales entered the scene.

That same feeling of nostalgia mixed with an innocent love for magic journeys prompted me to pick up The Shadow Glass. Despite the violence and the creepiness of the little creatures that like to use their teeth, I knew I found a book that emoted the same nostalgic love that many fantasy lovers carry around. Jack Corman, the son of one of those twentieth century creators, knows that love. His complicated relationship with his father and how it affected his ‘oldest friend’ helped pave the way for his own hero’s journey to save the world of his father and protect those he has come to value as family.

An excellent read for anyone who has loved hero stories and wants to read about someone who understands.

This is basically a love song to all of the wonderful fantasy films from the eighties featuring puppets - think Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal etc. As a child of the eighties very much enamored of the puppet films, I lapped this book up for all of the nostalgic feels. I thought that Jack was an infuriating but ultimately sympathetic protagonist and I enjoyed his interactions with Toby and the rest of the Shadow Glass club. The evil swamp queen was a suitably vicious antagonist, along with her slimy human counterpart and I thought the quest nature of the plot was compelling. What I will say is that I don't know how much people will get out of the story without that love/nostalgia for the eighties, but personally, I really enjoyed it.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a book that tries to ride the nostalgia wave that was brought on by shows like Stranger Things and books like Ready Player One... The Shadow Glass hits on some points and on others fall short.
Pros:
The premise and the OG story that pushes the main character Jack to action.
The nostalgic feels are pretty good.
Easy to read.
C0ns:
Focus on top heavy plot as opposed to the underlying changes or evolution going on inside the characters.

I got to the 50% mark and then I got a little tired of the plot...

Eighties babies, do you remember the magic of your childhood watching Atreyu set off on his journey to save the Empress or Jen and Kira on the quest to retrieve the crystal? What about Sarah's trek to the center of the labyrinth or Jack traveling to Darkness' castle to release the unicorn? All of those movies that we watched a million times over wishing that magic was real and that we, too, had an epic fantasy quest that we were destined for. Listen to me when I tell you, this book will bring all those feelings back for you in your monotonous, suburban 8-5 life. Maybe that's a bit harsh but can it compare to a grand adventure? The Shadow Glass is just that; a grand adventure where fiction meets fact.

In 1986, Bob Corman constructed a world of warring tribes of creatures in Iri and brought them to life on film. While the film didn't do so well upon release, it became a sensation years later as all the kids who grew up watching it, well, grew up idolizing the film. We're talking Comic cons and cosplaying the characters that ingrained themselves upon young hearts and minds. Poor Bob never got to see it play out though and instead spent his life drinking his bitterness away. Towards the end, Bob became seemingly confused, frequently stating that the characters and worlds were real—the apparent ramblings of a senile mind for all to see. He was so enamored of this other world that his own son Jack spent his life feeling unloved and forgotten, becoming quite bitter himself.

Now before you go feeling too sorry for Jack, the only reason he's even in this story is that he's returned to his father's home after his death. He's not there to close the estate or reminisce about his father. He's there hoping to retrieve one of his father's treasured puppets to sell to pay off his own debts. Yeah, he's a peach. Only he discovers that his father wasn't so crazy as the world of Iri literally comes to life in the attic of his father's house. Jack is quickly thrown back into the memories of his childhood as he and his newfound nerdy motley crew set out to find all the pieces of the mirror that will put Iri back to right.

The Shadow Glass was a surprise to me, to be honest. I went into it with no preconceived notions and found myself absolutely unable to set it down. By the end of the first few chapters, I was invested in Iri and its inhabitants and in Jack's tale as well. There is a bit of everything we 80s kids loved about the epic fantasies of our youth—action, adventure, great villains and even greater heroes, high stakes, humor, and even the unexpected emotional tug on your heartstrings. The stories of our youth never shied away from the darkness and neither does The Shadow Glass. Josh Winning weaves all the enchantment with hard topics such as Bob's alcoholism and Jack's feelings of abandonment. There is absolutely no doubt that he knows his fantasy tropes and employs them liberally. Instead of these tired tropes feeling unoriginal, he manages to spin them into something familiar yet new, rocking us 80s babies in the cradle of the stories that we cut our teeth on.

Jack is coming home after his father’s death to deal with his estate. A daunting task for anyone, but Jack has always had a strained relationship with him. Bob created the cult classic The Shadow Glass, and Jack spent his entire life always coming in second to the world of Iri. In debt, Jack makes a deal to sell the main puppet, Dune. When he goes up to the attic to retrieve the puppet, something strange happens and the puppets all seem to come to life. Suddenly, Jack finds himself on a quest to reunite pieces of the Shadow Glass and save Iri while battling against Kunin Yillda’s evil hordes.

I really liked this book, a lot. It is classified as horror, and it does have some horror elements, but on a scale of Goosebumps to Steven King, it’s solidly 90s YA horror. I also love those darker 80s kids movies like The Dark Cauldron as well as the Muppets, so this was right up my alley! Yes, The Shadow Glass is a pretty direct rip off from The Dark Crystal, but the story is just a lot of fun and being able to kind of put a face to some of the Iridians was helpful. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of your favorite childhood movie come to life?

This was such an unexpected and fun read! I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this was surely not it.

Jack, a bitter and down on his luck man, is the son of a cult classic fantasy world creator. Still seething with resentment toward his father for being obsessed with his world of Iri, Jack is summoned to his childhood home following his father's untimely death. With plans to sell off memorabilia from the fantasy creator to start anew, Jack explores his father's world and finds friendly faces among the puppets from the shows and films. When a freak storm strikes, Jack finds himself among awakened puppets amidst the start of a war. With new found friends, puppets come to life, and familiar faces, Jack races against the clock to follow his father's clues to save the world of Iri, and perhaps the world as we know it.

Fans of cult classics like Neverending Story will find themselves entranced with this new world and simultaneously disappointed that this is not yet a film. Readers will find themselves reeling with nostalgia for the 80s, the wonderfully weird worlds of fantasy, and classic Henson type puppets. I am eager for both more of the world of Iri, and stories from Josh Winning.

THE SHADOW GLASS left me awash in a sea of nostalgia and feelings. This book is incredible, and so important. Narratives about grief are always important, because grief is one of the hardest things we humans have to survive. In this case: the grief of losing not just someone you love, but part of yourself as well. Losing your joy. Grief can make it so easy for anger and resentment to get the better of us, killing the love that we need in order to heal.

At its heart TSG is about finding yourself again when you've gotten lost, and of course - like for so many of us - it starts with a story. The one that one meant the world to Jack, but that he wouldn't/couldn't let himself love anymore. In giving it up, he lost a part of himself. I grew up with the movies that are all through TSG, and a lot of them have become inseparable parts of myself. They hold my joy. They remind me how to believe and love, so I go back to them again and again. And if at some point in my life something - fear of other's opinions, the need to "grow up", bad associated memories, or grief - ever took those stories from me? I'd be lost too.

And the power of belief! Don't even get me started on belief and creation as a theme in this book.

Believe me: if you grew up in 80's fantasy films like Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Willow, et al., you don't want to miss THE SHADOW GLASS. It's going to hit you right in that part of your heart that remembers how to believe.

I loved The NeverEnding Story as a child and loved Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal a little bit later in life, and it was such fun to feel the nostalgia of those films in this book. This story is a love letter to those '80's treasures, and Jim Henson would be proud. There's a great mix of that happy nostalgia and some serious darkness, which gave the story and characters some depth. If you aren't someone who felt connected the Jim Henson's beloved puppet classics, you may not connect to this book and its characters, but the plot is still interesting enough that it's worth giving a chance. There are some pacing issues that were tough to push through at times, but it was overall a fun adventure.

Jack Corman is failing at life. Jobless, jaded and facing the threat of eviction, he’s also reeling from the death of his father, one-time film director Bob Corman. Back in the eighties, Bob poured his heart and soul into the creation of his 1986 puppet fantasy The Shadow Glass, but the film flopped on release and Bob was never the same again.

In the wake of Bob’s death, Jack returns to his decaying childhood home, where he is confronted with the impossible — the puppet heroes from The Shadow Glass are alive, and they need his help. Tipped into a desperate quest to save the world from the more nefarious of his father’s creations, Jack teams up with an excitable fanboy and a spiky studio exec to navigate the labyrinth of his father’s legacy and ignite a Shadow Glass resurgence that could, finally, do Bob proud.

I still remember it vividly; when I was eight years old The Dark Crystal was released. I remember being enthralled and terrified in equal measure. This wasn’t like anything I had ever seen before. There was a darkness in the story that I had never encountered. The good guys were undoubtedly good, but the bad guys were a different kind of bad. A bad that suggested if things went wrong, there would be a genuine consequence to our hero’s actions. For the first time the possibility that darkness/evil could win occurred to me. Looking back on it now, with adult eyes, I realise this made me love the story that little bit more. There was suddenly a previously unappreciated depth to the events unfolding. This is the moment where I started my lifelong love affair with all things genre. The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning is the author’s own love letter to that moment. To those fantasy movies of the nineteen-eighties that have left their mark.

The story is exciting and entertaining in every way possible but where the book really stood out for me is in the strength of the characterisation.

Jack Corman has spent years running from his past. Just imagine, your dad creates a fictional fantasy world that is loved by everyone who discovers it. As a toddler, you’re mesmerised, you get to be part of it and live the dream. As you get older however, the cracks start to show. Yes, your father is a genius, but he is a troubled genius. Before you know it, decades have passed and you are estranged from one another. There is a pained, weary anguish to Jack that feels palpable. He wants to love his father’s creation, but there is so much bad blood he can barely remember what it feels like to be a fan of anything.

Winning appreciates the dual nature that is often on display in any fandom. The majority of fans are good-natured inclusive souls who are always thrilled to find others that feel the same way as they do. Sadly, there are also a heck of a lot of self-important types who are only happy when they are trashing others. These self-appointed guardians tend to be pompous, overprotective and ultimately don’t really understand the thing they claim to love. The villain in The Shadow Glass is a perfect example. Cutter is so consumed with Bob Corman’s masterwork, his obsession for the world of Iri has twisted over the decades. Cutter has become a Shadow Glass purist. Even the slightest suggestion of a sequel or a spin-off is viewed with disdain. In counterpoint, Toby is the polar opposite of Cutter. When Jack meets Toby, he quickly comes to realise that the young man is just as obsessed with The Shadow Glass. The difference, Toby’s adoration is only ever positive. Toby has found the thing he loves most in the world and wants everyone to feel the way he feels. I’ve been around enough geek culture over the years to meet my fair share of Tobys and, unfortunately, also a few Cutters. The author absolutely nails these characters.

I’ve just realised I’ve been waffling so much about these few characters I’ve not even mentioned the denizens of Iri itself. Trust me, they are all manner of awesome but you’re just going to have to discover them yourself. All I’ll say is “lubs for the win!”

Josh Winning’s novel tips its head to its fantastical forebears on multiple occasions. I loved trying to spot all the references. There are a whole host of things to spot from character names to throwaway lines. I think I got a reasonable amount of them. For an old duffer such as myself, it added an extra layer of nostalgic delight to an already wonderful experience.

Still not sure if The Shadow Glass is the book for you? Put it this way, if you were traumatised by the Skeksis, had nightmares about The Nothing or were disturbed by the Goblin King* then rest assured this is most definitely the book for you. I’ll freely admit I took my time reading this novel. I genuinely didn’t want it to end. Josh Winning knows his intended audience well, and the narrative hits all the geeky beats you could hope for. We all have our own fandoms, those geeky things we treasure dearly. For example, I’ll fight anyone who disrespects Krull. It is a hill I am more than willing to die on. I’m nearly forty-eight years old and the hairs on the back of my neck still stand up on end when I hear the opening bars of The Ride of the Firemares by James Horner. Books like The Shadow Glass achieves the trickiest of tasks, and makes it look effortless, it reminds us what it was like to be young and love something unconditionally.

Enough beating around the bush, I’m just going to say it. We’re all thinking it already anyway. Someone get Netflix and The Jim Henson Company on the phone already. This book doesn’t just need to be read, IT NEEDS TO BE SEEN!!

The Shadow Glass is published by Titan and is available now. Highly recommended.

As regular readers will know I normally end my reviews with a recommendation of the music I would choose to listen to while reading the novel I’ve just reviewed. Sadly, in this instance, I’m afraid I can’t get my hands on The Shadow Glass: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Jacob Jones**. The closest suitable alternative is The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton. If it’s not the music of Iri then I don’t know what is. I am sure however that Bob would approve.

*I have it on good authority that David Bowie’s codpiece is still mentioned in hushed tones whenever groups of Labyrinth fans meet.

**It’s a fictional album mentioned in the book. Much as I may wish to be, I’m not a miracle worker.

If you’re into stuff like Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, you’ll love this homage to the genre in book form.

For me, it was a little too far down the throwback nerd stuff path to fully enjoy (puppets…tough hang for me), but if this is your bag, then this book is for you.

I would have needed more humor and broader nostalgia for the era to fully enjoy this, but it’s a great love letter to 80s fantasy cult films populated by lovable characters.

The pacing is excellent and the world building is at the very least well-executed and vivid. From there, it’s probably a matter of whether this corner of fantasy is one you like spending time in as a reader.

Following the death of his father, Jack Corman returns to the family home only to discover that the puppets from his father's cult 80s film The Shadow Glass have come to life. Forced into an adventure alongside teenage neighbour Toby, cousin Amelia and a couple of fox warriors, Jack soon realises that saving the world will mean he has to take a long hard look at the pitiful life he leads, and dredge up old memories he'd rather forget. No one said being a hero would be easy.

This immediately felt like a love letter to every great fantasy movie from the 1980s and 90s. We get mentions of Labyrinth, Gremlins, Dark Crystal and Willow among others, in a plot that is rife with common tropes associated with these movies, from a chosen one to a quest for a magical item. It plays heavily into the nostalgia for an 80s child like myself, and I think people of a similar age who grew up with similar cultural references will love this. Its fast paced, with punchy dialogue and ultimately really captivating. You can almost imagine that The Shadow Glass really was a film we all watched growing up, and I kind of wish I had a VHS tape of it to watch.

I also thought the main character Jack was well developed. This is very clearly his story, his quest, and it's as much a search for the The Shadow Glass as it is a search for his acceptance of the loss of his father and an examination of his grief. He has an incredibly fraught and complicated relationship with his father Bob, loving him yet also hating him for the way he picked his movie and the world of Iri over being a father to Jack. I liked the character arc that Jack goes through, with the support of his new found friends and family, to accept Bob for who he was and loving the good times while not shying away from the bad either.

I did think that the secondary characters were less well developed, especially Amelia. She's mainly used as a prop to support Jack and his endeavours and also as a way into the movie studios. I thought she could have done with a bit more backstory and fleshing out. I also wanted a bit more backstory from the world of Iri itself. We see everything through the eyes of others who have been there or have seen the film, and get no primary descriptions of the world itself and its lore. Although this helps to create this idea that Iri is very much out of reach and otherworldly, sometimes I felt overwhelmed by the names of different creatures and what they were and I floundered at times to stay in the story.

Wonderfully imaginative story that takes inspiration from an unforgettable time in cinematic history. This would translate brilliantly to film. Highly recommend for any fantasy fan.

The Shadow Glass is more than just a book about the eighties or pop culture; it’s a complete experience. This is pop culture metafiction in all its glory and Winning hasn’t just written a book about a film, he’s created an entire franchise and community and then written about it. The amount of effort that has gone into The Shadow Glass makes it well worth reading just for that experience alone. In between chapters Winning has neatly slotted what I’m going to refer to as bonus material, like you would find on a DVD, incidentally, I believe bonus material from a DVD is one of the things included. There are extracts from the script of the film “The Shadow Glass”, interviews with the creator Bob Corman and other crew members, as well as additional content such as an encyclopedia. There’s even transcripts of comic con appearances. Each one is short, no more than one to two pages each time and not information dumps in any way. They’re quite the opposite in fact, offering a fun way to give context and provide the reader with information rather than having a character sit and explain everything.

These are just one of the ways that Winning’s vast experience in the entertainment industry shines through in the novel. There is so much insider information snuck in through the plot and descriptions, as well as the character creation. It’s clear that it isn’t just Winning’s professional life that has had an effect on his writing; this is the work of someone who loves pop culture and more importantly, the community of being a fan. At least the positive side of it anyway. He doesn’t shy away from the nasty side of fandom, such as the fans who believe that their view of a fandom is the only way. I don’t know if a certain part was a nod to a lawsuit happy lawyer during the nineties and noughties, but I’m an old enough Internet user to remember the days when fans didn’t talk openly with authors or cast members and lived in fear of getting cease and desist letters for fanfic. It was much appreciated that Winning included both these situations in The Shadow Glass and I like how he worked one of them into his world building.

Moving onto the world building and the plot of The Shadow Glass itself, I’m going to straight up say that it has a very tropey redemptive hero storyline and that’s absolutely fine. It works because that is part of the whole eighties vibe. While it is tropey, Winning’s writing and character development is anything but, and the story is fantastic with all the elements of an eighties fantasy adventure quest that you could want. It’s also filled with all the complexities of real life, and what it’s like to have a difficult father that many people adore and put on a pedestal. They didn’t have to live with him though, did they? Jack has enough to deal with already when he returns to his childhood home and then the puppets COME ALIVE.

It is as off the wall as it sounds and Winning does a fantastic job of injecting reality and humour at every turn. There is a huge twist at one point which has to be one of the funniest plot twists I’ve ever witnessed, and I’m going to be laughing over that for a long time. There’s also a level of terror which you don’t realise until you’re reading the story, because it’s not just the good and the cute puppets that have come alive… and when you think about it, there are some pretty awful and disgusting creatures in puppet movies. The Shadow Glass has a whole level of horror that kind of came out of nowhere for me.

The full cast of characters is great and nerds will love the full nerd squad, a group of friends who love The Shadow Glass film and end up becoming involved in the quest along the way. Winning has successfully encapsulated a group of friends who are bonded over their love for a fandom, and I’m going to bet that this comes from experience again. I recognised a lot of familiar personalities amongst the nerd squad, and it gave me a nice fuzzy feeling as I recognised my people.

In many ways The Shadow Glass is a love letter to geeks, to pop culture and the communities it creates. There’s a moment at the small convention that Jack recognises the impact his father has had on people’s lives, and he reflects that his dad had helped people find an escape, a safe place. What particularly caught my attention was Jack’s next insight; “This wasn’t about using nostalgia as a shield, it was about celebrating the things that defined them, the characters that spoke to their heart’s truth, the things that made them different and unique and powerful in their own special way. It united them”.

And if that doesn’t sum up what the geek/fandom/pop culture community is all about, I don’t know what does.

The one thing that I didn’t like about The Shadow Glass was that it leaves you wanting more. It isn’t just a great book, it’s a whole experience, and it gives you a glimpse at a film that doesn’t exist but leaves you wishing it did. You’ll fall in love with the fierce some kettu, and the adorable lub. You’ll want to know the full story of Dune and Dorr.

This is a fantastic book which you need to check out.

The Shadow Glass is a fun fantasy adventure that tells the story of Jack Corman. Jack is struggling to make ends meet and is trying to cope with the death of his father – the director of the cult film classic The Shadow Glass. Jack returns to the family home he hasn’t been to in many years, planning to sell off one of the film props to a collector and clear his debt. What Jack finds is the puppets from the film are much more than they seem. Jack soon finds himself embarking on an adventure to save the world if Iri and everything his father loved.

The Shadow Glass is the sort of book you can’t help falling in love with. It’s an action-packed adventure and really well-paced. I sat down to read a few chapters one evening and before I knew it I had been sitting there for hours, completely sucked into the story. The story is very nostalgic of 80’s movies like The Neverending Story and I thought it was executed perfectly.

The Shadow Glass features some really great characters and I loved seeing them go on this epic adventure. Jack is a really fascinating protagonist – he’s coming to terms with what happened in his childhood and is starting to let people in again. The characters in The Shadow Glass are the sort you can’t help but root for. I also thought the villains in the story were well crafted too and while I liked all the characters, Toby was my favourite.

The Shadow Glass is definitely a new favourite and a book I can’t wait to reread in the future. If you’re a fan of old fantasy films, this is an absolute must-read and I’m already looking forward to what Josh Winning writes next.

I almost DNF but I did pursue which is why my feedback is late after publication. The Shadow Glass was one of my top anticipated novels of 2022 however for me it didn't live up to the hype. I think this is because I am not the target audience. It feeds off the nostalgia of films such as Labrinth and The Never-Ending Tale, moves I have never seen and don't plan to.

Overall a very standard plot Jack our Hero comes face to face with his father's film coming to life. He and his gang come together to try and save the world from his father's creation. It was slow and I didn't think the execution was done as well as it could have been. Liked the premise but the execution lacked some originality in my opinion

“In a forgotten time, in a forgotten world, deep within a forgotten chamber few have even seen, The Shadow Glass sees all.”

As one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 (and also being entirely new to this author) I was super excited to get into this super nostalgia trip. And what a trip it was!

I’m of the target age for this book 100%. I remember many days watching and re-watching The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, even Fraggle Rock. I was so engrossed with these imaginary creatures and the surrounding world it really cracked open my imagination at a young age. But enough about me.

The Shadow Glass is the story of a lost man, jaded by life and estranged by his father, Jack Corman attempts to get out from under the looming shadow of his bad memories and into a ‘new life’. Hes turned his back on the legacy that his father built and is done trying to reconcile his guilt for his fathers downfall. Though through the story Jack experiences the adoration of the fandom that his father had created and as the story progresses we see a bit more growth from Jack which was really well done.

The characters and creatures here are what really shines in the story. Sandwiched between the familial reconciliation of our protagonist Jack are fresh and exciting creature-characters that are not too far fetched and not too familiar. The world of Iri and it’s inhabitants – the Kettu, Wugs, Skalions, and the scene-stealing Lub- were the highlight of the story. I really wanted the book to spend more time in that world and really engross us in it’s lore. But viewing it from the outside combined with the sprinkles of the flashback snippets and original screenplay scenes in between chapters was a really great touch.

Josh Winning’s writing flourishes with nostalgia and references to the 80s puppet-fantasy fandom though never feels overdone. It’s also a story about re-capturing your imagination and inviting color back into a dull and de-saturated life. Winning has produced a fantastic contribution to the classic 80s puppet-fantasy fandom, and I’m here for it.

Once I was able to get past the premise of puppets coming to life (shudder), I had a lot of fun with this nostalgic throwback to 80s movies like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.

The cult film at the heart of the book, The Shadow Glass, would fit right in with Jim Henson’s work. It’s the tale of a fox-like kettu, Dune, and his struggle to defeat a monstrous queen served by technology-wielding amphibians called skalions. Everything about the movie—the heroic quest, the detailed sets, the unusual creatures—pinged my memories of those Henson productions so clearly that it felt more like something I actually watched back in the 80s than a fictional film.

That vividness spills over into the intrusion of the fantasy world into the “real” Earth and Jack Corman’s adventures as he tries to save them both. The worldbuilding is terrific, so detailed that I could easily visualize the action as the plot unfolded. In fact, I think it would be relatively easy to transform this book into a live action movie that mixes Henson-style puppetry and computer animation. The story is sometimes funny, occasionally terrifying, and generally exciting, which would make for a great film. The novel’s themes, including the nature of heroism, the power of belief, and the bonds of love and friendship, would be a good fit for moviemaking as well.

What would be more difficult to include in a film adaptation are Jack’s complicated feelings about his father Bob, which give the book additional depth and heart. Jack is bitterly angry over Bob’s alcoholism and his retreat into the fantasy world of the film, and Jack’s grief over his death is tied up in that anger. Becoming enmeshed in Bob’s creation forces Jack to work through his emotions and his memories of his father. In the end, he comes to a new understanding of his father that finally allows Jack to forgive and to love both the man and the movie that was an integral part of Jack’s childhood.

One other aspect of the story I particularly enjoyed is that the human villain is a fan who has declared himself the protector of the vision of the original movie, undermining any attempts to expand on its world. Such a perfect dig at all those toxic fanboys out there!

I’ve been busy encouraging my friends to give this book a try (and I’ve already made one sale, lol). It’s just a terrific read. Highly recommended!

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

I'm going to make the easy comparisons straight away, the thing that I'm sure that every review of this book is going to mention. The Shadow Glass feels like a love letter to the films of Jim Henson, to Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and other 80's dark fantasy stories. As such, if you're a fan of these kinds of stories this is a book that I would absolutely recommend you read as soon as you can.

The book begins by introducing us to Jack Corman, a man in his thirties who's struggling to find work, who's facing not being able to pay his rent, and is having difficulty finding the thing that he wants to do with his life. Jack's father, Bob, has just passed away, and Jack finds himself in possession of Bob's home and everything inside it; things that could help him to find enough money to survive on. You see, back in the 80's Bob made a movie, the puppet fantasy extravaganza The Shadow Glass. Whist the film was never a huge hit it did find a cult following, enough that it kept Bob and Jack comfortable over the years, and enough so that Jack could come to hate the fans.

You see, as the years wore on Bob would keep coming back to the world he'd created, the fictional land of Iri, would obsess over it, would show himself up in interviews and at conventions. As Bob and Jack's relationship became more and more strained over the years Jack would come not only to hate his father, but the film that he'd created to. The Shadow Glass went from something that Jack used to love to embodiment of his ruined relationship with his father. But now Bob is gone, and Jack is able to sell the puppets stored up in the attic to try and get enough money to get by.

However, as Jack is readying to sell the star puppet from the film he learns that his cousin, who followed Bob into films, is preparing to make a Shadow Glass sequel, and wants Jack's help finding the titular prop. But it turns out that it's not just Amelia who wants the prop, as living puppets pour out of the attic room, searching for the fabled artefact. Jack is confronted not only by the villains of the film, the evil Skalion's, but two of the heroic Kettu, fox-like warriors who protect the land of Iri. With the living puppets out in the world, searching for the prop from the movie, Jack must face the shocking revelation that the world of Iri is real, that all of the crazy things Bob used to say were true, and that if he doesn't help the brave Kettu warriors find the Shadow Glass the entire world could suffer.

The Shadow Glass was a strange book to read, not because it was confusing, or odd, but because it felt so weirdly familiar in a lot of ways. I don't think that you'd be able to read this book without thinking of films like Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, The Never Ending Story, or Return to Oz. The book feels like it belongs with these dark, twisted fantasy stories of the 1980's; and because of that it's strange how quickly you get drawn into the world of The Shadow Glass. In essence, this story is a sequel to the film that Bob made in the 1980's, and because we only ever get snippets of information about that story you'd think it'd be hard to get invested in this one. But that's very much not the case.

With very little world-building on Josh Winning's part, with just small snippets of scenes from the fictional film or extracts from interviews, you begin to get invested in the world of Iri. Not long after meeting the living Kettu puppets of Zavanna and Brol, of seeing the villains storm out of the attic room sowing chaos, you begin to get drawn into this quest. It might sound strange, considering that during the course of the book we never learn everything about the fictional Shadow Glass film, and see relatively little of the world of Iri, but by the end of it I'd became as enamoured by it as the films from my childhood that did mean something to me. I felt like I could see parts of Iri in my head, I could picture the puppets and the sets, I wanted plushies of the adorable lubs, and I'd give anything to get to watch the film.

I honestly don't know how Winning does it, but by the end of the book it feels like this is a sequel to a film that actually exists. I came away feeling like I knew the Shadow Glass, like I could close my eyes and picture it all so clearly, that I could hear the music and watch scenes play out in my head. It takes a certain level of skill for a writer to get you invested in the story you're reading, but getting you invested in a story that isn't even a part of the one you're reading, that doesn't exist at all is a level of achievement I'd never thought possible. I hope that Winning has the story of the Shadow Glass film written down, or planned out in his head. I want that to be released, as either another novel, or a comic series, or anything really. I want this world that only exists as a tiny corner of this book to get its chance to exist outside of it, because this world that Winning has created within these pages is honestly wonderful.

But I can't talk about this fictional film for the entirety of my review, as there's so much more to this book too. The Shadow Glass is a story about learning to overcome trauma, as so many of those 80's films were. Jack grew up thinking that his father hated him, that a fictional world meant more to him than his own son. There are reasons for this, and over the course of the book we learn more and more about their relationship and we see how Jack came to this conclusion; especially after one absolutely heartbreaking scene. Over the course of the novel Jack has to face the past that he's buried away, the feelings that he's ignored his entire life.

Jack doesn't just hate his father, but he hates the film that he created too, something that he once loved as a child. For Jack, Bob and The Shadow Glass have become so linked, so entwined that when people talk about how much they love it it feels like they're condoning Bob's behaviour, that they're belittling the trauma Jack has gone through. We see that across the book, how he instantly hates fans of the film even without knowing anything about them, how he has to leave the room if the film is playing because it makes him feel physically sick. Jack's going through complex PTSD, he's associated this film with his trauma, and over the course of the book he has to confront that.

As someone who's been through trauma, who's been diagnosed with PTSD, who's had certain things become associated with my trauma and has had anxiety attacks and depression spirals triggered by the most innocuous things I completely understood Jack's reaction. I could see parts of myself reflected in him. It would have been easy to have him stay hating The Shadow Glass for the entire book, or to be completely cured of his hatred for it come the end, but Winning has Jack having to fight through those feelings throughout the book, and there's even a sense that whilst he's dealt with a lot of this come the end he's still not completely done with his healing journey by the time the book's done. I loved this, I loved that trauma was shown to be this hard, complex journey, one that doesn't always make sense, one that requires work to get through. It felt like we were getting an honest portrayal of a complex mental health issue that often gets overlooked; and I really appreciated that.

Jack isn't alone in his journey though, as he soon gets a group of new friends helping him along the way, both puppet and human. The group that forms in the book are a great collection of individuals, who showcase some very different personality types. For the puppets, there's Zavanna, who's a very reserved and almost stoic warrior, one who doesn't care about making friends or being nice, simply getting the mission done; and there's Brol, who's more open and kind, and is filled with a sense of wonder at getting to discover new things. Both of these warriors feel like the typical archetypes you get in these kinds of 80's fantasy stories, the two kinds of leads that you'd see. One is so dedicated to the mission that she can't see how she has time to stop and appreciate the small moments, whilst the other understands that those small wonders are what they're fighting to protect. Both of them are wonderful characters, and I adored getting to know them as the book progressed, seeing how the events changed them and altered their views of the world as they fought to save both Iri and Earth.

There are also some interesting human characters who end up helping Jack, in the form of some Shadow Glass mega-fans. This group of people are folks who love the movie, who watch it regularly, who read the books, who collect the merch, and who make it a large part of their personality. They're the kind of people that Jack instantly hates. However, they're the perfect people to help Jack on his journey, not just because they know the world of Iri and The Shadow Glass so well, but because they're the perfect people for Jack to be around to help him through his issues regarding the movie. There are some wonderful people in this bunch, with a good mix of personalities, but I absolutely adored Toby, who kind of becomes Jack's right-hand man. Toby is the perfect stand-in for many of us readers, the kind of mega-fan who would love to meet our heroes, and to see the worlds and creations we love be real. I also assume he's called Toby as a nod to Labyrinth, which makes me love him all the more.

I absolutely adored reading The Shadow Glass. I loved how quickly I became invested in this fictional world, and this story within a story. The book appealed to me as a fan of this kind of 80's fiction, as someone who's a geek. I hope that we get to see more of this stuff from Winning in the future, whether that's more stories like this, or getting to find out what the Shadow Glass film was like. This has quickly become not just one of my favourite books, but one of my favourite fictional worlds.