Despite my best intentions, my review for The Shadow is a year overdue. This is a book I’ve thought about a lot over the months, knowing my review would be wholly focused on William York. After reading The Prince and The Raven, I had hopes that The Shadow would be pivotal in helping me to figure out the mysterious Prince of Florence once and for all.

When I read The Prince, William’s visits to Santa Maria Novella and the Spanish Chapel stood out in my memory as a great opportunity to study his true character, and I found myself replaying that scene over and over as I went on to read The Raven. Looking back at my e-book, many of the quotes I highlighted in The Raven were William’s. He said many things that struck a particular personal nerve with me, and many of them made me feel sad. Despite his claims to the contrary, there is much more to William than vengeance and darkness, and this left me speculating about him even more.

Throughout the Florentine Series, I’ve treated William’s vampirism in the same way that I look at Raven’s injured leg. It’s an important part of his character and one that shouldn’t be ignored, but it’s also only one aspect of a complex personality. In The Shadow, we do finally learn some details about William’s life as a human and how he was turned into a vampire. And while these revelations did provide additional answers about the core of his character, I still wondered (and worried) about the eventual outcome for him and his Cassita.

As a character, William has evolved dramatically in the course of three novels. During The Shadow, it is clear that William’s love for Raven is restoring his long-lost humanity, but it is also clear that things that are usually well within The Prince’s control have gotten away from him. He wants to protect both Raven and his beloved city of Florence and in the process exposes both to grave danger. The arrival of Father Kavanaugh in Italy was a particular standout to me. The interactions and reactions of Raven, William and the priest were exceptional, and the dynamics between the three characters in this part of the series were truly captivating. SR has hit his supernatural stride with The Shadow, and I was not one bit disappointed.

As the upcoming release for the final book in The Florentine Series draws near, I’ve considered several possibilities for the ending of William and Raven’s story. How will the Roman, the Curia, and the Consilium in Florence ultimately deal with these unconventional lovers? A number of scenarios have presented themselves within my imagination, and this is the true magic of SR’s storytelling. Many theories are swirling, but until The Roman is released I won’t know which one, if any, will come to fruition.

Sylvain Reynard is an extremely talented author, all of the books are like masterpieces for me, so much detail and they grab me and get me on a roller-coaster till the end. The Shadow got me, William York grabbed me and never let me go. It's a must read!