Shadowrun Books

Even though the "Shadows of..." books are now, in the game timeline, five years out of date, they still provide excellent background information for Shadowrunners to use to flesh out their characters.

"Shadows of Asia" is a good resource for those 'runners coming from -- you guessed it -- Asia, providing the history of things to come for every major country in the Middle East, India, China, Japan, Russia, and southeast Asia. With so many different countries presented, though, certain sections seemed like they skimped a bit -- there's very little on some of the smaller nations like Vietnam, whereas the Japan section is huge. China's numerous small nations have individually little information presented for each, but on the whole, the China section is actually longer than it looks. Likewise, the section on the Middle East isn't very long. Russia is presented here and not in "Shadows of Europe," which is something to remember for those who want to run characters from the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.

One disappointment of mine was the lack of information on Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Rim; no information at all is given about the ANZAC, its surrounding islands, or Hawaii.

Overall though, it is worthwhile. It gives players a good idea of the Asian shadows as well as the usual assortment of redrawn maps in case your next run takes you to the PacRim. As usual, there are dozens of little hints and off-hand comments throughout to provide GMs with ideas for plot hooks and shadowruns.

This book is pretty good for those of you who have a thirst for the the places in Shadowrun besides Seattle and Denver. This book details most of Europe with the exception of the Balkans and western Russia which i suspect will be covered in Shadows of Asia. Shadows of Europe gives all the info needed to do runs and evan campaignes in Europe. Ranging from cities like London Paris to evan Rome and Munich. This is a must for the runners tired of Seattle and Denver

Shadows of North America is essentially the 3rd edition replacement for most of the 1st and 2nd edition books that covered North America in the past. It follows the 3rd edition trend of less artwork, multiple authors, and a short rules section in the back. While Shadows of North America will never be able to completely replace the information that gave you a "feel" for the locations, it does a good job of updating and consolidating necessary information for North America. Also, having one book for a current reference for the continent will be much easier for players and game masters, if not as entertaining as books like Target: UCAS.

The book covers the following regions: The Algonkian-Manitou Council, The Athabaskan Council, California Free State, Confederation of American States (CAS), Denver, the Pueblo Corporate Council, the Republic of Quebec, the Salish-Shidhe Council, the Sioux Nation, Tir Tairngire, Tsimshian, the United Canadian and American States (UCAS), and the UTE Nation.

The book also (thankfully) includes decker inserted shadowtalk which livens things up quite a bit. At 207 pages it includes pretty much everything you need to know. The one dissapointing (but perhaps understandable) omission in the book was Atzlan.

If you find yourself very intriuged by any of the nations in this book you might want to pick up the earlier edition books that cover them more completely.

I wouldn't call this a kid's book. Characters get blown away, there is violence, and so on.
BUT it's fantastic, futuristic, and outrageous.

Stackpole's a reasonably talented writer with a lot of credits.

This may not be 'the best' ShadowRun novel, but it's certainly one of the better ones, and a solid intro to the world. VERY memorable main characters and enjoyable supporting characters too.

I enjoyed this book, it added interesting social and rules twists for new magic techniques. The gene-tech was so-so, but did inspire a number of potential new Shadowrun plot hooks. The new military vehicles for mercenaries were much needed. The other sections were nice as well.

If you're a Shadowrun fan who isn't entirely sold on 4th edition, you should get this book while it is available.

The creatively titled Threats 2 is the new incarnation of the Threats by FASA. It follows the 3rd edition trend of less artwork and multiple authors.

Threats 2 is in some ways a follow up to Year of the Comet. It simply introduces some new wrinkles into the game universe. Most of them are pretty interesting and the book itself is a pretty entertaining read. There are enough ideas in it to give game masters and players some inspiration for new campaigns. It also gives a small update on some previous plotlines such as Deus and Shedim spirits. This is nice as it's good to see the game story continue to move along, especially at a somewhat slower pace than Year of the Comet.

This is not a must have book but could be used to inject some fresh blood into your campaign. It seems to be kind of hard to find and will probably go for the full cover price.

Year of the Comet was (I believe) the last book that was written when FASA still existed and (I think) the first Shadowrun product Wiz Kids/FanPro published.

Near the end of FASA's life it became pretty obvious that the overall background history and story (meta-story) of the Shadowrun game world had slowed down quite a bit. We got fairly regular updates in the form of tech and magic sourcebooks but the overall "history" of the world hadn't changed much in a while. Year of the Comet changes all that and contains several big kick-starts to the Shadowrun world. Halley's Comet is passing by the Earth and seems to bring all kinds of weird events with it. There are some big changes in Denver, Japan, California Free State, and (sort) DeeCee. We get a new dragon, some new (unpleasant) spirits, and naturally occuring orichalum.

It's a pretty fun read and it contains many new ideas for game masters to create adventures with. It's a pretty thick book with plenty of Shadowtalk and a nicely laid out Game Information section in the back.

The only possible flaw for this book may be too much too late. It does so many things to the game universe it can be confusing. But you don't have to implement them all at once and/or can pick which ones you want to keep in your campaign.

Probably worth picking up if you're interested in the new direction of Shadowrun.

When one of my players bought this book I thought that it would be a good thing but when I started to read it I was horrified at the way fasa took this book I thought that I was reading a Rifts book and that made me want to head for the hills and find shelter from the end of the world. I think that it was just a book for munchkins and I don't like the idea that shadowrun is moving to the more power less roleplaying end of the spectrum.

Although the stuff in here may be a little to powerful every runner needs at least some action packed runs these things really help mercs and sams get some extra punch and the new rules are good. Just use whatever you like and ignore what you don't

I wouldn't want anything in this book pointed at my player character.

Can we please do something a little more subtle than throwing Insect Spirit Queens, Force 20 Free Spirits, and Juggernauts at the PCs in direct combat? I know if I went up against a Juggernaut, I'd at least want a tank, and tanks are way beyond Shadowrun's game mechanic limits; the lesser (but not by much) weapons found in this book, although pretty cool, do not belong in either PC or Corporate hands. If a Corporation finds itself deploying this sort of stuff its bottom line would sink overnight.

Fields of Fire was originally the 2nd weapons expansion for Shadowrun. It was mostly the mercenary sourcebook and was 1/3 new stuff, 1/3 new rules, and 1/3 an essay on how to be a mercenary.

As of Shadowrun 3rd edition and the Cannon Companion this book is really outdated. Some the weapons and stuff in it may not even be useable under 3rd edition rules without some conversion. However, it does have 2 strong suits that I think make it worth picking up if you're into Shadowrun.

First of all, the part at the beginning about what it means to be a mercenary is pretty interesting and potentially very useful as far as role playing goes.

Second, there are pictures of all the gear and vehicles in the book. While the Cannon Companion *does* have listing for all of the weapons in this book (I believe) it's always nice to be able to put a picture to the item.

Be warned though that some of the stuff in this can unbalance your game as most of the weapons are military and very powerful. I'd reccomend keeping it hard for your runners to get ahold of this stuff and keep it very expensive. After all, military grade hardware should not be easy to come by on the street.

It's middling easy to find and you can pick it up for a decent price.

I just recently got this book and though it is a little out of date(about five years)but it is still a great book that has all the weapons, armor, vehicles, cyber and bioware etc. This book also contains a lot of helpful rules for being a full time Merc. Personally this is my favorite book mainly because it contains all of the gear and rules you could ever need. This book contains gear from SRII,Street Samurai Catolouge,and Cyber and Shadowtech.

For entry level talent in the Shadowrun Universe, Pollata's freshman attempt is very much an enjoyable, intelligent book. There are a few lingering plot holes, and certain things that are unnescessary and don't make sense (the Ruby the Razor backstory, the Spanish Ork encrypted writing) but overall the characters were memorable, the action was intense and most of the plot was fun. I look forward to the next one, where all the loose ends get tied up.

For me, Shadowboxer was the best book I have read. I thought that Pollotta did a marvoulus job of portraying the Shadowrun univers, and of describing things. I can't wait for him to write another Shadowrun novel.

This is well known to be one of the worst Shadowrun novels written to date. There are a lot of side stories that are never explained, the introduction character has absolutely nothing to do with the story later on. In many cases he simply ignored what has been written about Shadowrun but in the novels and in the role-playing game. Part of his introduction hook was to give pity to a dwarf that used to be human but goblinized. In the canon material for Shadowrun that didn't happen to dwarves and elves, only to trolls and orks. The ending of the book just feels completely wrong as well. More or less everybody loses but they all seem content with that. Only reason I'd suggest reading this is to see what not to do.

I found Shadowboxer to be a horrible book--badly structured,poorly written, and all-around unsatisfying. Some of the charactersare intriguing, but the ending was a massive letdown, the whole tone of the book was far more depressing than I like to see even in a novel of this genre, and the level of violence was extreme. I have read almost every other book in the Shadowrun line, and I have liked some and disliked others, but never have I felt like throwing the book across the room upon finishing it--until Shadowboxer. Reader beware!

Read this one! Together with the Secrets of Power trilogy, Striper Assassin and Shadowplay, Shadowboxer is definitely one of the Shadowrun books with the best characters in it. Though it takes place in a couple of unusual locations, it creates a lot of "Shadowrun atmosphere". The only thing that bothers me is that it doesn't have a real ending; at the last page, there are still a lot of loose ends. The whole book doesn't really feel like a novel on its own, more like the first part of a series. I think it would be cool if Nick Polotta wrote another episode to follow "Shadowboxer" - I for one would certainly look forward to reading it!

I recently picked up the 6-pack of 'new' Shadowrun material. The first three novels, centered on Kellan Colt, were average. I looked forward to something w/o her as a main character but was disappointed by 'Drops of Corruption.'
First, there is really no shadowrunning in this shadowrun novel, hence the name of my review. I feel that the reason for this may be a lack of knowledge of the Shadowun universe on the part of the author. Now, I'm all for exploring the little explored side of things, but there was little that tied this story into the setting.
Second, I did not feel the plot was fully developed and well tied together. Without spoiling, the retrieval of the main item in the story from a difficult area works out to not much more than random chance. None of the 'jobs' in the book are that interesting or have fully developed plans.
Lastly, character development was minimal. The author had some very good ideas and an excellent basis to start from. The burnt mage concept could be taken far and further explored, but was almost a side-note to the story. Little more than 'remembering his former power' ever comes into the story.

On a positive note the author did try to introduce us to some new concepts and also tied in characters from the previous three novels. I just feel the author should have taken his simple concepts, expanded and delved into them more. Instead, we wind up with a sprawling story with a large cast of characters we care little about.

I really enjoyed this novel, much more so than the other Shadowrun book I have read. The author really did a good job with the characters, developing them enough that I still liked them despite some of the things that they did. He made the story more 'real' to me. He is obviously an excellent writer.

None of the previous reviews address this book's strengths. First, it is one of the better written Shadowrun novels. Second, it's very, very funny. Consider the following: "He jumped into the sidecar just as the box of caviar fell into his lap. 'Hold on to it this time! No using it as a weapon!'" or, "He turned to Stephen and Bruce. 'Thank you gentlemen. Let's have a chat tomorrow about ways we can avoid me being held prisoner in my office for six hours while you play dice with my captors, hmmm?'" Third, I disagree that the book doesn't deal with what makes Shadowrun unique; the book just connects those difference with the human drama that makes all stories work, and in a more subtle way than the regular Shadowrun formula of "inexperienced but good-hearted neophyte with increadible potential comes into his/her powers and saves the world." In this case, the source of the drama is something as base as the will to power. Bannickburn isn't concerned with losing his magical ability, he's concerned with losing the ability that magic gave him to awe, intimidate, and generally get some respect, and he'll take stupid risks to feel the buzz of power again, however he can. The book shows that the path of the burnout is not unique. It's very much like the path of the decker hobbled by psychotropic IC, the path of the street sam whose implants are no longer SOTA, or the path of the corporate Johnson who gets eased out of the most important jobs and gets stuck in a branch office--everybody who runs the shadows wants to be on top, sooner or later they get too old or push too far. Characters really get interesting when they've been knocked off the top, and are out of their element. While it may not appeal to munchkins who want to see a superpowerful mage toss fireballs that level buildings, this is a book I would give to friends who have no interest in Shadowwrun at all--its just a very fun read. I would recommend it to seasoned Shadowrun players interested in how to build psychological depth into characters--and not just add dice to spellcasting rolls--over time. This is a better novel than Born to Run, Poison Agendas, or Fallen Angels. This is Shadowrun at its most interesting.

While I give Hardy props for confronting an awkward subject - what happens to a mage who burns out? - his answer doesn't feel right.

Maybe I'm spoiled by Gibson's Neuromancer, but it feels like the burn-out for Bannickburn is almost a side-issue, like him being an elf or having nice sideburns. Bannickburn refuses cyberware because it would destroy his magic-using abilities, but there is no hope or implication that his magic can or will be recovered.

I've read fiction and nonfiction where the protagonist was crippled in some way, but there's typically some kind of moralistic ending - proof in deeds that an obvious shortcoming merely compells the resilient hero to grow in other ways.

However, Bannickburn survives mostly by luck, and the skill of his teammates. His most striking characteristic is his naivete. Every antagonist in the novel presented in enough detail to be given a name plays him like a lute, with the exception of the one he defeats using a near-deus ex machina during the story's climax. Bannickburn's gloating, at the end of the novel, of his defeat of his heavily cybered opponent stands in stark contrast to his constant mistakes and errors in judgement. Since Bannickburn is supposedly a living lesson in humility after his defeat - and maiming - in the Scottsprawl, this inherent contradiction makes the character unsympathetic and unapproachable emotionally.

The story could have moved into the themes of duty and responsibility, since the code of honor is a staple of the SR universe - hence "street samurai," rather than "cyberthug." However, rather than Bannickburn being impelled to greater efforts or heroic undertakings to correct the mess he's made by involving his allies with a mob turf war, Bannickburn uses the lethal danger of their unwitting early involvement to blackmail them into continued assistance.


I can't help but think that perhaps Hardy was just over-ambitious. There's a lot of ... busy ... plot work in this book. Jackie's new digs after Fallen Angels; the mess that is Bannickburn - his background, his drug addiction, his desire to return to his former glory without changing his essential self-identity and code of conduct, his fragile ego, his romance with Jackie; the mob turf war; the internal struggle in the mafia family Bannickburn works for; the magic/chemical water that is the holy grail of this clusterbomb. Of the "bad guys," some get killed and replaced by nastier guys, some get away with no more than bruised pride. The mafia still has a threat hanging over Bannickburn's head, Jackie's new safehouse is compromised - hell, they're not even sure if the other mafia family didn't get a chemical readout of the merchandise before Bannickburn swiped it.


This novel, in the end, functions best as a character study for why experienced - but injured/crippled - shadowrunners are best served by becoming fixers or Johnsons. It might also have offered a better shred of continuity with the previous three novels than the almost token inclusion of Jackie, showing, on a smaller scale, the kind of operation hinted at by the conclusion of Fallen Angels.

After the first three books in the revived Shadowrun series something seems to have gone awry. This volume and the next (Aftershock) lack the intensity which I have come to associate with people who like against the grain of a society which is equally composed of magic and technology and controlled by huge corporations that have no regard for human life. Instead of counter culture heroes, this book presents only the seedy side of the seedy side of life in the 2060's, i.e., people who you feel little sympathy for and only get what they deserve.

Bannickburn used to be an elf mage. Now, thanks to one challenge match too many, he's just an elf with a Scots accent. A poor elf with a Scots accent, at that. He does have a high opinion of himself, but he really is just a moocher who lives off his girlfriend Jackie and spends what cred he has in the casinos. When he gets an in to do some work for one of the big mafia gangs he grabs the opportunity and gets a 'run' to embarrass the boss of the other big gang in town. Unfortunately for Bannickburn this works and he gets steady work. But just when he wants out he discovers that there is no going back. Under threat of exposure to the man he embarrassed Bannickburn is blackmailed into making a run into Portland and Tir Tairnegire. A big risk even if you are an elf.

The remainder of the talk is double cross after double cross with a healthy dose of betrayal. All carried out in monotone by people from whom you wouldn't by a used car. Put simply, Drops of Corruption never manages to take off, reading more like a series of Chinese fire drills than a coherent plot with some drive and intensity. This irritates the heck out of me because ShadowRun is one of the best gaming worlds in the business, and I would really like to see it take off again. So Grrr! Wake up Roc - get some more serious writers on board.