The Shadow of What Was Lost Book Cover

The Shadow of What Was Lost


A Fantasy Novel


Book 1 of the The Licanius Trilogy Series


Subgenres & Tropes:

  • Epic Fantasy,
  • Chosen One,
  • Time Travel,
  • Coming of Age,
  • Ancient Prophecy
Buy from Amazon

Read Sample

This book is for you if you're into...

  • Forbidden magic upending ancient rules and power structures
  • Chosen one stories tangled with time travel and memory twists
  • Slow-burn fantasy where fate and free will collide

From Little Stack

The Licanius Saga set my expectations pretty early on when it introduced us to Davian, a character who is as “Chosen One” as I have ever read. And then it started getting sneaky! Oh, sure, there’s all the classics—an ancient prophecy, magical boundaries weakening, and dark forces threatening to unleash evil on the world—but I quickly learned that was just the skin of it, and what hid beneath was definitely intriguing.

The series plays with time travel, with the fickleness of memory, the ability to choose good even after doing evil, the struggle between fate and free will, all steeped in my favorite flavor of moral ambiguity. It’s a very complex, slow-burn series that I recommend for anyone who loves a good Chosen One storyline. 

Publisher Description

A young man with forbidden magic finds himself drawn into an ancient war against a dangerous enemy in book one of the Licanius Trilogy, the series that fans are heralding as the next Wheel of Time.

As destiny calls, a journey begins.

It has been twenty years since the godlike Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them -- the Gifted -- are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion's Four Tenets, vastly limiting their powers.

As a Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and others like him are despised. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he and his friends Wirr and Asha set into motion a chain of events that will change everything.

To the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian's wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is. . .

And in the far north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir.

The Licanius Trilogy is a series readers will have a hard time putting down -- a relentless coming-of-age epic from the very first page.

More James Islington

Follow This Author

Sign up & we'll email you when a new title is available for pre-order or hits the bookshelf

Little Stacks of Fantasy

Get Fantasy eBook Deals

Curated reads, irresistible prices—subscribe now

Add this book to your To Be Read list

Sign up to build your personal library

Archive This Book

Sign up to build your personal library