Daraja won't sit at home and wait for a man to follow the river to her clan and marry her. She wants to do her own walking. Danger lurks in the forest however, and a pack of wild canids proves the least of her worries....

A CAST OF SHADOWS links the stories of Daraja, from a clan who can weave silk from spinnerets in their fingers, and Brynmer, an insubstantial spirit tied to the body and mind of an alpha canid. The fisher girl is noticed following the river but only when a canid is found dead and with its head and paws removed, does the pack regard her as a danger. Brynmer used to live in the nearest city, which is now teeming with plague victims, and he tries to persuade his canid partner that hunters from the city might be responsible. Daraja spots two men taking trophies from another dead animal, and realises that the items are sold as charms to ward off the plague - to no avail.

Daraja doesn't understand at first that Brynmer is using strength from his partner to appear in living form to her, as they are at first opposed and then have to work together. He had a sad past life with sins which he cannot let go, and the brave young woman reminds him of what it was like to talk to people rather than animals. Gradually he shares his story and she starts to wonder if she has walked far enough and found her match - but when she saves a pup's life and then has to choose between the hunters and the canids in a battle, a ghost is all she has for support.

I enjoyed A CAST OF SHADOWS which is part of a series by Hailey Edwards called 'Araneae Nation', and I liked the descriptions of the canids and the forest. However I would have liked to see a contrast, a glimpse of the city or a travelling barge of entertainers perhaps, and if Daraja had been walking alone for months it seems there are very few people following the river. I also doubted that she would leave her spears behind at one point when they had already proved vital to her survival. She was an independent young woman and had no intention of settling down without seeing a little of the world, so many readers will identify with this character.