My county's library is depressingly low on Shadowrun novels. The only other ones available are Drops of Corruption (by Jason M. Hardy), Poison Agendas (by Steven Kenson), and Born to Run (also by Steven Kenson), and I have them all on hold. I just got this one, and hope it's good. There was a thread somewhere about good novels, but I've so many books to read right now that I don't feel like buying one not in the library system. Anyone read this one? Is it any good?

I honestly don't recall that particular one. Libraries aren't a bad spot, and unfortunately, used books stores are usually the best spot for a SR novel or three. Or Amazon. On the other three though, I think it depends on your age and reading level, and what you look for in a book.

Those two books of Kensons struck me more like a young reader's book. Not a lot of unique perspective or new concepts. Characters were pretty sterotypical without a lot to them, although there were one or two that weren't too bad. Plot was pretty straight forward. I enjoyed Drops of Corruption a lot more. I'd run off a few other good ones, but as you mentioned, there's a ton of threads already on those. Enjoy.

I'm an advanced (I guess) reader, aged 18. Now I am a little disheartened. A young reader's book? Well I guess it will be easier to shoot through. I always felt that I missed out on some of the young reader's Star Wars books and the characters (or really artifacts) they delved into, but they also felt like a little less canon than the ones for basement dwellers (my favorites, really). Like there was one about Vader's Glove or something that sounded awesome except that children were finding it. And I don't mean Ender's Game children. Younglings.

A great many libraries depend on donations of books, and fewer still have the budget to special order abook, novel or such just for a few readers. It's not surprising that most libraries don't carry RPG fiction unless there's a significant demand for them. Lately, you'll be surprised that quite a few libraries carry compilations of comics than RPG fiction.

I've only read one SR novel, Born to Run and I agree with Fisty, its clearly young adult. There's really nothing gritty in it. It really doesn't push any of the extremes in the genre. It use fairly stereotypical characters and all in all, seems to play it safe in the shadowrun universe. I'm not sure if that is par for the course of SR novels or not.

I agree. Opposite end of the spectrum is Fade to Black.

Weren't Kenson's books part of the clix tie in?

Sort of, yes. Kenson's trilogy (STarting with Born To Run) was launched on the hopes that the Shadowrun Clix game would take off, the way the other Clix games had. It failed to do so, for a number of reasons, sadly (Personally, I think the biggest problem was scale. Had these been 3 3/4" figures, on scale with STar Wars and GI Joe figures, it would have been much more manageable, and would have been something a lot more players would likely have picked up, as you'd have had more non-mini's game options then. But that's a whole other story).

ANyway, the books were written as an introduction and a primer into Shadowrun. Had the game taken off, it could have introduced a lot more people to Shadowrun. The CLix games had been getting a lot of exposure outside the normal gaming venues, showing up in Book Stores, Toy Stores, and general retail outlets like Wal-Mart. IIRC, the hope had been that if the the SR Action Figure Game had gotten into those stores, then they could have been pointed at the fiction on the website (Which I actually wrote some of, which was a lot of fun) and then at the novel line and RPG.

And yes, a lot of WIzkids playerbase were teens. I don't think it was deliberately written to be "Young Adult Fiction"... But it was written to be a primer, an introduction. They assume that the reader is unfamiliar with Shadowrun.

The other novels were more "Standard" Shadowrun novel fare. Steve's books were just the kick off of a new novel line, which had been dormant for a number of years. They assume a more passing familiarity with the world and dive into various subjects.

Bull

For myself, the only SR books I'm really not of fan of are the ones by Nyx Smith, and Kenson to a lesser degree. Some were good, some were bad. Most people will point you to Nigel Findley as some of the best, although I'm also a fan of Lisa Stedman and pretty much anything by Tow Dowd.

Try looking up a local used book store, and see if you've got something worth trading in. Their prices are usually around $2-3 for a book, and they like newer trade ins.

And trust me on the Nyx Smith.

A pen name like that? He already clinched it for me.

If you don't mind ebooks, the Nigel Findley Ominbus is a great deal, all 4 Nigel Findley albums in one 12 dollar download. You can literally start reading it in 30 seconds:
http://www.amazon.com/Shadowrun-Spells-Chr...5230&sr=8-5

Spells and Chrome is a short story compilation, but set in 2072 and 4th edition. Magic is more common, and stuff is unwired. Some really good stories for getting the feel of 4th:
http://www.amazon.com/Shadowrun-Spells-Chr...5230&sr=8-5

The Sam verner series was also pretty good, and the first one is available via kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Never-Deal-Dragon-ebook/dp/B003VWCJ12 (book 1)

My favorite SR novel is Shadowplay (Nigel Findley), followed by Never Deal With A Dragon (Robert N. Charette). I also think I quite enjoyed the one Tom Dowd book I read, but unlike the first two which I read as a really little kid and then reread in my adulthood, the last one I never reread.

This. Both Nigel and Robert were excellent authors. Stephen Kenson's work can be a bit off-putting because it is deliberately simplistic and cliche, for the reasons explained above. So he makes a fine introduction to Shadowrun, but tends to be rather unsatisfying to folk who are more familiar with the setting.

Mel Odom's books, especially Preying for Keeps and Headhunters, are my favorite SR novels. They're one of the few novels that felt like it was actually about a group of characters that could have been PCs.

Beyond that, I'll always have a soft spot for Stackpoles Wolf and Raven stories.

BUll

Not to kick an older thread up, but it saves me making a new one. I think I've got 14 Shadowrun novels or so, and I have to agree with Bull. My three personal favorites were Mel Odom's Headhunters and Run Hard, Die Fast and Stackpole's Wolf & Raven.

I actually did enjoy The Terminus Experiment by Jonathan E. Bond & Jak Koke, and the first Stephen Kenson book in the series -- Technobabel, I think? Also, Lisa Smedman's Blood Sport.

Sadly, I don't have any of the "older" Shadowrun novels, as when I got into 3rd edition circa 2001/2002, a lot of them were already out of print. And they don't pop up in used book stores here very often, if ever. I've got Book #3 of The Dragon Heart Saga (Beyond The Pale), but have held off reading it in case I ever find a hard copy of the first two...

Speaking of which... Didn't I hear a rumor about a new Mel Odom Shadowrun novel on the horizon? I'm eagerly awaiting that one; his books are always a treat to me.

"A Fistful of Data" will seem real familiar if you like Samurai or Western movies.

Shadowplay always holds a special place in my heart, as it introduced me to Shadowrun, but 2XS set the tone for Cyberpunk for me completely from a literary standpoint (I hadn't read Neuromancer yet.). Even with the fantasy elements that Shadowrun has.