The Shadow Bridge Trilogy

The Shadow Bridge is a trilogy – so far only published in Icelandic – which takes place in the far future. The Earth is but a dark waste, stars go out in the sky, and a new species of hominids—stareyeds—struggles for existence in the Arctic. But even though humanity has vanished, it has left traces in the ice and the shadow bridge, its greatest achievement, encloses the Earth like a death trap. The first book, The Shadow Bridge (Skuggabrúin 2022), opens a cold and dark world to readers; the second volume, False Light (Svikabirta 2023), is a story of murder straddling fantasy and science fiction; the third book, Clear Darkness (Heiðmyrkur, October-November 2025) draws the story to a close in both past and future. The fate of the stareyds Dimmbrá and Hnikar is threaded throughout all three books.

Clear Darkness

False Light

Part three - Published in Icelandic by Storytel & Sögur útgáfa 2025

"The finale of an ambitious trilogy that leaves a mark on the tradition of Icelandic fantasy." Hildur Knútsdóttir

"A mystical and astounding science fiction story.” Alexander Dan

A decade after the events of False Light, Dimmbrá is haunted by nightmares. In the depths of the Earth, she treads the most secret paths of the shaman art. Hnikar drifts across the Arctic until he finds a home in the far south; unwittingly, he calls on Dimmbrá with unforeseen consequences. Indra grows up on Bifröst until she comes down from the bridge, determined to conquer the Earth. These events are put into relief by the origin of the star-eyed people; the extinction of the human race; and the demise of the shadow bridge.

In Clear Darkness, Ingi Markússon concludes the story that began with The Shadow Bridge and continued in False Light, books that have caught attention and received praise. Clear Darkness ties the trilogy together in a dark tale on the borderland of science fiction and fantasy—a story of friendship and revenge; life and eternity; mind and machine; light, darkness and the shadow of man.

Part two - Published in Icelandic by Storytel & Sögur útgáfa 2023

“Brings us to new paths in the shadow world of the first book, a clever and supernatural murder story with the required enchantment and dark deeds.” Gunnar Theodór Eggertsson

"Here is a book that captivates the reader from beginning to end." Jón Atli Jónasson

"A few years after the sky opened, grim murders are committed the Arctic. The only one who can stop the killer is a witch who is imprisoned in a faraway country. Agni, a young troublemaker in the subterranean city of Neðra, flees after being sentenced to death. Soon he finds himself in the midst of frightful events which impel him to journey across the ice sheet in the hope of buying the witch’s freedom and putting an end to the killings—but the shadow is always a step ahead. The fate of the stareyeds Dimmbrá, Hnikar and the raven Owl, whom readers left at the end of the Shadow Bridge, is intertwined with Agni’s story in an unexpected way.

In False Light, readers are drawn further into the frozen world of the Shadow Bridge, which was well received by readers and critics alike. A tale of murder on the crossroads of fantasy and science fiction, False Light is a story of life and death; light and darkness; faith, hope, and revenge.

The Shadow Bridge

Part one - Published in Icelandic by Storytel 2022 & Sögur útgáfa 2023

"The Shadow Bridge is a beautifully constructed book of words which transport us to a world of light and darkness, where fantastic tales intertwine in the reader's mind and are reflected in contemporary persons and events." Sjón

In the far future, all the stars have vanished from sky save one. When the last star goes out, Dimmbrá and Hnikar, two outcast juveniles, are separated and forced to flee across the Arctic. What happened to the last star, what is the shadow bridge — can a total eclipse be averted?

The Shadow Bridge is the first part in a trilogy of the same title, a story of hybris and betrayal; light and darkness; winter and warmth.

Covers: Margrét Helga Weisshappel