Deck: Shadowscapes Tarot
Artist: Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Writer: Barbara Moore
Publisher: Llewellyn
Overall Rating: 9/10
Cardstock: These are standard tarot size and shape, with Llewellyn’s standard semi-gloss texture, and they riffle shuffle pretty well. The borders are a pretty silver, but not fully metallic, and this doesn’t have the glittery edges that have become all the rage for indie decks.
Artwork: The artwork is the main selling point for this deck: Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s watercolors are fantastical, exquisitely detailed, and very expressive. There are threads of color schemes and imagery themes going through the minor suits in this deck, but nothing is very monochrome or repetitive. The artwork is excellent for intuitive reading, and that’s the main reason it was on my list – I got this deck as a gift several years back!
Book: The edition I have of this deck did not come with a tuck box or a booklet, but just came with a full sized book. The book spends more time describing the scene than describing the keywords, but the meaning can be gleaned from those descriptions in an intuitive way as well, and I always enjoy having insight into the artist’s symbolism!
Likes: I really like both the artwork and the book, and I even actually like the borders – though I know a couple of people who’ve cut them off of their own decks! This is a really solid deck that I ought to reach for more, and I’m glad I finally got it into my latest shop update. [Check it out here!]
Dislikes: The only thing I dislike about this deck is that I wish it had come with a different kind of box – some of the Llewellyn decks with full sized books come in magnetic boxes now and I tend to like those, but I think I sort of forget about this deck when it’s in a bag and not with the rest of my tarot collection! Maybe I’ll have to get a bag with some of Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s art on it from somewhere!
Overall Recommendation
I would recommend this deck for intuitive readers, and basically any intermediate reader who feels drawn to it. Since the book is somewhat minimal on traditional card meanings and the art doesn’t reflect the Rider-Waite-Smith, new readers may want to get a reference book to use along with it until they get their bearings.