Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This YA fantasy/horror blew me away. I could not put this one down, and everything from the plot to Jude and Kiara to the unknowns awaiting them around every corner kept me turning the pages - all the way to an ending I did not see coming.
Sometimes, you can just tell from the very first chapter that the book will keep you captivated from beginning to end, and Quinn's writing pulled me in from page one and kept me hanging on through every twist and turn. There were so many elements to this story that kept me guessing. There was suspense, action, romantic tension; I repeatedly forgot that I was reading YA.
I fell in love with a lot in this book. I loved Kiara and Jude; she's brave and feisty, and he's the merciless and ruthless shadow that we should all fear. But just like every other antihero, Jude captured my heart and admiration without much trouble and, just like Kiara, I was willing to easily overlook all of his perceived flaws.
Surrounded by a dark forest and unimaginable enemies, Kiara, Jude, and their friends had a journey unlike any I've read in YA. As a reader, I didn't know what to expect at the start of their adventure, but everything that happened blew me away. From lore being unraveled, secrets being revealed, and allies becoming enemies, To Kill a Shadow packed a punch and left me reeling by the end.
Well written, with fantastic plot devices and character development, this book grabbed a hold of me and left me eager for more Jude and Kiara.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Death of parent
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I would like to thank Entangled Teen and NetGalley for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
The Hand of Death? Knights? Shadows? Monsters? Sign me up!
I was drawn to this book because of the cover. Can we just talk about how beautifully gorgeous it is? Did I initially want to judge this book by it's cover? I sure did. But then I read the blurb and it sounded like it would be totally interesting. I was ready for a broody knight who would be worn down by a girl whose power he could not even imagine.
Quinn is a new author to me so I'll start by talking about the writing. My only way to describe it is mediocre. It wasn't horrible, but it was honed. I noticed a lot of repetitive words, even in sentences strung together immediately. It frustrated me a bit. But I pushed on because I wanted to read the story and see where it went.
I'd say the pacing for this book is medium to slow. I wanted to action to really pop and move me through the book, but it just didn't do that. I actually found myself putting the book down. I even read a few other books in between as that sometimes helps me refocus. But it didn't speed the pace for me at all. The plot seemed to be all over the place. I could see there was some big secret that would be revealed at some point right away when the MFC has a moment in a cave, but then this theme was dropped for a long time before the author circled back to it. If you're going to introduce a theme and want it to be a great reveal at the end, you really need to be consistent with incorporating that into the book throughout.
World building, I cannot for the life of me tell you anything about this world other than there's a kingdom, they are fighting to get the light back into their world, and there's a realm where there are monsters. The world is dark and it seems it was meant to be a bit terrifying. At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote related to the lore or a missive meant to give us background. I know these quotes are there to help the world building but there was so much mystery to them, I really didn't see it happening. Plus, I feel like this particular writing technique has been used recently in other fantasy stories (particularly by this publisher) with much better results.
Let's talk about those characters. I didn't really connect with any of them. Especially the FMC, Kiara, and MMC, Jude, who were narrating the book. I usually enjoy dual POV, though I feel like third person works much better for fantasy. But if done right, you can certainly see the characters grow and develop and watch their arc. I didn't get that here. I did enjoy a few of the side characters. I would have liked to see more background earlier on. Things are kept so mysterious until the end it was really hard to have any empathy for the characters.. The MMC's partial background we get shows him as a tragic figure marred by what he has experienced. I feel like what is in his past would make him less likely to trust people or have him putting walls up. I do see it a bit but not enough to truly be part of his arc. I was happy the author attempted to build a strong FMC. One who also has tragedy in her past but chose to become strong and resilient despite her past. The insta-attraction/love really bothered me. The pair were essentially the enemies to lovers trope, but they never truly went through the enemy phase.. Once they were in each others presence consistently very close to the beginning of the book, it was obvious they were attracted to each other and would be together. But the tension and the building of the relationship just was not there.
The ending is not a cliff hanger, per se, but is does build onto at least a sequel if not more books for this series. I'm not sure if I will pick up the next book or not but I might be willing to give it a try if I knew there was some growth in the author's writing within the pages.
Overall the story was good but not great. I just felt way too much was lacking in how the world was built, the importance of the lore we learn at the beginning of the chapters, and what it all meant.
The Hand of Death? Knights? Shadows? Monsters? Sign me up!
I was drawn to this book because of the cover. Can we just talk about how beautifully gorgeous it is? Did I initially want to judge this book by it's cover? I sure did. But then I read the blurb and it sounded like it would be totally interesting. I was ready for a broody knight who would be worn down by a girl whose power he could not even imagine.
Quinn is a new author to me so I'll start by talking about the writing. My only way to describe it is mediocre. It wasn't horrible, but it was honed. I noticed a lot of repetitive words, even in sentences strung together immediately. It frustrated me a bit. But I pushed on because I wanted to read the story and see where it went.
I'd say the pacing for this book is medium to slow. I wanted to action to really pop and move me through the book, but it just didn't do that. I actually found myself putting the book down. I even read a few other books in between as that sometimes helps me refocus. But it didn't speed the pace for me at all. The plot seemed to be all over the place. I could see there was some big secret that would be revealed at some point right away when the MFC has a moment in a cave, but then this theme was dropped for a long time before the author circled back to it. If you're going to introduce a theme and want it to be a great reveal at the end, you really need to be consistent with incorporating that into the book throughout.
World building, I cannot for the life of me tell you anything about this world other than there's a kingdom, they are fighting to get the light back into their world, and there's a realm where there are monsters. The world is dark and it seems it was meant to be a bit terrifying. At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote related to the lore or a missive meant to give us background. I know these quotes are there to help the world building but there was so much mystery to them, I really didn't see it happening. Plus, I feel like this particular writing technique has been used recently in other fantasy stories (particularly by this publisher) with much better results.
Let's talk about those characters. I didn't really connect with any of them. Especially the FMC, Kiara, and MMC, Jude, who were narrating the book. I usually enjoy dual POV, though I feel like third person works much better for fantasy. But if done right, you can certainly see the characters grow and develop and watch their arc. I didn't get that here. I did enjoy a few of the side characters. I would have liked to see more background earlier on. Things are kept so mysterious until the end it was really hard to have any empathy for the characters.. The MMC's partial background we get shows him as a tragic figure marred by what he has experienced. I feel like what is in his past would make him less likely to trust people or have him putting walls up. I do see it a bit but not enough to truly be part of his arc. I was happy the author attempted to build a strong FMC. One who also has tragedy in her past but chose to become strong and resilient despite her past. The insta-attraction/love really bothered me. The pair were essentially the enemies to lovers trope, but they never truly went through the enemy phase.. Once they were in each others presence consistently very close to the beginning of the book, it was obvious they were attracted to each other and would be together. But the tension and the building of the relationship just was not there.
The ending is not a cliff hanger, per se, but is does build onto at least a sequel if not more books for this series. I'm not sure if I will pick up the next book or not but I might be willing to give it a try if I knew there was some growth in the author's writing within the pages.
Overall the story was good but not great. I just felt way too much was lacking in how the world was built, the importance of the lore we learn at the beginning of the chapters, and what it all meant.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
This was even better than I expected! It's thrilling and exciting! Action-packed and great pacing, and that slow burn angst was everything! I absolutely loved Kiara and Jude. They're such strong characters and have the absolute best chemistry and banter.
The twists and turns this story took were shocking and so heart-wrenching at times. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed reading through and slowly putting all the little bread crumbs together. I was still absolutely shocked at the ending! The cliffhanger was equally as exciting, and I can't wait for the next one!
If you enjoyed books like A Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent or Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer, I highly recommend this one!
The twists and turns this story took were shocking and so heart-wrenching at times. It was a great experience. I really enjoyed reading through and slowly putting all the little bread crumbs together. I was still absolutely shocked at the ending! The cliffhanger was equally as exciting, and I can't wait for the next one!
If you enjoyed books like A Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent or Blood & Steel by Helen Scheuerer, I highly recommend this one!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
do not want to spoil anyone. If I talk about I will not be contained!
Thanks to Entangled Teen, Netgalley and to Katherine Quinn for giving me the opportunity to read this book and I loved it so much.
The “Romantasy Girlie” in me was squealing in delight with the slow burn, forbidden romance and the fantasy girlie in me is just screaming with this badass FMC Kiara!
Overall a 4-4.5 stars! Definitely will recommend to everyone!!
Thanks to Entangled Teen, Netgalley and to Katherine Quinn for giving me the opportunity to read this book and I loved it so much.
The “Romantasy Girlie” in me was squealing in delight with the slow burn, forbidden romance and the fantasy girlie in me is just screaming with this badass FMC Kiara!
Overall a 4-4.5 stars! Definitely will recommend to everyone!!
Okay. So, there's Jude, a scrumptious dude, a Commander of the knights. Ebony hair that's always falling in his eyes, one eye milky white, a mysterious scar. He's very growly, broody, and seems lost in his own pain and darkness. Then enter Kiara, beautiful red hair, honey colored eyes, and a fierceness that she can back up while smiling. She's a new recruit, and the commander can't seem to get her off his mind.
Yeah... it's romantic. Angst, ya'll.
So the whole story, which, by the way, is beautifully written with a great setting, is very slowly revealing the complexity of the plot. The world has been plunged into darkness for the past 50 years, with terrifying creatures growing in the dark mist. However, what slowly is revealed is how this came to be.
I really was just along for the ride on this one. All my guessing led me nowhere. The last 10% of this book had me feeling every single emotion. It was so intense. I absolutely loved this!
Out November 28, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!
Yeah... it's romantic. Angst, ya'll.
So the whole story, which, by the way, is beautifully written with a great setting, is very slowly revealing the complexity of the plot. The world has been plunged into darkness for the past 50 years, with terrifying creatures growing in the dark mist. However, what slowly is revealed is how this came to be.
I really was just along for the ride on this one. All my guessing led me nowhere. The last 10% of this book had me feeling every single emotion. It was so intense. I absolutely loved this!
Out November 28, 2023!
Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!