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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
fast-paced
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is clear that Voss has great skill as a writer- her descriptive prose is beautiful and she really paints a picture for the reader. The world she builds in this novel is fantastic and beautiful. That being said, I found the exposé in the beginning to be very long and tedious. There was unnecessary details of small irrelevant pieces like a tree, a disgruntled face, or a very slow and detailed description of a person's reaction. This made it very difficult for me to be invested in the story as I struggled to connect with the actual characters and plot through this forest of prose. Additionally, I found the politics of the Grasp to be a little dull and simple- with talk of Osbert as this dictator ruler and Kylene's father the head of this rebellion, I would have expected more whispers of frustration as our characters went on their journey. There was only two moments where we truly see the peacekeepers, the government's soldiers, acting in a malicious way and this did not completely paint the picture to me of a government worthy of a complete upheaval. I did really enjoy Lovelace and Gunnar as a duo, and appreciated their banter and balance in personalities. Kylene was also a really intelligent and wonderfully developed character. However, I did not like that when Lovelace met Kylene, he referred to her as more of a girl than a woman, when at that point she was already at least 20 and had clearly had a wealth of experience. Nothing in Lovelace’s past portrayed him as misogynistic, so that felt a little artificial. Overall, I probably would not recommend this to someone, as I have much more entertaining and exciting fantasies I have read. That being said, it is clear Voss does have great talent as a writer, just maybe not within this genre.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This was a great start to the series. The author does a great job in introducing and immersing the reader in this unique new world. The elemental magic system was wonderful and the characters were well written and engaging. I look forward to more from this world and would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a romantasy book.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Title: When Shadows Grow Tall by Maressa Voss
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Pub Date: August 1, 2024
"You must never stop asking questions, my darling. If you don't go about asking questions, no one has to worry about the answers they're giving you."
🔥 Elemental Magic
🕯️ Ancient Secret Societies
⚔️ Growing Rebellion
⏳ Dual POV/Timelines
Voss utilities personification and metaphor heavily throughout. It's beautiful to read, but can quickly become difficult to comprehend (there are a lot of big words that aren't necessarily used in normal daily speech). There are also long descriptions of actions that were pretty and well written, but maybe more than necessary?
Ex: He sighed, a great heaving thing that made his bones press against his skin. And then, from deep within his belly, a strange gurgle rose. Laughter, in spite of himself. It climbed up and out of his throat, escaping his lips like a wild thing that would treat with no taming. It poured from him in an endless stream and soon deep hoots twittering chirps, tinkling bells and faint wheezes joined the rumble of his utter surrender to the path that lay before him.
As you can see, the writing style is beautiful but it's just a lot lol
I struggled to grasp things at the beginning, finding that world building/explanations of powers/etc is done later in the book. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but I felt pretty confused until about 50% in when things were explained in the form of "info-dumping" dialogue between characters. This is also where the story began to pique my interest.
For a debut novel, it was good. I personally prefer my world building sprinkled in the beginning to avoid the confusion, but now that I understand I have high hopes for the next book, and now I know I need to read this author's work when I'm in the mood for a lot of poetic language.
⭐ 3.5/5
Thank you so much NetGalley and Roundfire Books for the review copy!
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Pub Date: August 1, 2024
"You must never stop asking questions, my darling. If you don't go about asking questions, no one has to worry about the answers they're giving you."
🔥 Elemental Magic
🕯️ Ancient Secret Societies
⚔️ Growing Rebellion
⏳ Dual POV/Timelines
Voss utilities personification and metaphor heavily throughout. It's beautiful to read, but can quickly become difficult to comprehend (there are a lot of big words that aren't necessarily used in normal daily speech). There are also long descriptions of actions that were pretty and well written, but maybe more than necessary?
Ex: He sighed, a great heaving thing that made his bones press against his skin. And then, from deep within his belly, a strange gurgle rose. Laughter, in spite of himself. It climbed up and out of his throat, escaping his lips like a wild thing that would treat with no taming. It poured from him in an endless stream and soon deep hoots twittering chirps, tinkling bells and faint wheezes joined the rumble of his utter surrender to the path that lay before him.
As you can see, the writing style is beautiful but it's just a lot lol
I struggled to grasp things at the beginning, finding that world building/explanations of powers/etc is done later in the book. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but I felt pretty confused until about 50% in when things were explained in the form of "info-dumping" dialogue between characters. This is also where the story began to pique my interest.
For a debut novel, it was good. I personally prefer my world building sprinkled in the beginning to avoid the confusion, but now that I understand I have high hopes for the next book, and now I know I need to read this author's work when I'm in the mood for a lot of poetic language.
⭐ 3.5/5
Thank you so much NetGalley and Roundfire Books for the review copy!
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
When Shadows Grow Tall sets out to be the first entry in a sweeping, brutal, high fantasy series and does an impressive job hitting that mark.
I will freely admit that the first quarter of a new fantasy series is always the hardest for me to get through, but Maressa Voss kicks her book off with a brutal prologue that caught me off guard in the best way. From the end of the prologue I found myself intrigued and invested in what happened. The pacing is one of the strongest aspects of this book, and the point of view exchanges between Lovelace and Kylene are timed very well. Voss’s prose is sweeping in a way that feels very familiar to anyone who has spent time in the genre, but I don’t think she goes overboard with it. I found the descriptions to be very sensory, and would be imagining the smells and sounds of a scene just as often as what everything looks like.
The character archetypes and good vs evil conflict they play into are fairly simplistic, which didn’t detract anything from the story for me. I don’t have any terribly strong opinions about the villains, but I don’t think the audience spends enough time with them to develop any. Lovelace is easily my favorite, his anger is palpable and it bleeds off the page as much as his kindness does. He plays very well of Gunnar, and the introduction of Pif and Ailwin as companions does a good job to help flesh everyone’s personalities out. Kylene endeared herself to me the page long choice paralysis she ran into trying to decide what toppings to add to her porridge. I feel the same way about oatmeal.
Voss refuses to hold your hand and expects the reader to be able to keep up with her which has its pros and cons. I think her magic system is simple enough that she doesn’t need to explain it anymore than she does, with the sguels being my favorite part. Her characters generally talk about the magic in a way that you can pick all the important functions up, while managing to keep those conversations feeling natural. It’s refreshing as a reader to be trusted like that, but it’s not infallible. I think we’re supposed to piece together some rules about gender roles and expectations in the Grasp, but nothing is clearly defined until around 43% of the book where it becomes very explicit. So many aspects of Kylene, Lovelace, and Gunnar’s lives are dangerous, it can be overwhelming to parse out what differs in the threats between people considered rebellious, rangers, educated people, women, and men.
I do think the blurb gives too much away. As a rule for myself, I like to go into a book pretty blind and if the genre and first couple sentences of a book line up with my taste that’s enough for me. Your milage may vary with that, but I didn’t read the blurb until after finishing the book and was very happy with that choice.
Overall this was a very strong debut and I really like Voss’s voice and style. I look forward to reading what she puts out next.
Thank you NetGalley and Collective Ink for the eARC.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Murder
Minor: Sexual harassment
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
When Shadows Grow Tall is a debut fantasy novel that introduces you to two compelling storylines that later merge.
Rangers Gunnar and Lovelace are a sort of long suffering, likeable pair that I enjoyed, I looked forward to their dynamics when dealing with problems and especially uncooperative people. Meanwhile, Kylene's personality and her story was definitely something that propelled me forward while reading, I love a good questing heroine!
Voss's lyrical and descriptive style of writing brings world to life - immersion is pretty easy.
Overall, When Shadows Grow Tall is a great choice for fantasy enthusiasts, showcasing the talent of a promising new author.
I was provided an ARC copy in exchange for honest review, thank you to NetGalley.
Rangers Gunnar and Lovelace are a sort of long suffering, likeable pair that I enjoyed, I looked forward to their dynamics when dealing with problems and especially uncooperative people. Meanwhile, Kylene's personality and her story was definitely something that propelled me forward while reading, I love a good questing heroine!
Voss's lyrical and descriptive style of writing brings world to life - immersion is pretty easy.
Overall, When Shadows Grow Tall is a great choice for fantasy enthusiasts, showcasing the talent of a promising new author.
I was provided an ARC copy in exchange for honest review, thank you to NetGalley.
DNF at 10%
Writing isn't for me, feels almost like the author tries their hardest to use uncommon words to make the book sound more "old school fantady", but for me this didn't do it.
Also, in medias res is a starting point I am not too fond of.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free review copy.
Writing isn't for me, feels almost like the author tries their hardest to use uncommon words to make the book sound more "old school fantady", but for me this didn't do it.
Also, in medias res is a starting point I am not too fond of.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free review copy.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you so much to Maressa Voss and NetGalley for giving me early access to this book in exchange for an honest review!
The writing style did need some getting used to, but I was on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time - especially after I got past the 50% mark and the two narrators (yes, we have two POVs) seem to finally have met!
But that's also where I started to get confused.I thought that "the girl" Lovelace, Gunnar, and the others found was Kylene. But at the same time, we're at her POV, and she's at a totally different place. So, "the girl" doesn't seem to be Kylene, after all. (Why they never asked her name, I couldn't fathom.)
Unfortunately, as soon as I accept that as a fact, the girl is revealed to be Kylene, after all - though she claims a different name now: Cora. As far as I know, unless I missed something, she never introduced herself to Lovelace and co., yet they seem to know a lot about her, and even know her past name and why she's where she is. In addition, Lovelace and Gunnar's mission, originally, was to find and secure Kylene; yet when they found her, instead they for some reason follow her to Omnia?
The last 40% or so of the book has a lot of telling, and feels like many things are skipped. I want to like it, I really do; I know the story has potential, that despite my confusion, I do plan to continue once Book 2 comes out, whenever that will be.
The writing style did need some getting used to, but I was on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time - especially after I got past the 50% mark and the two narrators (yes, we have two POVs) seem to finally have met!
But that's also where I started to get confused.
The last 40% or so of the book has a lot of telling, and feels like many things are skipped. I want to like it, I really do; I know the story has potential, that despite my confusion, I do plan to continue once Book 2 comes out, whenever that will be.
adventurous
High fantasy
Elemental magic
Ancient brotherhood
Dual POV
Found family
Quest
“When truth becomes a weapon, who shall wield it?”
“So begins the battle for the minds of the people, and a quest for the heart of magic itself.”
When Shadows Grow Tall is Maressa Voss’s debut novel.
The book is told in two pov, one follows two rangers, Lovelace & Gunnar and the other follows Kylene, a young woman who is trying to find her missing father. Lovelace & Gunnar pov was quite interesting but I found Kylene’s pov to be a bit unnecessary / pointless at times.
The world building was okay, but a bit confusing, especially when there was a lot of new information about the world given during dialogue. I had to revisit / reread certain sections to understand what was going on.
The storyline itself was okay. The characters, especially villains were quite shallow.
I feel that the book & storyline would have been more cohesive with just one pov. Also I would have liked the book to be a bit longer so that there would have been time to explain certain things more and maybe then the ending wouldn’t have felt so rushed.
I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. Receiving ARC didn’t affect my opinion of the book.
I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. Receiving ARC didn’t affect my opinion of the book.