Reviews

The Shadow Wand by Laurie Forest

darillium_'s review against another edition

adventurous

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

bronzestars's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

dayamarie's review against another edition

4.0

I thought this was a trilogy so I was upset with the cliff hanger. I am glad there is more but I need the next book. Elloren is becoming so strong and clever. I didn’t like Lukas in the beginning but I do now. I am cheering for him to remain with Elloren so the ending has me a bit worried.

xo_babs_ox's review

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Nothing happened in this book. The FMC is the worst until the last half of the last chapter. The twist was obvious IMO and the only characters I actually liked got a total of 2 chapters each. 

itsryder_'s review against another edition

5.0

Clever and ever-changing, The Black Witch Chronicles has been my go-to the last three years to get some heavy worldbuilding escapism fixes. Forest is a QUEEN when it comes to tying creatures and lesser discussed races into a world where they cannot (or can?) coexist.
While Elloren is struggling internally throughout the series thus far, I've been blown away by Forest's capacity to liken real-world prejudices to non-human entities. Creating a world full of strife and bleak outlooks in such an unconventional way, I personally am impressed with Laurie's ability to draw you in and down into the shadows. Not only is she a MASTER of Ring Theory, Laurie is a cruel, delicious little thing for easter eggs that you HAVE to go back and read, and reread, to catch things that were in your face the whole time! I cannot say it enough, Forest is the Avenging Goddess the YA Fantasy Lit community has needed for such a long time, and I for one am so relieved to see that she's used these stories and ever-changing plot twists to respectfully demonstrate the minorities in our own world (POC and LGBTQIA+).
By the looks of things, I have an a plethora of unpopular opinions, especially when I say I LOVED the pacing, length of the story, and constant changes in the POVS. Forest delivers in creating DYNAMIC characters that arguably have some of the most relatable internal struggles, not just Elloren.

Maas and Jo Rowling were great for their time, but now I think it's time we make some room for the new Queen in the Fantasy World, not just Erthia, Laurie Forest. #dontcomeforme

astitchnastory's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

joyfullyjordi's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.25

asprack's review

4.0

It was a bit longer than it needed to be

endofthestory's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

thegoodtwin's review

literally so sad i can’t get through this but we are DRAGGING things along and the multiple perspectives, as much as I’m happy about the side plots, are not helping