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beccajoek's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Really enjoying this series even if can be a little predictable at times.
ameserole's review against another edition
5.0
“You're a thief, Echo.' The Ala Squeezed her hand, her grip strong despite her frailty. 'Steal him back.”
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING BUT WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT!?!?
a bullshit one.
Seriously, I'm freaking out so freaking much that I can't stop freaking out!!
Speaking of Tanith -
I want her to die so badly in the next book and I will be completely devastated if that doesn't happen. But don't ruin it for me I will definitely be picking up this book tomorrow and find out for myself.
Then there's Rowan and I just don't really care what happens to him. I'm glad that he sort of got to be apart of the "Scooby Gang" but was he really necessary? I get that he is friends with Echo, and no I will not say he is a boyfriend..ever, but meh he was just kind of there. At least to me he was. Now if he helped Echo go and save Caius, the love of her life, then I would be 100% okay with that.
Oh, and the Ala is back after being hurt sometime within this book and I absolutely love that she told Echo to go steal Caius back because he was... ya know ... stolen from her. But I have a feeling that Ala ships them together almost as much as I ship them.
Other than that, shit did hit the fan a couple of times. A lot of death has happened in this book. A lot of death. But it was so amazing and interesting and I loved every word on every page. I'm so beyond happy that I read this book and I can't wait to dive into the next book tomorrow.
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. RIGHT NOW. DROP EVERYTHING. GET THIS SERIES.
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING BUT WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ENDING WAS THAT!?!?
a bullshit one.
Seriously, I'm freaking out so freaking much that I can't stop freaking out!!
Spoiler
I LOVE ECHO. ECHO IS MY MAIN BITCH. MY DIE HARD. I cannot live without Echo in my life anymore. This book sort of broke me. I don't want her with Rowan so she needs to figure that shit out and cut him loose. She needs to be with Caius. 100% needs to be with him right now. She needs to put on her thiefing pants and her big girl shoes and go face Tanith and steal him back.Speaking of Tanith -
I want her to die so badly in the next book and I will be completely devastated if that doesn't happen. But don't ruin it for me I will definitely be picking up this book tomorrow and find out for myself.
Then there's Rowan and I just don't really care what happens to him. I'm glad that he sort of got to be apart of the "Scooby Gang" but was he really necessary? I get that he is friends with Echo, and no I will not say he is a boyfriend..ever, but meh he was just kind of there. At least to me he was. Now if he helped Echo go and save Caius, the love of her life, then I would be 100% okay with that.
Oh, and the Ala is back after being hurt sometime within this book and I absolutely love that she told Echo to go steal Caius back because he was... ya know ... stolen from her. But I have a feeling that Ala ships them together almost as much as I ship them.
Other than that, shit did hit the fan a couple of times. A lot of death has happened in this book. A lot of death. But it was so amazing and interesting and I loved every word on every page. I'm so beyond happy that I read this book and I can't wait to dive into the next book tomorrow.
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. RIGHT NOW. DROP EVERYTHING. GET THIS SERIES.
sleepysamreads's review against another edition
I really loved The Girl At Midnight and was really looking forward to this. But sadly, it fell flat for me. I got about 75% through and just gave up. It was really boring. I still love the characters, but the actual storyline felt really generic to me.
manoncremers's review against another edition
2.0
After having read the magical tale of The Girl at Midnight, nothing could have prepared me for the utter disappointment that is The Shadow Hour. It look me a good year and a half to continue and finally finish the damn book. I wish that I hadn't: the seemingly innocent 'love triangle' turned into a frustrating, Twilight-like mess; the pace of this book was equal to that of a slug and in the end, it all resulted in a brief, unsatisfactory climax that left me wanting so much more. Despite my longing for a better third book, it's safe to say I won't be continuing this series.
snowblu3's review against another edition
2.0
The first book in the series was fluff but delightful fluff. The writing in the first wasn't the best, but the story was engaging and it had its redeeming qualities. This one, though. Meh. It's just dragging on. When I was forcing myself to at least skim through the last quarter of the book, I decided there was no point in continuing. I don't know how it ends and I don't care! It's a shame since the first one was much better. This one feels uninspired.
noolna's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't really have high expectations for this book - in fact, I skimmed about 20% of it. I was still curious from the previous book to see where the author would take it, and if we're being real - it didn't go very far.
It felt like a lot of the time the group of characters kept going from one place to another, following a wild goose chase and nothing really exciting happens. When something dramatic or "difficult" happens, the solution to it felt too easy and neat - there was nothing about it that showed how Echo or the others really grew from what happened. Also, I found Echo more annoying in this book than I did in the first one - but that could also be because I don't exactly remember what happened except for the ending.
The main conflicting "ships" are boring and just so bland. There's no life to it, Caius/Echo/Rowan still have no chemistry and what happened to Caius at the end didn't even make me feel the least bit sad. The problem is that the dialogue between the characters are either a) so stiff b) so childish c) trying so hard to be funny and it ends up just being lame. Also the separation of POVs was just sooooo confusing and everything was underwhelming.
A part of me wants to pick up the next book just to see how it ends and cause I'm curious to see if the Ivy/Helios thing continues on. Another part of me also doesn't care that much either.
It felt like a lot of the time the group of characters kept going from one place to another, following a wild goose chase and nothing really exciting happens. When something dramatic or "difficult" happens, the solution to it felt too easy and neat - there was nothing about it that showed how Echo or the others really grew from what happened. Also, I found Echo more annoying in this book than I did in the first one - but that could also be because I don't exactly remember what happened except for the ending.
The main conflicting "ships" are boring and just so bland. There's no life to it, Caius/Echo/Rowan still have no chemistry and what happened to Caius at the end didn't even make me feel the least bit sad. The problem is that the dialogue between the characters are either a) so stiff b) so childish c) trying so hard to be funny and it ends up just being lame. Also the separation of POVs was just sooooo confusing and everything was underwhelming.
A part of me wants to pick up the next book just to see how it ends and cause I'm curious to see if the Ivy/Helios thing continues on. Another part of me also doesn't care that much either.
pixelski's review against another edition
3.0
Firstly, thanks to Hachette Australia for this review copy.
Review originally posted at Fiction in Fiction in Fiction
3.5/5 stars.
The Shadow Hour is one of my most anticipated releases of 2016 because The Girl at Midnight was one of my favs of 2015. I’m not sure what to say about TSH – while I certainly enjoyed it, I didn’t think it wow’d me enough. I think this is because it took me so long to read it, partially because as I had so much going on in my life, but also because the story didn’t progress in a way that had me going “just one more chapter” whilst reading before bed.
The story opens with our gang hiding after the ending of book 1. The new threat that looms is the universe’s way of balancing Echo’s power and it’s basically this that drives the plot of book 2.
Whilst Echo is still witty in TSH she’s definitely a lot more subdued – which is expected given the circumstances. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the perfect character progression on Grey’s part but at the same time I missed her sarcasm and banter which brought so much life to TGaM. Echo is suffering internally – with what she’s become, with new responsibilities heaped upon her, and what’s to come. It’s a lonely ride for her as nobody really understands what she’s going through. I liked the way slowly accepts many things but is also willing to fight for what she hopes she can change.
I quite liked the glimpses into the Avicen and Drakharin worlds through Ivy, Rowan, Jasper, Caius, Dorian and even Tanith. They may be slight, but through slips in conversation and thoughts between these secondary characters I felt like I understood a bit more of their way of life prior to the mess. I loved the bonds of friendship that deepened between our gang, especially the understanding that developed between Ivy and Dorian.
Speaking of Dorian *bites lip* ohohoho MY SHIP. Dorian and a certain Avicen in this book had me smiling so much. Seeing these two trying to find a comfortable common ground was so endearing. At times it was a little too much push and not enough pull. But at some point, our shy Drakharin begins to slowly come out of his shell and our flamboyant Avicen responds in kind. FLAILLLL. As for my other ship? Well Echo is quite rightly indecisive in this book and my heart hurt for the guy I’m rooting for and I’m holding out hope in The Savage Dawn for them. I am so appreciative of Grey for writing a swoony romance in lieu of my other ship.
I think the plot in the first half of the book was what dragged it down for me. Not enough was happening – there were attacks, there was plotting but for some reason the pacing was off for me. I felt like there was something missing that gave TGaM that extra oomph. However, the book really picks up in the last quarter and the ending is INTENSE. Like knocked me off my feet and had me like omggggggggggggg what I NEED THE SAVAGE DAWN intense. There’s like darkness and pew pew and pow pow and boom and POOF ohmygod who died (did somebody die? You’ll have to read to find out). Whew that ending was so awesome. IT’S A CLIFFHANGER *cries* Can I please have the last book now?
My favourite aspect of this series though, is Grey’s writing. It’s descriptive and lush in an unassuming way. The way she teaches the reader words in foreign languages and puts in the definitions fits the situation so well. It’s not pretentious – it feels so natural and really adds substance to the story. The way she utilises 3rd person POV to describe character emotions too, adds dimensions to characters that, from Echo’s POV may seem unreadable. Grey’s style is definitely a highlight and what makes this series really standout.
While faltering in pace at the beginning, the strong character development, exploration of relationships and cliffhanger ending wrapped up in Grey’s elegant prose, makes The Shadow Hour an enjoyable sequel.
Review originally posted at Fiction in Fiction in Fiction
3.5/5 stars.
The Shadow Hour is one of my most anticipated releases of 2016 because The Girl at Midnight was one of my favs of 2015. I’m not sure what to say about TSH – while I certainly enjoyed it, I didn’t think it wow’d me enough. I think this is because it took me so long to read it, partially because as I had so much going on in my life, but also because the story didn’t progress in a way that had me going “just one more chapter” whilst reading before bed.
The story opens with our gang hiding after the ending of book 1. The new threat that looms is the universe’s way of balancing Echo’s power and it’s basically this that drives the plot of book 2.
Whilst Echo is still witty in TSH she’s definitely a lot more subdued – which is expected given the circumstances. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the perfect character progression on Grey’s part but at the same time I missed her sarcasm and banter which brought so much life to TGaM. Echo is suffering internally – with what she’s become, with new responsibilities heaped upon her, and what’s to come. It’s a lonely ride for her as nobody really understands what she’s going through. I liked the way slowly accepts many things but is also willing to fight for what she hopes she can change.
I quite liked the glimpses into the Avicen and Drakharin worlds through Ivy, Rowan, Jasper, Caius, Dorian and even Tanith. They may be slight, but through slips in conversation and thoughts between these secondary characters I felt like I understood a bit more of their way of life prior to the mess. I loved the bonds of friendship that deepened between our gang, especially the understanding that developed between Ivy and Dorian.
Speaking of Dorian *bites lip* ohohoho MY SHIP. Dorian and a certain Avicen in this book had me smiling so much. Seeing these two trying to find a comfortable common ground was so endearing. At times it was a little too much push and not enough pull. But at some point, our shy Drakharin begins to slowly come out of his shell and our flamboyant Avicen responds in kind. FLAILLLL. As for my other ship? Well Echo is quite rightly indecisive in this book and my heart hurt for the guy I’m rooting for and I’m holding out hope in The Savage Dawn for them. I am so appreciative of Grey for writing a swoony romance in lieu of my other ship.
I think the plot in the first half of the book was what dragged it down for me. Not enough was happening – there were attacks, there was plotting but for some reason the pacing was off for me. I felt like there was something missing that gave TGaM that extra oomph. However, the book really picks up in the last quarter and the ending is INTENSE. Like knocked me off my feet and had me like omggggggggggggg what I NEED THE SAVAGE DAWN intense. There’s like darkness and pew pew and pow pow and boom and POOF ohmygod who died (did somebody die? You’ll have to read to find out). Whew that ending was so awesome. IT’S A CLIFFHANGER *cries* Can I please have the last book now?
My favourite aspect of this series though, is Grey’s writing. It’s descriptive and lush in an unassuming way. The way she teaches the reader words in foreign languages and puts in the definitions fits the situation so well. It’s not pretentious – it feels so natural and really adds substance to the story. The way she utilises 3rd person POV to describe character emotions too, adds dimensions to characters that, from Echo’s POV may seem unreadable. Grey’s style is definitely a highlight and what makes this series really standout.
While faltering in pace at the beginning, the strong character development, exploration of relationships and cliffhanger ending wrapped up in Grey’s elegant prose, makes The Shadow Hour an enjoyable sequel.
luna_rondo's review against another edition
2.0
There's nothing wrong with this series, except that it sounds like a lesser version of DoSaB. As an avid lover of that series, this one just feels... meh.
rwxtd's review against another edition
3.0
I have a *lot* to say about this one, so buckle up, folks. (There will be spoilers for The Girl At Midnight in this review, obviously, so be warned.)
Most of my opinions/thoughts/feelings about this book, similar to how I felt about the first book in this series, have to do with the characters and romantic relationships rather than the plot. The plot is fine. It's not the most original, but it's not bad. Three stars is about accurate. It was a bit more interesting/less predictable in this book than it was in the first one. Dorian, Jasper, and Ivy were a lot more plot-relevant in this one, which was nice. I'm pretty much just reading the series because of them, so I appreciated that, and it's nice to see the Pretty Gay Boys get to do something other than be pretty and gay.
On to the romantic relationships! I've found that in this series, the romantic relationships are equally as important/prominent as the actual plot, if not more so, and there are *so many* romance subplots to keep track of.
-First we have the Rowan/Echo/Caius love triangle, and can I just say, I *despise* love triangles, and this one is very cliche. I found myself rolling my eyes constantly. This romance plot is just all of the classic love triangle tropes smashed together, and it's not interesting or unique at all. I still don't really like Caius or Echo very much- Caius isn't as icky in this book, but he is a lot more boring, so there's that. Echo learning how to be the firebird and use her power is decent, but she's still a shitty girlfriend. The Rowan/Echo relationship develops a bit more which is kind of cute, but it really just feeds into more cliche love triangle tropes, and also Rowan deserves better.
-Next we have Dorian/Jasper! I *loved* Dorian and Jasper in this book. I was on the fence about Jasper for a lot of the first book, particularly after that one very icky conversation he had with Caius, but I elected to give Jasper the benefit of the doubt after seeing that a. he genuinely cares about Dorian, b. he respects Dorian's boundaries, and c. Dorian is interested. (That particular conversation from the first book is never addressed. I'm not sure why it was there at all, and honestly it would have been better if it wasn't. They really just pretended it didn't happen, which is maybe better because it was very icky and weirdly out of character for both Jasper and Caius.) In this book, though, we get to see more of Jasper's backstory, when we are introduced to Quinn- as soon as Quinn was introduced (pretty early on, so I'm not counting it as a spoiler) I became very protective of Jasper (as did Dorian, it was very cute). I like Jasper a lot more now than I did at the end of the first book. Quinn, as a character, is intentionally *extremely* icky and very manipulative, and he does a lot of very icky things as well. I was a bit concerned when Quinn was introduced for a few reasons: first, Echo called it a "love triangle" (????? Echo, you have two boyfriends, you don't get to complain about someone else's love triangle) so I was a bit worried they would try and turn it into an actual love triangle, which it most certainly was not and should not be. I was also a bit worried that the outcome of that particular subplot would end up being icky/bad/problematic, but fortunately they were able to pull it off decently. They didn't drag that particular subplot out for longer than was necessary, which I appreciated.
(EDIT: It has been several months since I've read this series, and mostly I'm editing this review because I'm bored. One of the few things that I actually really liked about this book series was that Jasper is super respectful of Dorian's boundaries- in contrast with Quinn, who is super disrespectful of any and all boundaries, you can see that really clearly. I personally think that communication and boundaries are both really important in a functional relationship, so I really appreciate that Jasper is surprisingly good at both of those things.)
In summary: the plot is basically on the same level as the plot of the last book was. The primary love triangle is exhausting and very cliche. The secondary romance subplot is wonderful and I love Jasper and Dorian with all my heart, but if emotional manipulation is a trigger for you, be wary. They don't go into a ton of detail, so it should be easy enough to skip over if you need, but it is in there. Ivy gets to do important things (yay!) as do Jasper and Dorian (also yay!).
**I would also like to address the fact that one of the characters does say "M'lady" unironically, which I can't not comment on. Why would you do that. Now I can't support that relationship on principle. I should really stop reading books where so many of the characters are straight men.
Most of my opinions/thoughts/feelings about this book, similar to how I felt about the first book in this series, have to do with the characters and romantic relationships rather than the plot. The plot is fine. It's not the most original, but it's not bad. Three stars is about accurate. It was a bit more interesting/less predictable in this book than it was in the first one. Dorian, Jasper, and Ivy were a lot more plot-relevant in this one, which was nice. I'm pretty much just reading the series because of them, so I appreciated that, and it's nice to see the Pretty Gay Boys get to do something other than be pretty and gay.
On to the romantic relationships! I've found that in this series, the romantic relationships are equally as important/prominent as the actual plot, if not more so, and there are *so many* romance subplots to keep track of.
-First we have the Rowan/Echo/Caius love triangle, and can I just say, I *despise* love triangles, and this one is very cliche. I found myself rolling my eyes constantly. This romance plot is just all of the classic love triangle tropes smashed together, and it's not interesting or unique at all. I still don't really like Caius or Echo very much- Caius isn't as icky in this book, but he is a lot more boring, so there's that. Echo learning how to be the firebird and use her power is decent, but she's still a shitty girlfriend. The Rowan/Echo relationship develops a bit more which is kind of cute, but it really just feeds into more cliche love triangle tropes, and also Rowan deserves better.
-Next we have Dorian/Jasper! I *loved* Dorian and Jasper in this book. I was on the fence about Jasper for a lot of the first book, particularly after that one very icky conversation he had with Caius, but I elected to give Jasper the benefit of the doubt after seeing that a. he genuinely cares about Dorian, b. he respects Dorian's boundaries, and c. Dorian is interested. (That particular conversation from the first book is never addressed. I'm not sure why it was there at all, and honestly it would have been better if it wasn't. They really just pretended it didn't happen, which is maybe better because it was very icky and weirdly out of character for both Jasper and Caius.) In this book, though, we get to see more of Jasper's backstory, when we are introduced to Quinn- as soon as Quinn was introduced (pretty early on, so I'm not counting it as a spoiler) I became very protective of Jasper (as did Dorian, it was very cute). I like Jasper a lot more now than I did at the end of the first book. Quinn, as a character, is intentionally *extremely* icky and very manipulative, and he does a lot of very icky things as well. I was a bit concerned when Quinn was introduced for a few reasons: first, Echo called it a "love triangle" (????? Echo, you have two boyfriends, you don't get to complain about someone else's love triangle) so I was a bit worried they would try and turn it into an actual love triangle, which it most certainly was not and should not be. I was also a bit worried that the outcome of that particular subplot would end up being icky/bad/problematic, but fortunately they were able to pull it off decently. They didn't drag that particular subplot out for longer than was necessary, which I appreciated.
(EDIT: It has been several months since I've read this series, and mostly I'm editing this review because I'm bored. One of the few things that I actually really liked about this book series was that Jasper is super respectful of Dorian's boundaries- in contrast with Quinn, who is super disrespectful of any and all boundaries, you can see that really clearly. I personally think that communication and boundaries are both really important in a functional relationship, so I really appreciate that Jasper is surprisingly good at both of those things.)
In summary: the plot is basically on the same level as the plot of the last book was. The primary love triangle is exhausting and very cliche. The secondary romance subplot is wonderful and I love Jasper and Dorian with all my heart, but if emotional manipulation is a trigger for you, be wary. They don't go into a ton of detail, so it should be easy enough to skip over if you need, but it is in there. Ivy gets to do important things (yay!) as do Jasper and Dorian (also yay!).
**I would also like to address the fact that one of the characters does say "M'lady" unironically, which I can't not comment on. Why would you do that. Now I can't support that relationship on principle. I should really stop reading books where so many of the characters are straight men.
the_bookish_scorpio's review against another edition
2.0
Un libro che è un wannabe "La Chimera di Praga" in concept e vibes.
SPOILER: non ci è riuscito.
SPOILER: non ci è riuscito.