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missroyalcake's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful
I love every world Sharon Quinn has created. The idea of the echoes is intriguing and I'm looking forward to leaning more in the next two books.
I love every world Sharon Quinn has created. The idea of the echoes is intriguing and I'm looking forward to leaning more in the next two books.
merrinish's review against another edition
4.0
I don't want to spoil this for anyone who might want to read it so basically I loved this but I think I would rather have read it instead of listened to it. The concept of an echo of a person following them around but also completely silent is, not gonna lie, creepy? Like pretty dang creepy. But I will say she thought about almost every aspect of how it would work, so good world building. I do have some questions about going to the bathroom but not, like, mechanical, mostly I just think talking about how every bathroom has four . . . chamber pots or whatever would have been some funny content.
Content warning for a rape scene in the middle.
Everything else is a spoiler.
Like I'm just not wild about the plot line that this lady gets sexually assaulted, her echo kills the guy that does it, who just so happens to be the bastard son of the king, so she gets SENTENCED TO DEATH.
What kind of justice system is this?
It's a fantasy land, Merrin, she has literal identical copies of herself, who says justice has to be fair in the feudal system, right? At least it wasn't ACTUALLY a "kill your gays" moment, and she does get her lady love in the end. All she had to lose were her shadows, which would have made going off with her lady love impossible. There just wasn't a truly good ending for her, which also makes me sad.
Anyway, I loved the main romance plotline, Nico is a flipping dream. I loved the friendship between Brianna and Marguerite. (There may be spelling errors in those names but I listened to it instead of reading it myself, so.)
A solid showing from my friend ShaShi, and I'm excited that the other two are already available.
Content warning for a rape scene in the middle.
Everything else is a spoiler.
Spoiler
So I love that Sharon Shinn finally had her first gay character, so imagine my HORROR when that gay character gets frickin murdered at the end. Except she doesn't, she gets to run off to another country with her lady love, and it only cost her her echoes, except that's also horrifically sad.Like I'm just not wild about the plot line that this lady gets sexually assaulted, her echo kills the guy that does it, who just so happens to be the bastard son of the king, so she gets SENTENCED TO DEATH.
What kind of justice system is this?
It's a fantasy land, Merrin, she has literal identical copies of herself, who says justice has to be fair in the feudal system, right? At least it wasn't ACTUALLY a "kill your gays" moment, and she does get her lady love in the end. All she had to lose were her shadows, which would have made going off with her lady love impossible. There just wasn't a truly good ending for her, which also makes me sad.
Anyway, I loved the main romance plotline, Nico is a flipping dream. I loved the friendship between Brianna and Marguerite. (There may be spelling errors in those names but I listened to it instead of reading it myself, so.)
A solid showing from my friend ShaShi, and I'm excited that the other two are already available.
codexmendoza's review against another edition
3.0
A genuinely new and interesting concept. Shinn is not really the best stylist, but she does think about human perspectives.
indigo_han's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite up to the very best of Shinn's work, but beautifully unique.
I loved that the story was centred around the Ladies Maid instead of the Lady herself.
I loved that the story was centred around the Ladies Maid instead of the Lady herself.
mortonsspoon's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lisafer's review against another edition
4.0
There was a lot I enjoyed about this book.... Shinn is always fantastic at creating new worlds and societies, and this one didn't disappoint.
I'm not going to describe the whole story (other reviews will cover that just fine), but note that I really enjoyed the romance. Instead of a will they/won't they or Darcy-and-Elizabeth kind of story, the love story was simple and straight-forward, complicated only by the fact that our protagonist was keeping a crucial secret from her lover for Very Good Reasons, so the reader was left waiting for all the stories to unravel and figure out if the affection was stronger than the characters' moral codes.
I was disappointed in the legal system of their world, where "self-defense" was barely discussed as a viable reason for lethal force. I think I would've appreciated a little exploration of the moral ground - perhaps with the result not changing but the powers that be at least *recognizing* the defense argument (with perhaps it being unable to prove, thus the guilty verdict arising out of that and the cover-up?). I feel that we scraped the surface with the court ladies and the priestesses empathizing with the situation, but a conversation actually ADDRESSING it would have been nice.
Still, the book had lots of intriguing plot and set-up for fascinating world politics, and the idea of echoes was different from anything I'd ever read before. I think this is probably a 3 1/2 star book, but I'm rounding up this time. I look forward to reading it once it's available, as my brain processes read books differently from audiobooks, and there may be small things I missed along the way.
I'm not going to describe the whole story (other reviews will cover that just fine), but note that I really enjoyed the romance. Instead of a will they/won't they or Darcy-and-Elizabeth kind of story, the love story was simple and straight-forward, complicated only by the fact that our protagonist was keeping a crucial secret from her lover for Very Good Reasons, so the reader was left waiting for all the stories to unravel and figure out if the affection was stronger than the characters' moral codes.
I was disappointed in the legal system of their world, where "self-defense" was barely discussed as a viable reason for lethal force. I think I would've appreciated a little exploration of the moral ground - perhaps with the result not changing but the powers that be at least *recognizing* the defense argument (with perhaps it being unable to prove, thus the guilty verdict arising out of that and the cover-up?). I feel that we scraped the surface with the court ladies and the priestesses empathizing with the situation, but a conversation actually ADDRESSING it would have been nice.
Still, the book had lots of intriguing plot and set-up for fascinating world politics, and the idea of echoes was different from anything I'd ever read before. I think this is probably a 3 1/2 star book, but I'm rounding up this time. I look forward to reading it once it's available, as my brain processes read books differently from audiobooks, and there may be small things I missed along the way.
tyrshand's review against another edition
5.0
Well this one has quite an interesting set up. The novel starts off rather gently, sort of straddling the line between YA and adult, as we follow Brianna from her loving childhood to her dream job as a lady's maid for an absolutely lovely noblewoman. She's clever and spunky and, despite lacking the training expected of someone in her position, her natural talents make up for it all. She's such an enjoyable character that it's quite a nice ride. The only huge fantasy element are these "Echoes" or "Shadows" that the noble folk have -- copies of themselves that mimic their actions, thought to be divinely given.
Then, when you're nice and comfortable in the story, caught up in the everyday intrigues of their lives, it seems that the plot is going to head into [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1322103400s/10507293.jpg|15413183] territory. Luckily, this turns out not to be much the case, though the events that send the plot down a different path... wow. We end up more in a cat and mouse kind of tale. All kinds of crises of trust and betrayal and horribly nervous about the end... There are even some heart wrenching spots. I might have only been able to make it to the end because I was sure things had to work out in a Sharon Shinn tale... But there were definitely more surprises in store for me.
I love that Lady Marguerite's Echoes somehow became real characters despite never speaking and having so little autonomy. You really come to care for them as individuals through their quirks and minor differences.
As for the land itself... Well, with the behaviour of certain royals, I'm hoping a big shake-up is coming. Trying not to get into spoilers, so all I'll say is that I harshly judge some of the characters by the company they keep and see them as rather villainous.
Then, when you're nice and comfortable in the story, caught up in the everyday intrigues of their lives, it seems that the plot is going to head into [b:The Selection|10507293|The Selection (The Selection, #1)|Kiera Cass|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1322103400s/10507293.jpg|15413183] territory. Luckily, this turns out not to be much the case, though the events that send the plot down a different path... wow. We end up more in a cat and mouse kind of tale. All kinds of crises of trust and betrayal and horribly nervous about the end... There are even some heart wrenching spots. I might have only been able to make it to the end because I was sure things had to work out in a Sharon Shinn tale... But there were definitely more surprises in store for me.
I love that Lady Marguerite's Echoes somehow became real characters despite never speaking and having so little autonomy. You really come to care for them as individuals through their quirks and minor differences.
As for the land itself... Well, with the behaviour of certain royals, I'm hoping a big shake-up is coming. Trying not to get into spoilers, so all I'll say is that I harshly judge some of the characters by the company they keep and see them as rather villainous.
jessthemess222's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
jkh107's review against another edition
4.0
I read the Kindle book but I can't get the audiobook off my shelves.
This was a fun read!
This was a fun read!
kurenai's review against another edition
2.0
I'm a big fan of Sharon Shinn so I really struggled with giving this a 2 star rating but at the end of the day there was something about this story that just felt incredibly unbelievable to me, even as a fantasy, with a rather forced ending that struck me as false (I won't say more). Overall I've come to expect a bit more from Ms. Shinn and this book just did not live up to my prior expectations. I'll give the next book a shot but I'm going to lower my standards for this series a bit as they don't live up to prior books that I've fell in love with.