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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
Bride of the Shadow King is an absolute delight. I was hooked from the first page! Faraine's character is so perfectly communicated, I was able to both root for and sympathize with her throughout the machinations of the forces around her. Her struggle to assert her own values and desires within the constructs of her societal role made her interactions with Vor so much more powerful to me.
Vor! The greenest flag of an ml that ever waved, King of my heart. Anyone who loves romance but also cringes at the consistent lack of consent and communication that the genre is often inundated with will fall immediately in love with Vor. The communication, the consent, the pure human DECENCY in every line of his internal monologue was a delight and I cannot get enough.
This book is a full, raving five stars from me and I cannot wait to get the other two books in my hands asap.
Vor! The greenest flag of an ml that ever waved, King of my heart. Anyone who loves romance but also cringes at the consistent lack of consent and communication that the genre is often inundated with will fall immediately in love with Vor. The communication, the consent, the pure human DECENCY in every line of his internal monologue was a delight and I cannot get enough.
This book is a full, raving five stars from me and I cannot wait to get the other two books in my hands asap.
Full review coming soon. I have a hard time rating this. I think it’s 3.5- 3.75 ⭐️ to me. The story was entertaining but mostly predictable. I will continue the series because I like where it’s going, but I’m not fully invested in these characters yet.
slow-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m so obsessed with this book,
I’m backpacking around Asia, I picked up the first book finished it in 2 days and then immediately hunted down the other two books. Which is quite hard in a non- English speaking country.
I will be keeping these for my collection.
No I don’t use a kindle,
Yes they are very much worth taking space up in my bag
I’m backpacking around Asia, I picked up the first book finished it in 2 days and then immediately hunted down the other two books. Which is quite hard in a non- English speaking country.
I will be keeping these for my collection.
No I don’t use a kindle,
Yes they are very much worth taking space up in my bag
adventurous
mysterious
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
dark
slow-paced
What have I just read 😧
I might be genuinely mad that I read this book. I'm absolutely mad that my first book of 2025 filled me with dread and anxiety! I should have known that comparisons to a bridge kingdom meant this book would mess me up.
First complaint : the fmc does not even have a chronic illness!!!! It is immediately clarified that her powers have a negative side effect of making her feel sick/ unable to be around large groups of people. There's little hints that it caused her to pull away from those close to her like her sisters, but that part is not clear. From what we see she does not have any physical or mental illness that hinders her everyday life. Her powers cause her to seek isolation, and that sucks but it's not at all inline with what I was expecting from a fantasy character with a chronic illness.
Second : so much misery and deceit. All the women are powerless. Especially the sisters. They have no control over their lives and everything seems so miserable. I get that this could change in the next books, but it made it tough to get into the story. Every time you're hopefully things will work out they actually just get worse. It's crushing.
Third: I feel like nothing happened!? The entire 500 page book is exactly what the book summary details. There's characters and world building but um, spoiler here, the book ends with the same exact question posed in the summary. Wtf is going to happen?! I apparently have to read the next book to find out. Not sure if I will continue the series to be honest.
Four: the writing was just okay. I wasn't very interested in the world building or anything else taking place in the book. I wanted to know what the heck was happening to our miserable fmc. I could not care less about the mmc and his kingdom falling apart and whatever. The switching pov was great only about a quarter of the time. A bunch of stuff happens in the middle that feels completely irrelevant. I ended up skimming a lot after the first half just to see what would happen with the plot. It was still not enjoyable.
I love fantasy and romantasy, but this was not for me. I began skimming at 50%, and honestly I wish I’d just DNF’d. I never felt drawn into the characters, and the vibes of the story were just kinda, off. Things picked up enough that I wanted to know where the plot went, but I didn’t really care about the characters hence the skimming. Then I got a cliffhanger ending and was disappointed cause I have no intention of continuing the series.
Might scratch the romantasy itch for some, but just didn’t do it for me.
Might scratch the romantasy itch for some, but just didn’t do it for me.
Well...
I wish I would have known this would end on a cliffhanger.
I liked it, though. The pacing was a little slow, especially because it was leading to this cliffhanger. Story beats I was expecting weren't arriving. There wasn't quite enough development between the leads - again because of the pacing. It was nearly a road-trip trope...but not quite, so that disappointed me a smidge, too.
However, the world-building is pretty good, and the writing is quite competent (kindle unlimited is always a risk for me, lol)
I wish I would have known this would end on a cliffhanger.
I liked it, though. The pacing was a little slow, especially because it was leading to this cliffhanger. Story beats I was expecting weren't arriving. There wasn't quite enough development between the leads - again because of the pacing. It was nearly a road-trip trope...but not quite, so that disappointed me a smidge, too.
However, the world-building is pretty good, and the writing is quite competent (kindle unlimited is always a risk for me, lol)
Thank you to Daphne Press and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Clearly, I’m back in my fantasy bag because I really enjoyed reading Bride of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes. Faraine, our main character, is a lovable heroine with a distinct voice. Sometimes, dual-voice narratives are tricky but it works mostly well here, nestled against Vor, our male lead, the Shadow King. This fantasy romance is a gorgeous slow-burner with some wonderful world-building and interesting back stories.
Shunned from court, Faraine has been living in a convent after supposedly embarrassing her family and also dealing with a chronic illness. As such, her right to the crown has been filtered to her beautiful younger sister. When the handsome Shadow King arrives, seeking a bride, he quickly agrees to an arranged marriage with Faraine’s sister, Princess Ilsevel. This is an easy, readable and captivating forbidden love fantasy romance. The worlds are rich, believable and fantastically written, and even the dual-voice style really serves to enrich the settings. However, at times, the dual POV technique makes the story feel hard to follow and throws off the pace, since we go back and forth in time as the author tells both Faraine and Vor’s perspective of a scene. It’d propel better with a forward-moving timeline. Equally, while I loved all of the writing, there’s actually not a whole lot of content here and in hindsight this feels like it could’ve been a prequel.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and already can’t wait for the sequel!
Bride of the Shadow King publishes on 29 August 2023.
Clearly, I’m back in my fantasy bag because I really enjoyed reading Bride of the Shadow King by Sylvia Mercedes. Faraine, our main character, is a lovable heroine with a distinct voice. Sometimes, dual-voice narratives are tricky but it works mostly well here, nestled against Vor, our male lead, the Shadow King. This fantasy romance is a gorgeous slow-burner with some wonderful world-building and interesting back stories.
Shunned from court, Faraine has been living in a convent after supposedly embarrassing her family and also dealing with a chronic illness. As such, her right to the crown has been filtered to her beautiful younger sister. When the handsome Shadow King arrives, seeking a bride, he quickly agrees to an arranged marriage with Faraine’s sister, Princess Ilsevel. This is an easy, readable and captivating forbidden love fantasy romance. The worlds are rich, believable and fantastically written, and even the dual-voice style really serves to enrich the settings. However, at times, the dual POV technique makes the story feel hard to follow and throws off the pace, since we go back and forth in time as the author tells both Faraine and Vor’s perspective of a scene. It’d propel better with a forward-moving timeline. Equally, while I loved all of the writing, there’s actually not a whole lot of content here and in hindsight this feels like it could’ve been a prequel.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and already can’t wait for the sequel!
Bride of the Shadow King publishes on 29 August 2023.