Reviews

Shadebloom by Felicia Davin

achingallover's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0


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theduchess93's review against another edition

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5.0

I wish I could give this book seven stars out of five. Or a hundred. What an absolutely phenomenal end to my favorite series in years!! Felicia Davin should just write everything from now on because she seems to be one of the few authors who actually follows through with plotlines and does not queerbait in the slightest.

millbot's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

Loved every second of this trilogy.

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freya_amber's review against another edition

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4.5

Switched to an ebook with this one and it was much better. The audiobook narration isn't bad, but it made the books feel slower and less exciting.

lautir's review against another edition

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5.0

I came into this series knowing basically nothing about it and now it's easily one of my top trilogies for the year.

Book one set the stage well, exploring the socio-political life of a seaside town, introducing our main antagonists and protagonist. Then books 2 and 3 take us on the tour of the larger world and all the different ways of living that there are in the world before bringing us back to the seaside town for it's the dramatic conclusion.

Davin has crafted a unique world, one that's tide-locked to its sun. Meaning the part of the planet that's facing the sun is always the same. This makes it so there are cities in permanent sunlight and cities in permanent dark.

One of my favourite things Davin does is really flesh out the antagonist's story. In the first book you can find yourself feeling sorry for her, possibly even taking her side. She had redeeming qualities and an admiral goal, but her methods are inexcusable. Davin does a great job of creating a villain with lots of depth as well as one who instills fear.

And the queer rep! We have a central f/f relationship which is why I started the series in the first place. Every letter in LGBT is here and there is even a genderfluid MC in the 2nd book onwards. And then a burgeoning polyship between the MCs and wow it's so nice to see this made explicit and not just hinted at. There is very much a love story at the center of this series but it's also very focused on found families and getting out of abusive relationships.

Overall, some of my fave fantasy I've read in years and I'm excited to see what Davin writes next!

lilymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

I have yet to relinquish my awe for the first two books; this last one has just increased it tenfold. I honestly have no words to describe the brilliance and moving story that I just consumed but I know it has consumed me in return. Beautiful.

ruth_miranda's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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? N/A

5.0

The Gardener's Handbook has become one of my favourite fantasy tales not only in the indie publishing world, but the trad as well. To say Felicia Davin has created something beautiful and that will stay with me is putting it mildly - this trilogy has in fact inspired and influenced my own writing through the uniqueness of her characters - everyone of them with their peculiarities so well-fleshed and exposed to the reader in such organic ways - to the beauty of her worldbuilding. The entire trilogy felt diverse without it being indoctrinating, like so many similar works I've read through the years, and the relationships and ties between characters did not feel odd or untrue to character, or even forced, like some readers commented - to me, they felt very obvious and foreshadowed in the previous books. I enjoyed the conclusion of the trilogy, though there were a few tidbits I wish had been further explored and perhaps a bit more explained, but all in all, i'm sure i'll be reading these books again. And Iriyat will always be one of my favourite villains EVER!

electrumempousa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

What a perfect fitting ending to this trilogy. I loved getting to explore more of the world. Thiyo’s journey was so heartbreaking but such an important part of his development. Amazing to see them all get their happy ending. Really great look at what can happen to somebody when they experience something traumatic and how it can change you. Will go done as one of my favourite series. 

eemms's review against another edition

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4.0

A really great conclusion. Again, loved seeing more of this world. I don't want to say too much because the joy of discovery was high in this book. Where they go, who they find there, it all unfolds in a really engaging way.

I really liked Thiyo's path in this book, he goes through a very personal struggle that made him a lot more sympathetic as a character (to me at least). At the end of book 2, I wasn't expecting a poly ending (or at least if it had ended that way without more growth, I wouldn't have really bought it), but book 3 sold me on it.

My one critique is the pacing of the ending had a bit of a hiccup. Overall though, really good.

spiderhands's review against another edition

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4.0

I love this series so much. I think this is my favourite installment of the series, because as I mentioned in my review for Nightvine, the way that this series looks at language is so interesting, and so Thiyo's storyline in this book is fascinating to me as a kind of outsider look at how language is constructed and how it lends itself to learning - having said that, it's for that exact reason that I kind of wish Thiyo's plot problem hadn't been so easily fixed. I get that Alizhan's repurposing of her magic is a crucial part of her story, too, and I love that for her, but especially because I feel like so much of this book is about healing from respective traumas, both physical and psychological, it felt a bit hand-wavey.

BUT... once again, one of my favourite aspects of this series is the world-building, and I LOVED being introduced to Addapyr - and also, weirdly, I loved being re-introduced to Laalvur through the eyes of an outsider, especially because in Thornfruit the exposition of the setting felt quite heavy-handed and I feel like I zoned out a bit, whereas this felt like a much more natural exploration of their surroundings.

For me, of course, the centre of this series is Ev and Alizhan. The slowburn throughout the series, the PINING, the YEARNING, has been magnificent, including in this book - and I like Thiyo's addition to their relationship BUT... I am not as invested in his involvement. Don't get me wrong, I bought into his love for Ev and it was developed well, but of course, up against Alizhan and Ev it kind of pales by comparison. I know that part of the point of the novel was that you can love different people in different ways at the same time, but it did feel a little bit like 'Ev and Alizhan is the all-consuming Love For The Ages and also Thiyo is here too' AT TIMES. Not all the time... but sometimes.

On the whole, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this, I binge-read it in about three days and couldn't stop thinking about it, and I will probably recommend it to every fantasy lover I know!