Reviews - The Sun and Its Shade

505 reviews for:

The Sun and Its Shade

Piper C.J.

3.96 AVERAGE

lilacpixxie's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

shellbell_04's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging tense 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

Content Warnings

marissa_collier's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

zoeleighcraig's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

drentlife's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

readbookswithshelby's review against another edition

3.0

The storyline is fine in this book, much better than TNAIM. The writing is a little rough. There are blatant callouts from other series, and probably some that I wasn’t able to identify because I haven’t consumed that specific media. There was a scene ripped from HP directly. The Department of Mysteries with the magical room full of glowing blue orbs that hold blessings and curses. The way it’s described is more like using the pensieve, where you’re pulled into the memory rather than seeing it in smoke above the broken orb like it was described in Order of the Phoenix. That was a cool scene if you don’t make that connection.

Nox and Amaris are both bisexual, but it feels like they are attracted to each other simply for the angst of the plot. Nox is clearly coded as a lesbian, but somehow is horny for Malik? He’s a human man that she cannot have sex with because she will literally kill him. I do not understand why this is part of her story. Also, Amaris being with Gadriel after he tried to kill her in her sleep (consensually but absolutely not really) was icky all around to me. It feels like the first hot guy she comes in contact with aside from Ash that made her all tingly was immediately the guy she decided give up her virginity for. He also doesn’t actually fuck her because of stupid outdated ‘you aren’t ready yet I decided for you’ bullshit. I think if Nox and Amaris weren’t attracted to each other it would further the plot more. Or if they were only attracted to each other and not to the people around them. I did not like the story of Amaris’ conception and birth.

Spoiler

It was immaculate conception and she was carried by a priestess who was described as having box braids and ebony skin. Amaris comes out white skin, hair, eyelashes, and purple eyes. Is she supposed to be Jesus? Is she supposed to be fae? I’m very confused by the mashup of religions here. It feels like it’s being both pulled directly from specific religions, and also like it was just a dressed up messy version of those religions. The timeline is very ambiguous, and I’m confused about Raascot’s king at the end. He’s delusional but no one has stepped up to run the kingdom during this time? He’s still very ill and obviously unaware of his surroundings, so I do not understand why he would not have an advisor or general step up for daily activity.

All of that said, I enjoyed everyone’s separate journeys in this book. Amaris was challenged at every turn. We get a little more background information about both Nox and Amaris. I liked that Amaris and Gadriel had their own journey together after crashing nearby the university that rescued and healed them. Amaris keeps coming across people that she has never encountered before that are resistant to her magic, or that have a magical background that she knows nothing about. She still does not know anything about the outside world (for no reason). Her entire life has been at the orphanage and at the Reev, where she only got specific types of educations. How the men at the Reev did not prepare her for life outside that world besides knowing about demons, I will never understand.

I liked that Nox ended up traveling with Ash and Malik. They really taught her so much about her limits, both physically and mentally.

Spoiler

Her finally knowing who her parents are was such a shock. I really thought that would have been Amaris because of the way she has been hyped up. We finally get a glimpse into Raascot and the fae that live there, which is something I’ve wanted the entire book. We get too little information about the fae and humans living there peacefully together.

Overall, I would rate this a 3/5. I will be reading the rest of the series because I am now in too deep. I need to know how this ends.