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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
I've been following Ben Alderson's BookTube videos for quite awhile now and was excited when I learned he was publishing a novel.
The story follows Zacriah Trovirn, a young elven man who is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior’s new army of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn’t a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is. But he does have magic — he knows that — but it’s the kind of magic no other elf has and Zac is well aware that it’s something he should keep from everyone. So he does.
Fearing that the king and others will discover Zac’s strange magic, he attempts to escape and meets the King's handsome son, Prince Hadrian. Hadrian later agrees to take Zac under his wing and train him for an upcoming duel.
We soon discover that War is brewing between the elven nations with the peace between the kingdoms is crumbling apart. There is also something dark going on within the kingdom — and we learn that not everyone is who we think there are.
The book is a fast-paced — part fantasy, part adventure story and part LGBT romance with plenty of suspense, intrigue, and twists and turns. I felt that the characters were well-fleshed out and the beautifully written and vivid descriptions and stunning imagery were especially evocative.
I’ve read LBGT fantasy romances before: vampires, werewolves, ghosts and even ghouls - but I think this is the first gay elf book I’ve read. The romance was sweet and didn’t dominate the story, once the characters started getting involved. I was happy that it wasn’t Insta-Love but was a rather slow burn.
This book had it all: elves, shifters, elemental magic, healers, empaths, magic, battles, evil schemes, and even a handsome prince.
Now I will warn you that the book takes off to a slow start — the first two chapters were a tad on the boring side, as they mainly consisted of Zac sitting the wagon on the way to Thessolina observing his fellow passengers and the countryside. But once you get past that, the book really takes off, and the action is non-stop.
My only huge niggle with the book was that the last scene ended rather abruptly and with a cliff-hanger (I hate cliffhangers). So be prepared to purchase the next book in the series (when it's released) to find out what happens next.
There were also a couple of instances where the characters used modern language which kind of yanked me out of the story. For instance, I recall one of the characters said something was “bullshit” which was not only out of character but also seemed out of place to me in this setting.
But regardless, this was a compelling story with a unique plot, snappy dialog, fun creatures and an interesting cast of diverse characters that kept me turning the page. I felt that the author did an excellent job with the world building and I felt Zac was a complex and multi-faceted character. I enjoyed Ben’s writing style and look forward to reading more by him.
The story follows Zacriah Trovirn, a young elven man who is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior’s new army of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn’t a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is. But he does have magic — he knows that — but it’s the kind of magic no other elf has and Zac is well aware that it’s something he should keep from everyone. So he does.
Fearing that the king and others will discover Zac’s strange magic, he attempts to escape and meets the King's handsome son, Prince Hadrian. Hadrian later agrees to take Zac under his wing and train him for an upcoming duel.
We soon discover that War is brewing between the elven nations with the peace between the kingdoms is crumbling apart. There is also something dark going on within the kingdom — and we learn that not everyone is who we think there are.
The book is a fast-paced — part fantasy, part adventure story and part LGBT romance with plenty of suspense, intrigue, and twists and turns. I felt that the characters were well-fleshed out and the beautifully written and vivid descriptions and stunning imagery were especially evocative.
I’ve read LBGT fantasy romances before: vampires, werewolves, ghosts and even ghouls - but I think this is the first gay elf book I’ve read. The romance was sweet and didn’t dominate the story, once the characters started getting involved. I was happy that it wasn’t Insta-Love but was a rather slow burn.
This book had it all: elves, shifters, elemental magic, healers, empaths, magic, battles, evil schemes, and even a handsome prince.
Now I will warn you that the book takes off to a slow start — the first two chapters were a tad on the boring side, as they mainly consisted of Zac sitting the wagon on the way to Thessolina observing his fellow passengers and the countryside. But once you get past that, the book really takes off, and the action is non-stop.
My only huge niggle with the book was that the last scene ended rather abruptly and with a cliff-hanger (I hate cliffhangers). So be prepared to purchase the next book in the series (when it's released) to find out what happens next.
There were also a couple of instances where the characters used modern language which kind of yanked me out of the story. For instance, I recall one of the characters said something was “bullshit” which was not only out of character but also seemed out of place to me in this setting.
But regardless, this was a compelling story with a unique plot, snappy dialog, fun creatures and an interesting cast of diverse characters that kept me turning the page. I felt that the author did an excellent job with the world building and I felt Zac was a complex and multi-faceted character. I enjoyed Ben’s writing style and look forward to reading more by him.
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I'm reviewing this after I finished the trilogy. I really enjoyed this but it's definitely the weaker of the three. I think this may have been the author's first book. If so, it's an excellent debut but I felt like a lot of plot points could have been expanded upon and some characters could have been given some room to grow and become more important to the reader.
MINOR SPOILER: For instance, there is a character death in the following book that feels like it should have been more impactful and emotional than it was but failed to achieve this because the character wasn't given enough page time to really leave an impression on the reader. In fact, I was wondering why it has as much on an impact on the protagonist as it did.
Regardless of these critiques, I enjoyed it enough to want to read the sequel and I thoroughly enjoyed the trilogy.
I feel like the books are more novella than novel and the story had enough potential and world building for it to have been greatly expanded upon but as they are, I still recommend!
MINOR SPOILER: For instance, there is a character death in the following book that feels like it should have been more impactful and emotional than it was but failed to achieve this because the character wasn't given enough page time to really leave an impression on the reader. In fact, I was wondering why it has as much on an impact on the protagonist as it did.
Regardless of these critiques, I enjoyed it enough to want to read the sequel and I thoroughly enjoyed the trilogy.
I feel like the books are more novella than novel and the story had enough potential and world building for it to have been greatly expanded upon but as they are, I still recommend!
adventurous
emotional
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
Wow! This was an unexpected treat— I listened to the audiobook, but I bet it’s much better to read. The narrator has a soothing voice but his cadence was distracting. He sounded like he was reading a book (I know, I know) rather than telling a story. Def going to read the next one!
“Bending a book’s page should be banned. I am in the right mind to ask father to pass it as law. I prefer to treat a book like a lover, always handling it with gentle, tender hands.”
I would like to say, that even though I don't know Ben personally, I am proud of you for writing a debut as brilliant as this. It's really wonderful, when you can write a debut book, which is not only fantastic in it's story and characters but with the way the story flows. It never made me want to put it down and do other things. I wanted to keep reading more and more, and luckily it was such a quick read. Since I do struggle with reading lately.
I tend to go into books not even knowing what's happening, besides the stuff that I really know about them. I didn't know what this book was about except Zac not being able to really shapeshift and having some other powers. I like going blind in the book. I was drawn in the story from the very first chapters because I wanted to know where they were going and why so many elves were taken.
Anyhow, I am such a trash for Hadrian. He is such a lovable character like seriously you can't even hate on the poor boy. Precious Prince. And his scenes with Zac actually made me happy and smile so much, the worst part is usually when you are at work and you want to smile because the book makes you happy, but, at the same time, it could come of really weird if you start smiling out of sudden. People might start to think you crazy. Some of their conversations made me laugh out loud and I was actually reading while I was working so imagine the horrors of my supervisor finding out how I spent my last 6 hours of my shift.
There were 3 things I didn't like though. First, that there was no map. Me needs some good fantasy book maps but I can so forgive that. Second, when Zac was calling his parents Mam and Fa, for some reason it kinda annoyed me but again it's for the story and not really anything major. Third, the use of word 'many moons ago'. But again you sometimes use words like that in fantasy books to make them more fantasy-ish, I suppose. There are like small things so nothing that made me love the story less.
Loved the characters, except some certain ones like Petrer boy. What the fuck was the end boy? You do some shit stuff and then suddenly want someone to be yours or claim them as yours? No cool, at all.
Reading this book gave me some The Shannara Chronicles vibe, which is funny since I haven't read the books only watched the show but it made me happy so there's that. And another last thing I would like to mention is that Ben really managed to give me that feeling of wanting to go and write my book, as I was reading Cloaked in Shadow and even though I have read loads of books by my all time favourite authors, there has been only one author, who manages to do that with every of her books and that is my Queen Sarah J Maas. So I would like to say that you seriously did an amazing job with your debut and be proud.
I would like to say, that even though I don't know Ben personally, I am proud of you for writing a debut as brilliant as this. It's really wonderful, when you can write a debut book, which is not only fantastic in it's story and characters but with the way the story flows. It never made me want to put it down and do other things. I wanted to keep reading more and more, and luckily it was such a quick read. Since I do struggle with reading lately.
I tend to go into books not even knowing what's happening, besides the stuff that I really know about them. I didn't know what this book was about except Zac not being able to really shapeshift and having some other powers. I like going blind in the book. I was drawn in the story from the very first chapters because I wanted to know where they were going and why so many elves were taken.
Anyhow, I am such a trash for Hadrian. He is such a lovable character like seriously you can't even hate on the poor boy. Precious Prince. And his scenes with Zac actually made me happy and smile so much, the worst part is usually when you are at work and you want to smile because the book makes you happy, but, at the same time, it could come of really weird if you start smiling out of sudden. People might start to think you crazy. Some of their conversations made me laugh out loud and I was actually reading while I was working so imagine the horrors of my supervisor finding out how I spent my last 6 hours of my shift.
There were 3 things I didn't like though. First, that there was no map. Me needs some good fantasy book maps but I can so forgive that. Second, when Zac was calling his parents Mam and Fa, for some reason it kinda annoyed me but again it's for the story and not really anything major. Third, the use of word 'many moons ago'. But again you sometimes use words like that in fantasy books to make them more fantasy-ish, I suppose. There are like small things so nothing that made me love the story less.
Loved the characters, except some certain ones like Petrer boy. What the fuck was the end boy? You do some shit stuff and then suddenly want someone to be yours or claim them as yours? No cool, at all.
Reading this book gave me some The Shannara Chronicles vibe, which is funny since I haven't read the books only watched the show but it made me happy so there's that. And another last thing I would like to mention is that Ben really managed to give me that feeling of wanting to go and write my book, as I was reading Cloaked in Shadow and even though I have read loads of books by my all time favourite authors, there has been only one author, who manages to do that with every of her books and that is my Queen Sarah J Maas. So I would like to say that you seriously did an amazing job with your debut and be proud.