You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
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.
-Arranged Marriage
-Forbidden Love
-Royalty
-Fake Identity and betrayal
-Only one horse
-Duel P.O.V.
Bride of the Shadow King is all about Faraine, the oldest princess of Gavaria, and Vor, the King of the Troldefolk. Gavaria's on the brink of getting invaded by the Fae, so Faraine's dad comes up with a genius plan: marrying off his favorite daughter, Ilsevel, to King Vor, in order to the Troldefolk's military power. Vor agrees so he can access to Gavaria's magic wielders to save his own kingdom from a mysterious threat.
So, Faraine, who's been living a secluded life in a convent, gets called back to the castle to support Ilsevel and make sure she goes through with this whole marriage thing. However, each royal child of Gavaria has a magical gift and the problem is, when Faraine's around other people, her gift turns cripling. But when she meets Vor, her gift calms down, and she's left totally confused and intrigued. It's like they've got an instant connection they can't deny.
With both kingdoms going downhill, it's super important that Vor and Ilsevel tie the knot and secure the alliance. But Faraine and Vor can't ignore the fact that they're drawn to each other.
This book was a total blast to read, seriously. I was hooked on the political scheming, and everyone's motives made perfect sense to me. Even if I didn't agree with how they did things, I totally understood why. Sylvia Mercedes did an awesome job exploring the whole moral dilemma thing and what we'd do to protect our loved ones.
Oh, and I absolutely loved seeing the different relationships Faraine and Vor had with their friends and family. Each one was unique and gave so much depth to the characters and the story.
Now, let's talk about the downsides. The first half of the book dragged a bit, gotta be honest. It took forever for the plot to get going. And some of the characters felt kinda underdeveloped.
This book left me with a bunch of questions, and I'm betting they'll all get answered in the next two books of the trilogy. Can't wait to get my hands on them!
If you're into stories with hidden powers, arranged marriages, and forbidden love right smack in the middle of an imminent war, trust me, you're gonna eat this book up.
A big thanks to Sylvia Mercedes, Daphne Press, and Netgalley for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and this review was posted voluntarily.
-Forbidden Love
-Royalty
-Fake Identity and betrayal
-Only one horse
-Duel P.O.V.
Bride of the Shadow King is all about Faraine, the oldest princess of Gavaria, and Vor, the King of the Troldefolk. Gavaria's on the brink of getting invaded by the Fae, so Faraine's dad comes up with a genius plan: marrying off his favorite daughter, Ilsevel, to King Vor, in order to the Troldefolk's military power. Vor agrees so he can access to Gavaria's magic wielders to save his own kingdom from a mysterious threat.
So, Faraine, who's been living a secluded life in a convent, gets called back to the castle to support Ilsevel and make sure she goes through with this whole marriage thing. However, each royal child of Gavaria has a magical gift and the problem is, when Faraine's around other people, her gift turns cripling. But when she meets Vor, her gift calms down, and she's left totally confused and intrigued. It's like they've got an instant connection they can't deny.
With both kingdoms going downhill, it's super important that Vor and Ilsevel tie the knot and secure the alliance. But Faraine and Vor can't ignore the fact that they're drawn to each other.
This book was a total blast to read, seriously. I was hooked on the political scheming, and everyone's motives made perfect sense to me. Even if I didn't agree with how they did things, I totally understood why. Sylvia Mercedes did an awesome job exploring the whole moral dilemma thing and what we'd do to protect our loved ones.
Oh, and I absolutely loved seeing the different relationships Faraine and Vor had with their friends and family. Each one was unique and gave so much depth to the characters and the story.
Now, let's talk about the downsides. The first half of the book dragged a bit, gotta be honest. It took forever for the plot to get going. And some of the characters felt kinda underdeveloped.
This book left me with a bunch of questions, and I'm betting they'll all get answered in the next two books of the trilogy. Can't wait to get my hands on them!
If you're into stories with hidden powers, arranged marriages, and forbidden love right smack in the middle of an imminent war, trust me, you're gonna eat this book up.
A big thanks to Sylvia Mercedes, Daphne Press, and Netgalley for the digital ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and this review was posted voluntarily.
I read Bride of the Shadow King because somehow I read an excerpt or the first chapter, something like that and then found out it was free on my kindle and so was able to continue on. It is a bit different in regard to setting and fantasy species. A compelling read. This first book is a solid story and start to a series.
4 Noble Reasons for Choices Made
4 Noble Reasons for Choices Made