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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
Not the worst I’ve ever read, but quite far from the best. The plot of Shadow Game is everything that I’ve been looking for, albeit with an extremely clumsy writing style and choppy pacing. I loved Lily and her backstory and development. But my biggest issue and the reason for the low rating was undoubtedly the romance.
I hate hate HATE the romance in this book. The “instant connection” stuff was such a cop-out. Plus, I absolutely cannot stand when casual sexism is painted as charming. Ryland straight up creeped me tf out at times. I could look past it initially because their first meeting was so compelling, but Ryland and Lily together became unbearable. You can skim over the sex scenes because they are dumb and terrible. Stop saying generous breasts. STOP IT.
Ryland was so very poorly written. Somehow overbearing yet completely useless. It’s painfully clear he has absolutely no respect for Lily. The parts where he was supposed to be heroic and charming came off as just a bundle of red flags.
There are lots of plot holes. Make your peace with that right now. The timeline was totally unclear. And the characters had little to no development or layers. Arly particularly got on my last damn nerve.
It bothers me that she was essentially born with these abilities, yet he somehow knows more about them despite seemingly having just gotten them. Why did you have such a cool smart main character and do nothing with her????
Unfortunately, the series concept might be interesting enough for me to check out a couple more titles, but I’m going to have to take a break to stop being mad about this book first.
P.S.
If anyone has any recommendations for books with a similar plot with romance that doesn’t make me cringe to death, feel free to drop them in the comments. I’d be crazy grateful.
I hate hate HATE the romance in this book. The “instant connection” stuff was such a cop-out. Plus, I absolutely cannot stand when casual sexism is painted as charming. Ryland straight up creeped me tf out at times. I could look past it initially because their first meeting was so compelling, but Ryland and Lily together became unbearable. You can skim over the sex scenes because they are dumb and terrible. Stop saying generous breasts. STOP IT.
Ryland was so very poorly written. Somehow overbearing yet completely useless. It’s painfully clear he has absolutely no respect for Lily. The parts where he was supposed to be heroic and charming came off as just a bundle of red flags.
There are lots of plot holes. Make your peace with that right now. The timeline was totally unclear. And the characters had little to no development or layers. Arly particularly got on my last damn nerve.
It bothers me that she was essentially born with these abilities, yet he somehow knows more about them despite seemingly having just gotten them. Why did you have such a cool smart main character and do nothing with her????
Unfortunately, the series concept might be interesting enough for me to check out a couple more titles, but I’m going to have to take a break to stop being mad about this book first.
P.S.
If anyone has any recommendations for books with a similar plot with romance that doesn’t make me cringe to death, feel free to drop them in the comments. I’d be crazy grateful.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really mixed feelings about this one, but trying to give it the benefit of the doubt that maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for it. For a book with so much action happening, it was such a slow read for me. We’re talking 5-10 pages per day for the first few days which is very unlike me.
Liked:
Liked:
- The found family Lily had with her father’s staff
- The set up (I assume) for future books talking about the other children with powers
Meh
- The insta love was way too much for me. They hinted that maybe her father did something to make it happen, but that was never resolved so the whole thing bugged me
- The pacing was very weird in my opinion
Disliked
- Why were they constantly having sex in REALLY dangerous situations? Like come on, you’re on the run trying to stay alive, don’t stop to boink!
- It felt like Ryland was always pushing Lily too fast in a way that made me feel uncomfortable. Like at times it was borderline harassment
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent
Okay read but nothing like the Carpathian novels.......But the series is still interesting and if I know Feehan at all I have faith that the series will continue to improve.
I would have given it a 3.5. The writing was okay, I feel like it was a bit choppy in some places and the voice of the characters not always fluent. But otherwise it was an enjoyable read.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Had much potential but never delivered. If you're gonna write a book with telepathic characters, then do something with that!
DNF
I'm trying to expand my horizons. I realized I'd never read a book in the "romance" categorization, and was wondering what they were all about. I mean, aside from the obvious. I didn't come in expecting to like it, but I wanted to learn what it was people liked about them. I figured I would pick one with a sci-fi setting to ease myself into it.
I was not prepared for how fucking awful writing can be. I made it almost 150 pages into this book through sheer morbid curiosity before I couldn't stand it anymore. This book is like a laundry list of things not to do in a novel:
* The characters, who had never met before the start of the novel, were in love with each other by page 3. Lust would have been fine, but love is utterly unbelievable.
* The way characters talk is so far removed from anything anyone would ever say in real life. Overt explanations of everything they're feeling moment to moment. Recaps of how two characters know each other and what they feel about each other.
* Repetition. There are like 2 ideas here and they're stated over and over, ad nauseum.
* The author referred to Lily's vagina as a "sheath" three times in under 2 pages.
* Ryland's laser-focus on "I knew you were mine from the moment I saw you" is super rapey. He's a super-creep who doesn't give a shit about Lily as a person and just wants what he views as his. I can't even begin to understand how Lily feels anything for him but disgust. All her actions in light of his behavior are unbelievable.
* Adverbs. This book is like a case study in why writers are advised to use adverbs sparingly.
* It's actually difficult to follow what's going on. The characters' unbelievable emotions are the focus to the point where what's actually happening is kind of left mentioned in passing.
Anyway, I don't want to entirely write off a genre because the first book I happened to pick out was a complete waste of the paper used to print it. But there are like 18 sequels to this book, so that means that there is an audience for this kind of thing. Do I just hate everything that makes romance books what they are? If you happen to read this review and have a recommendation for a beginner to the genre that is actually worth reading, I'd love to hear it.
I'm trying to expand my horizons. I realized I'd never read a book in the "romance" categorization, and was wondering what they were all about. I mean, aside from the obvious. I didn't come in expecting to like it, but I wanted to learn what it was people liked about them. I figured I would pick one with a sci-fi setting to ease myself into it.
I was not prepared for how fucking awful writing can be. I made it almost 150 pages into this book through sheer morbid curiosity before I couldn't stand it anymore. This book is like a laundry list of things not to do in a novel:
* The characters, who had never met before the start of the novel, were in love with each other by page 3. Lust would have been fine, but love is utterly unbelievable.
* The way characters talk is so far removed from anything anyone would ever say in real life. Overt explanations of everything they're feeling moment to moment. Recaps of how two characters know each other and what they feel about each other.
* Repetition. There are like 2 ideas here and they're stated over and over, ad nauseum.
* The author referred to Lily's vagina as a "sheath" three times in under 2 pages.
* Ryland's laser-focus on "I knew you were mine from the moment I saw you" is super rapey. He's a super-creep who doesn't give a shit about Lily as a person and just wants what he views as his. I can't even begin to understand how Lily feels anything for him but disgust. All her actions in light of his behavior are unbelievable.
* Adverbs. This book is like a case study in why writers are advised to use adverbs sparingly.
* It's actually difficult to follow what's going on. The characters' unbelievable emotions are the focus to the point where what's actually happening is kind of left mentioned in passing.
Anyway, I don't want to entirely write off a genre because the first book I happened to pick out was a complete waste of the paper used to print it. But there are like 18 sequels to this book, so that means that there is an audience for this kind of thing. Do I just hate everything that makes romance books what they are? If you happen to read this review and have a recommendation for a beginner to the genre that is actually worth reading, I'd love to hear it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated