thesubplot 's review for:

Shadows of the Crown by Dakota Monroe

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

---

 

A solid 4 stars from me. I’m very eagerly waiting for the next book. 

 

The first line in the book hooked me. The magic system was confusing at first and would have liked more detail in this book explaining it. However, I went to the author’s website and was able to see more explanation. Which made the rest of the read easier to understand. I could see how for some people not doing this, it would seem a bit muddled. For me as an avid reader of this genre if more of the world building and magical system were explained in the first book, this would have easily rated higher for me. 

 

The unique flow of the writing held the rating for me. While parts of the concept of the plot have been seen before, the writer was able to captivate me enough to want to continue the story.  While for some the repetitive use of the tapping of the knives could be seen as an overused word filler, I liked to view it as a grounding TIC that really opened up more of the character’s personal self, outside of the revenge plot. 

 

Can’t wait to see where the next book takes the characters!