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A review by celsius273
The Shadow Hour by Melissa Grey
3.0
Island hopping, the global edition part two; except it’s not islands and it’s also not WWII.
Much like its predecessor, this book is a lot of travelling (made convenient thanks to magic dust) from NYC to Scotland and China and who knows where else. But rather than searching for the firebird, The Shadow Hour follows Echo and co. around the world as they try to cobble together a plan to defeat an evil darkness released at the same time the firebird was. Yes, this book simplifies down quite literally to light vs. dark. And if that sounds familiar, yes you’ve read this before in the Grisha series.
So I just mentally summarized the book and it seems pretty packed with stuff going on, yet somehow when I finished the book it feels like it was pretty sparse on action. The gang is holed up in a London safehouse because literally everyone is out to kill Echo and her conspirators, but then some shit goes down with the darkness rearing its head and suddenly Echo and co. find themselves teaming back up with the Avicen to try and figure out what the hell is going on. Echo, Caius, and Rowan (oh joy, doesn’t that seem fun) end up sneaking off chasing a tip for information and somehow end up in China and finally back in the UK for the final showdown. Meanwhile, Ivy, Dorian, Jasper, and a newcomer warlock infiltrate the Drakharin base to retrieve Caius’ notes on the darkness plaguing them running into their fair share of problems along the way. This split narration - EVERYONE gets to narrate I’m pretty sure at one point or another - keeps things interesting because things will cut off in one story and jump to the other keeping me reading on.
See everything in this book is about gathering information, preparing for a battle and though there is a pretty epic battle scene to conclude the book, it seems abrupt and random and out of place to the more low key pacing of this book. Much of this book instead focused on the gang working out their feelings for each other and here is where I announce an astonishing fact about this book.
Ready?
This book has not one but two love triangles. Yes that’s right, TWO LOVE TRIANGLES. Like how can that even happen? Well the first one is the one we all know, the Echo - Caius - Rowan one and I thought it was done at the end of the first book but apparently not. The thing is, Caius is so patient with the whole thing (and I suppose that has to come with being so old and everything) and even after confessing his love and Echo being hesitant, he accepts it and is chill even while I’m internally screaming. I was not too thrilled with Caius in the first book because it was the “falling for the bad guy and making him good” trope all over again but he’s actually such a nice guy to Echo and ugh, he’s been through so much and the least he deserves is to have a nice romance I think. So yeah, I was not having Rowan’s return in this book, especially because he’s actually an ass to both Echo and Caius in this book.
The other love triangle is with Dorian, Jasper, and Quinn, that warlock they hire. Turns out Quinn and Jasper were a thing (and tbh, it was pretty predatory and low key statuary from the way it was described) and I thought it was totally unnecessary to add in another love triangle with them. I mean fine, it serves it purpose by making Dorian get his act together and I still just want him and Jasper to bang already because they have so much chemistry together, like they’re actually basically the caricature of gay book couple. But alas, they both have stuff to work through so we’ll have to wait to the next book to get resolution.
Perhaps why I felt like nothing fun happened in this book was because like half of it was the Echo, Caius, Rowan shit show. It really is quite good when it comes to the actual writing and with the cliffhanger and resigned tone that this book ends with, you know that something big is going to happen in the next book.
Much like its predecessor, this book is a lot of travelling (made convenient thanks to magic dust) from NYC to Scotland and China and who knows where else. But rather than searching for the firebird, The Shadow Hour follows Echo and co. around the world as they try to cobble together a plan to defeat an evil darkness released at the same time the firebird was. Yes, this book simplifies down quite literally to light vs. dark. And if that sounds familiar, yes you’ve read this before in the Grisha series.
So I just mentally summarized the book and it seems pretty packed with stuff going on, yet somehow when I finished the book it feels like it was pretty sparse on action. The gang is holed up in a London safehouse because literally everyone is out to kill Echo and her conspirators, but then some shit goes down with the darkness rearing its head and suddenly Echo and co. find themselves teaming back up with the Avicen to try and figure out what the hell is going on. Echo, Caius, and Rowan (oh joy, doesn’t that seem fun) end up sneaking off chasing a tip for information and somehow end up in China and finally back in the UK for the final showdown. Meanwhile, Ivy, Dorian, Jasper, and a newcomer warlock infiltrate the Drakharin base to retrieve Caius’ notes on the darkness plaguing them running into their fair share of problems along the way. This split narration - EVERYONE gets to narrate I’m pretty sure at one point or another - keeps things interesting because things will cut off in one story and jump to the other keeping me reading on.
See everything in this book is about gathering information, preparing for a battle and though there is a pretty epic battle scene to conclude the book, it seems abrupt and random and out of place to the more low key pacing of this book. Much of this book instead focused on the gang working out their feelings for each other and here is where I announce an astonishing fact about this book.
Ready?
This book has not one but two love triangles. Yes that’s right, TWO LOVE TRIANGLES. Like how can that even happen? Well the first one is the one we all know, the Echo - Caius - Rowan one and I thought it was done at the end of the first book but apparently not. The thing is, Caius is so patient with the whole thing (and I suppose that has to come with being so old and everything) and even after confessing his love and Echo being hesitant, he accepts it and is chill even while I’m internally screaming. I was not too thrilled with Caius in the first book because it was the “falling for the bad guy and making him good” trope all over again but he’s actually such a nice guy to Echo and ugh, he’s been through so much and the least he deserves is to have a nice romance I think. So yeah, I was not having Rowan’s return in this book, especially because he’s actually an ass to both Echo and Caius in this book.
The other love triangle is with Dorian, Jasper, and Quinn, that warlock they hire. Turns out Quinn and Jasper were a thing (and tbh, it was pretty predatory and low key statuary from the way it was described) and I thought it was totally unnecessary to add in another love triangle with them. I mean fine, it serves it purpose by making Dorian get his act together and I still just want him and Jasper to bang already because they have so much chemistry together, like they’re actually basically the caricature of gay book couple. But alas, they both have stuff to work through so we’ll have to wait to the next book to get resolution.
Perhaps why I felt like nothing fun happened in this book was because like half of it was the Echo, Caius, Rowan shit show. It really is quite good when it comes to the actual writing and with the cliffhanger and resigned tone that this book ends with, you know that something big is going to happen in the next book.