stephross372 's review for:

Fall to Shadow: Ashes of Discord Book One by Jac-Ann Marie, Jac-Ann Marie

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The premise of the story is fantastic with forbidden love between the Dark Prince and his Luhkaela, exploring the world of Light and Dark Fae, Elder Fae, Shadow Knights, various creatures, etc. The character development is well done building slowly as you carry on through the book. I especially liked Kolvar's development and learning a little bit of why he became so enslaved to the Dark King. However, there is a jaggedness to the story in the first half of the book that made it difficult to stay captivated. It's easy to see the intricacies necessary of a story of this magnitude, but a bit more smoothing between the transitions of then and now in earlier chapters would lend themselves well. 

I'd rate this book a 3.5, but I'm rounding up to 4 stars as it was really only a flow component that was difficult for me personally in the first half of the book.

Overall, there is a lot of promise in this story, and I'm interested to see how Book 2 progresses.

Thank you to the author for the ARC opportunity!