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A review by hollymbryan
Shadow Call by Michael Miller, Adrianne Strickland
5.0
This review and more can be found at my blog, Book-Keeping.
Wow, wow, wow. This series has become an instant favorite in the past two weeks or so as I have read - no, devoured - these two books. What a wild ride! I absolutely love science fiction, and as Beth Revis says, *everything* is better in space, right?! Well, this story is no exception! What a brilliant idea someone had for these two lovely folks to begin writing together. I initially thought they were married until I read the authors’ note at the end of the first book, where they mentioned their respective life partners. It amazes me that two people can be so mind-melded without that extra connection - like Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, or Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Well, you can now add AdriAnne and Michael to that esteemed list!
I had pre-ordered Shadow Run last year before it released, but I hadn’t had the chance to read it yet, so when I saw this tour announcement for Shadow Call, I jumped at the chance to take part. Lucky for me, I was slotted for a review, and then I got to binge read both books. I was blown away after reading the first book, and after coming down a bit from the exhilaration high, I jumped right in to the second book. It’s safe to say I was blown away by this one, too! These authors have created an amazing system (they don’t call it a solar system, but imagine that’s what it is), where each of the many planets are run by one of the eight ruling families. They’re basically monarchs over not just their own home planet, but multiple planets in the system. The planets often chafe at the heavy-handed rule-from-afar tactics, and often the people are doing their best to barely scrape by while the monarchs live in the lap of luxury. Nev and Qole are, therefore, basically oil and water, but they are determined to make their mixture work. But first, they must endure betrayals (even, sometimes, their own) and backstabbings and space battles that might just remind you of another scrappy ship captain and crew taking on a brutal dictatorial government with the help of a disguised monarch. :) I mean, doesn’t that sound amazing?! It is!!
The characters are my absolute favorite part of this series. Nev and Qole are amazing, of course, but truly every character is fleshed out and plays a part in one way or another. Basra is probably my favorite outside of our leads; what a badass, stunning character! Love, love, love Basra! The alternating chapters, told from the perspectives of Qole and Nev (and a special third voice in the second book), do an amazing job of keeping us in the know from all sides. It is such a joy to see Qole and Nev discover each other and figure out their place in each other’s lives, if such a place exists. The twists in the plot often had me gasping (and it’s not easy to really surprise me while reading!), and the betrayals had me repeating “OMG, OMG, OMG” or “nooooo!” or, I admit it, a curse word or two (in private!). I now feel like I’m in a relationship with these characters myself, like I’m on the Kaitan Heritage with the rest of the crew, seeing the swirl of colors and inky blackness of Shadow out in space. What. A. Ride.
Thank you so much to Rockstar Book Tours for having me on this blog tour, to Delacorte Press for the gorgeous copy of Shadow Call, and especially to AdriAnne and Michael for this story, these amazing characters, and the experience I had reading this series. Seriously, it rocketed straight to the top of my “favorite series” list while I was still reading book one, and the fact that book two was just as good, if not better, has me in awe of this writing partnership. To AdriAnne and Michael, I’d like to say: I am ready for more, y’all!!!
Rating: 5 out-of-this-world stars in the Shadow-filled reaches of space!
*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part, and this is my honest rating and review.
Wow, wow, wow. This series has become an instant favorite in the past two weeks or so as I have read - no, devoured - these two books. What a wild ride! I absolutely love science fiction, and as Beth Revis says, *everything* is better in space, right?! Well, this story is no exception! What a brilliant idea someone had for these two lovely folks to begin writing together. I initially thought they were married until I read the authors’ note at the end of the first book, where they mentioned their respective life partners. It amazes me that two people can be so mind-melded without that extra connection - like Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, or Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Well, you can now add AdriAnne and Michael to that esteemed list!
I had pre-ordered Shadow Run last year before it released, but I hadn’t had the chance to read it yet, so when I saw this tour announcement for Shadow Call, I jumped at the chance to take part. Lucky for me, I was slotted for a review, and then I got to binge read both books. I was blown away after reading the first book, and after coming down a bit from the exhilaration high, I jumped right in to the second book. It’s safe to say I was blown away by this one, too! These authors have created an amazing system (they don’t call it a solar system, but imagine that’s what it is), where each of the many planets are run by one of the eight ruling families. They’re basically monarchs over not just their own home planet, but multiple planets in the system. The planets often chafe at the heavy-handed rule-from-afar tactics, and often the people are doing their best to barely scrape by while the monarchs live in the lap of luxury. Nev and Qole are, therefore, basically oil and water, but they are determined to make their mixture work. But first, they must endure betrayals (even, sometimes, their own) and backstabbings and space battles that might just remind you of another scrappy ship captain and crew taking on a brutal dictatorial government with the help of a disguised monarch. :) I mean, doesn’t that sound amazing?! It is!!
The characters are my absolute favorite part of this series. Nev and Qole are amazing, of course, but truly every character is fleshed out and plays a part in one way or another. Basra is probably my favorite outside of our leads; what a badass, stunning character! Love, love, love Basra! The alternating chapters, told from the perspectives of Qole and Nev (and a special third voice in the second book), do an amazing job of keeping us in the know from all sides. It is such a joy to see Qole and Nev discover each other and figure out their place in each other’s lives, if such a place exists. The twists in the plot often had me gasping (and it’s not easy to really surprise me while reading!), and the betrayals had me repeating “OMG, OMG, OMG” or “nooooo!” or, I admit it, a curse word or two (in private!). I now feel like I’m in a relationship with these characters myself, like I’m on the Kaitan Heritage with the rest of the crew, seeing the swirl of colors and inky blackness of Shadow out in space. What. A. Ride.
Thank you so much to Rockstar Book Tours for having me on this blog tour, to Delacorte Press for the gorgeous copy of Shadow Call, and especially to AdriAnne and Michael for this story, these amazing characters, and the experience I had reading this series. Seriously, it rocketed straight to the top of my “favorite series” list while I was still reading book one, and the fact that book two was just as good, if not better, has me in awe of this writing partnership. To AdriAnne and Michael, I’d like to say: I am ready for more, y’all!!!
Rating: 5 out-of-this-world stars in the Shadow-filled reaches of space!
*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for purposes of this blog tour. This review is voluntary on my part, and this is my honest rating and review.