A review by rasha_reads
Shadow Princess by Susanne Valenti, Caroline Peckham

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Alright, I am beginning to see why people are so obsessed with this series. I still don’t completely agree with it but am starting to understand it. My basic opinions on ZA are still the same but as the story progresses, the more I am drawn in.

As the plot advanced, the more I learned about all the characters in terms of back stories and their traits (morally grey doesn’t begin to cover it IMHO), the more interesting it became. BUT this also brought me back to the extremely negative vibes that thread their way through this entire universe. I get that this is dark academia and a bully romance but the more time went by, the darker it seemed to get. And the same badness, toxic behaviours and, frankly, bad decisions (on both sides) kept occurring again and again and again - for over 600+ pages!

However, there was a bright side (sort of). The cleverest thing the authors did was to create two FMCs: one of which is really dark and the other in the throes of that oh so pesky forbidden love / hot for teacher trope. Yeah, I know. Both are dark but one is lighter than the other and so provided a much needed ray of hope in what would otherwise have been an unrelentingly dark tale which would no longer fall into the romantasy genre but would have become a straight up psychological horror that explores the absolute worst of the fae (humanity).

Of course, there is still the spice to consider (and let’s be honest, why else choose to read books of this kind - no judgement) … and in this volume, the level ratchets up from 🌶️🌶️ to 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️. But is that why I am still reading, after four looong books? The answer to this question was granted at the end when I began to realise that there were hidden depths to parts of the story that were wrapped in pride and tragedy.

As in the previous volumes, this series might be dark but it is still escapist reading and am curious to see where it goes, especially after the cliffhanger! And now I’m off to start volume 5…

3.75 stars 🤓📚

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