Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by oneoflifeslollopers
Shadow Kin by M.J. Scott
3.0
My name. This time my eyes prickled rather than my neck. Lucius calls me “my shadow.” The Fae call me “soulless” when they deign to acknowledge my presence. The Blood and the Beast Kind mostly don’t use my name at all. No one had asked my name in a very long time.
Shadow Kin jumps right into the action, much the same way Graceling does. Shadow/Lily is sent to kill someone by her master, Lucius. Shadow is used to easy kills. She was not expecting a fight from her intended victim. She was not expecting Simon the Sunmage.
The beginning certainly has some fantastic action scenes, plenty of great fighting and several chase scenes. We meet the sinister Lucius (doesn’t that name just have that fantastically sinister “ssss” sound?) and his cruel treatment of Shadow/Lily.
There’s a trick to surviving a beating. You have to find the rhythm of it, so you can anticipate and send your mind away from the pain at the right time. But I couldn’t do that. Lucius is a master at keeping you on edge and present for every second. That way, every hurt inflicted makes its intended point.
I was really excited about reading this because it was a lot like Graceling but darker and edgier. The City is constantly on the cusp of war between the Fae, Beast, Blood and humans and humans certainly have the short end of the stick.
But after the initial action, the book sloooooows dooooown to a veeeerrry gentle snail pace. Lily wants to help the humans. Lily wants to return to Lucius. Lily wants to testify against Lucius. Lily wants to return to Lucius. Simon has secrets. Lily wants to make sexytimes with Simon. Lily has secrets. Lily wants to run away from The City. Simon still has secrets. Lily wants to return to Lucius. Lily makes sexytimes with Simon. Lily should probably testify against Lucius. Oh to hell with it all, life is too hard! Lily will go back to Lucius.
“If I stay here, there’ll be consequences. People might die. That’s not a good choice.”
“No one ever said redemption was easy. People will die if you return to Lucius, won’t they?”
But maybe not me. And that was exactly the kind of thought that made me a less than perfect candidate for redemption of any kind.
I really tried to identify with Lily but it was a struggle. For starters, I would really rather her name was Shadow. Shadow seems much more interesting a name for a wraith than Lily. But Lily, even by the end of the novel, is still really out for herself. I know she wants to have her own life, and that’s great. She possibly wants to have a life with Simon. But she always wants to take the easier option. Yes, this might make her more human, more average, but I didn’t want her to be average. I found her a very lacklustre character, and Simon wasn’t much better.
I also found that the concept of “the need” dragged on for far too long. There was a lot of hinting before we finally got the big reveal and I felt that it took up a lot of storytime that could have been better devoted elsewhere.
The ending of the novel does pick up again, but it was a little too late to really save the book. The final fight seemed almost too easy after all the build up and angst. The book does have a HEA but I didn’t find it very satisfying. The ending is again, a lot like Graceling in that it’s an ambiguous sort of HEA, there are plans for the future but we don’t get to see it eventuate.
What I had originally thought was going to be a Graceling 2.0, with some darker, edgier moments and a more mature sounding voice ended up being a rather poor imitation.
Shadow Kin jumps right into the action, much the same way Graceling does. Shadow/Lily is sent to kill someone by her master, Lucius. Shadow is used to easy kills. She was not expecting a fight from her intended victim. She was not expecting Simon the Sunmage.
The beginning certainly has some fantastic action scenes, plenty of great fighting and several chase scenes. We meet the sinister Lucius (doesn’t that name just have that fantastically sinister “ssss” sound?) and his cruel treatment of Shadow/Lily.
There’s a trick to surviving a beating. You have to find the rhythm of it, so you can anticipate and send your mind away from the pain at the right time. But I couldn’t do that. Lucius is a master at keeping you on edge and present for every second. That way, every hurt inflicted makes its intended point.
I was really excited about reading this because it was a lot like Graceling but darker and edgier. The City is constantly on the cusp of war between the Fae, Beast, Blood and humans and humans certainly have the short end of the stick.
But after the initial action, the book sloooooows dooooown to a veeeerrry gentle snail pace. Lily wants to help the humans. Lily wants to return to Lucius. Lily wants to testify against Lucius. Lily wants to return to Lucius. Simon has secrets. Lily wants to make sexytimes with Simon. Lily has secrets. Lily wants to run away from The City. Simon still has secrets. Lily wants to return to Lucius. Lily makes sexytimes with Simon. Lily should probably testify against Lucius. Oh to hell with it all, life is too hard! Lily will go back to Lucius.
“If I stay here, there’ll be consequences. People might die. That’s not a good choice.”
“No one ever said redemption was easy. People will die if you return to Lucius, won’t they?”
But maybe not me. And that was exactly the kind of thought that made me a less than perfect candidate for redemption of any kind.
I really tried to identify with Lily but it was a struggle. For starters, I would really rather her name was Shadow. Shadow seems much more interesting a name for a wraith than Lily. But Lily, even by the end of the novel, is still really out for herself. I know she wants to have her own life, and that’s great. She possibly wants to have a life with Simon. But she always wants to take the easier option. Yes, this might make her more human, more average, but I didn’t want her to be average. I found her a very lacklustre character, and Simon wasn’t much better.
I also found that the concept of “the need” dragged on for far too long. There was a lot of hinting before we finally got the big reveal and I felt that it took up a lot of storytime that could have been better devoted elsewhere.
The ending of the novel does pick up again, but it was a little too late to really save the book. The final fight seemed almost too easy after all the build up and angst. The book does have a HEA but I didn’t find it very satisfying. The ending is again, a lot like Graceling in that it’s an ambiguous sort of HEA, there are plans for the future but we don’t get to see it eventuate.
What I had originally thought was going to be a Graceling 2.0, with some darker, edgier moments and a more mature sounding voice ended up being a rather poor imitation.