A review by floofymoosereads
A Shift in Shadows by Maddox Grey

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the the first book in the Lost Legacies series, an urban fantasy romance. Tropes include a stabby FMC, found family, banter, hidden identifies and numerous types of non-human beings. Please see content warnings for adult content, in particular, a couple spicy scenes. 

The Lovely: I loved the FMC - especially her snark and how clever she is. She’s experienced grief and trauma, and is still being impacted by the after effects. This is not a story of healing from the trauma - she doesn’t seem ready for that quite yet. I also loved her friends, especially her telepathic XL kitty (a grimalkin) - who also happens to have some protective and violent tendencies. 

The Mundane: I felt like it took me a while to get into the story. A good chunk of the first one-third to one-half of the book was meeting characters and world-building, without much advancement of the plot. The world-building was complex so time did need to be spent on this, but so much so quickly made it hard to retain what I was reading. 

Rating: 4/5 Stars 2/5 spicy flames 

Recommendation: This was a solid start to the series, which is currently five books long. The sixth book is due to release in August 2024. I will definitely be continuing with the series. While book one didn’t end on a major cliffhanger, there are a lot of unanswered questions. In addition, there was an interesting bit of information dropped in the epilogue that I definitely want to know more about.