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A review by ria_mhrj
Shadow Kin by M.J. Scott
2.0
Shadow Kin boasts an interesting world with a unique take on familiar fantasy creatures. The heroine's struggle to find a place to belong had a huge amount of potential and when the politics of the society were explored, my interest was held.
But alas, the majority of the characters didn't work for me. Starting with the villain, Lucius is meant to be a creature of terror with sinister plans for both our heroes and the city as a whole. He is just plain bad without any real depth or clear motivations beyond a lust for power and this bothered me - given the relationship with Lily and his role in society, I felt much more could have been done with this character.
Worryingly, I preferred Lucius to Simon, the ostensible hero. Gah! He made me so mad. Self-righteous, smug and frustratingly blinkered to all views but his own, Simon got off to a good start but did not experience any growth or development as the novel progressed - the traits I listed before are not always unforgivable, provided there is some hint of change, but there was no such hope for Simon.
Finally, there's Lily. Again, there was huge potential with this character given her circumstances, but ultimately she was the sum of her history and her abilities and little else, and I never felt I got under her skin at any point. And she lost my respect for offering an unnecessary apology to a certain character. There should have been more to her.
The world building deserves praise but when it comes to the books I read, I need to care and sympathise with SOMEONE and sadly this was missing for me in Shadow Kin.
But alas, the majority of the characters didn't work for me. Starting with the villain, Lucius is meant to be a creature of terror with sinister plans for both our heroes and the city as a whole. He is just plain bad without any real depth or clear motivations beyond a lust for power and this bothered me - given the relationship with Lily and his role in society, I felt much more could have been done with this character.
Worryingly, I preferred Lucius to Simon, the ostensible hero. Gah! He made me so mad. Self-righteous, smug and frustratingly blinkered to all views but his own, Simon got off to a good start but did not experience any growth or development as the novel progressed - the traits I listed before are not always unforgivable, provided there is some hint of change, but there was no such hope for Simon.
Finally, there's Lily. Again, there was huge potential with this character given her circumstances, but ultimately she was the sum of her history and her abilities and little else, and I never felt I got under her skin at any point. And she lost my respect for offering an unnecessary apology to a certain character. There should have been more to her.
The world building deserves praise but when it comes to the books I read, I need to care and sympathise with SOMEONE and sadly this was missing for me in Shadow Kin.