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A review by lautir
Shadebloom by Felicia Davin
5.0
I came into this series knowing basically nothing about it and now it's easily one of my top trilogies for the year.
Book one set the stage well, exploring the socio-political life of a seaside town, introducing our main antagonists and protagonist. Then books 2 and 3 take us on the tour of the larger world and all the different ways of living that there are in the world before bringing us back to the seaside town for it's the dramatic conclusion.
Davin has crafted a unique world, one that's tide-locked to its sun. Meaning the part of the planet that's facing the sun is always the same. This makes it so there are cities in permanent sunlight and cities in permanent dark.
One of my favourite things Davin does is really flesh out the antagonist's story. In the first book you can find yourself feeling sorry for her, possibly even taking her side. She had redeeming qualities and an admiral goal, but her methods are inexcusable. Davin does a great job of creating a villain with lots of depth as well as one who instills fear.
And the queer rep! We have a central f/f relationship which is why I started the series in the first place. Every letter in LGBT is here and there is even a genderfluid MC in the 2nd book onwards. And then a burgeoning polyship between the MCs and wow it's so nice to see this made explicit and not just hinted at. There is very much a love story at the center of this series but it's also very focused on found families and getting out of abusive relationships.
Overall, some of my fave fantasy I've read in years and I'm excited to see what Davin writes next!
Book one set the stage well, exploring the socio-political life of a seaside town, introducing our main antagonists and protagonist. Then books 2 and 3 take us on the tour of the larger world and all the different ways of living that there are in the world before bringing us back to the seaside town for it's the dramatic conclusion.
Davin has crafted a unique world, one that's tide-locked to its sun. Meaning the part of the planet that's facing the sun is always the same. This makes it so there are cities in permanent sunlight and cities in permanent dark.
One of my favourite things Davin does is really flesh out the antagonist's story. In the first book you can find yourself feeling sorry for her, possibly even taking her side. She had redeeming qualities and an admiral goal, but her methods are inexcusable. Davin does a great job of creating a villain with lots of depth as well as one who instills fear.
And the queer rep! We have a central f/f relationship which is why I started the series in the first place. Every letter in LGBT is here and there is even a genderfluid MC in the 2nd book onwards. And then a burgeoning polyship between the MCs and wow it's so nice to see this made explicit and not just hinted at. There is very much a love story at the center of this series but it's also very focused on found families and getting out of abusive relationships.
Overall, some of my fave fantasy I've read in years and I'm excited to see what Davin writes next!