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A review by claireviolet
When Shadows Grow Tall by Maressa Voss

adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When Shadows Grow Tall sets out to be the first entry in a sweeping, brutal, high fantasy series and does an impressive job hitting that mark. 
 
I will freely admit that the first quarter of a new fantasy series is always the hardest for me to get through, but Maressa Voss kicks her book off with a brutal prologue that caught me off guard in the best way. From the end of the prologue I found myself intrigued and invested in what happened. The pacing is one of the strongest aspects of this book, and the point of view exchanges between Lovelace and Kylene are timed very well. Voss’s prose is sweeping in a way that feels very familiar to anyone who has spent time in the genre, but I don’t think she goes overboard with it. I found the descriptions to be very sensory, and would be imagining the smells and sounds of a scene just as often as what everything looks like. 
 
The character archetypes and good vs evil conflict they play into are fairly simplistic, which didn’t detract anything from the story for me. I don’t have any terribly strong opinions about the villains, but I don’t think the audience spends enough time with them to develop any. Lovelace is easily my favorite, his anger is palpable and it bleeds off the page as much as his kindness does. He plays very well of Gunnar, and the introduction of Pif and Ailwin as companions does a good job to help flesh everyone’s personalities out. Kylene endeared herself to me the page long choice paralysis she ran into trying to decide what toppings to add to her porridge. I feel the same way about oatmeal. 
 
Voss refuses to hold your hand and expects the reader to be able to keep up with her which has its pros and cons. I think her magic system is simple enough that she doesn’t need to explain it anymore than she does, with the sguels being my favorite part. Her characters generally talk about the magic in a way that you can pick all the important functions up, while managing to keep those conversations feeling natural. It’s refreshing as a reader to be trusted like that, but it’s not infallible. I think we’re supposed to piece together some rules about gender roles and expectations in the Grasp, but nothing is clearly defined until around 43% of the book where it becomes very explicit. So many aspects of Kylene, Lovelace, and Gunnar’s lives are dangerous, it can be overwhelming to parse out what differs in the threats between people considered rebellious, rangers, educated people, women, and men. 
 
I do think the blurb gives too much away. As a rule for myself, I like to go into a book pretty blind and if the genre and first couple sentences of a book line up with my taste that’s enough for me. Your milage may vary with that, but I didn’t read the blurb until after finishing the book and was very happy with that choice. 
 
Overall this was a very strong debut and I really like Voss’s voice and style. I look forward to reading what she puts out next. 
 
Thank you NetGalley and Collective Ink for the eARC.
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