Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke

1 review

bhavya_is_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

“The mask has its appeal, but personally, I think it’s what’s underneath that counts.”


 ~Rating- 3 stars~

Content/ Trigger Warnings- Sexism, Blood & gore depiction, Lots of violence (on page), Alcoholism, Physical injury (including eyeball trauma), Death of a parent (mentioned), Executions, Gun violence, Stabbing, Murder, Poverty themes, Fire, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of Slavery, Child Abandonment, Swearing, Grey-Area Cheating (on page), Gambling (on page)

Note- I have tried to include all the content warnings that I noticed, but there is no guarantee that I haven’t missed something.

-Mention of some of these in the review-

Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke is a dark YA fantasy with well developed characters and an interesting plot. While there were a lot of elements I enjoyed, I felt this book lacked a unique aspect. This book felt like several YA books I’ve read before, and there wasn’t much in this book to make it stand out. However, it was still an enjoyable read.

Note- This review is extremely long, and has some very minor spoilers. I am sorry for using a lot of quotes here, but there were too many good ones and I didn’t want to remove any. It was so hard to fit everything in the space given, as I had 10 pages of annotated notes.

“Books became more than just stories. They were a reminder that the whole world wasn’t a bleak tapestry of violence, and while she might never see anything beautiful again, at least she could read about kinder things. It was easier to breathe between the pages of a book.”



Ren Kolins is a silver wielder in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by and does not care at all about the politics of her country. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution.

“People still tell stories about magic, you know. If you show them that the Lyandors aren’t the only wielders still here—that you’re still here—you could very well start a revolution.”


Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children are engaged in a competition, where the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, to be appointed King’s Fang title. It's her only chance at freedom.

“She [Adley] wasn’t going to let him steal her one chance at freedom, at happiness, at righting all the wrong she’d done.”


Time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out. 

“None of us are good people. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. We’ve all made mistakes. Your demons might be louder than mine, but we each have one or two hanging around. We’re all just people, Ren. We’re doing our best.”




The plot of the book was intriguing. I loved the concept of the Sliver Wielders and the King's Children and I felt it was executed well. It was quite typical YA, and it was similar to Six of Crowsand Red Queenin some ways. If you are a fan of these series, I think you will enjoy this book.

The middle of the book was paced well, and this is a generally fast paced book. There were plot twists in this book which had some foreshadowing, but they didn't really surprise me. I felt the ending was an ok conclusion, but everything was very rushed through. This was a standalone, but I think it would have been better as a series.

“The story might have been erased from the history books, but it was as well-known as any folk tale. A century ago, King Tallis Lyandor, a wielder himself, had been so terrified of losing power that he’d outlawed the use of magic by anyone but the royal family. He’d sent his armies across Erdis, burning villages of wielders, hanging magical families, beheading anyone caught fleeing. The Silver Purge was the reason the only magic left in the kingdom belonged to the crown, why the only silver wielders in the past one hundred years had been Lyandors.”




The world building of this book was great. I enjoyed seeing this world and am happy with the way it was developed. For a standalone, it was a lot better than I expected.

“The people said what they would about the king and his Children, but there was no denying that their training was effective.”


I loved the idea of The King's Children. It was my favourite part of the world.


“The gods forgive,” she said. “So should you.”






The writing was definitely the best part of the book. It was beautiful and flowed together very well and I am looking forward to reading more books by [a:Jennifer Gruenke|18984741|Jennifer Gruenke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1566259984p2/18984741.jpg].


The main complaint I have is that the beginning of the book was very abrupt, to the point where I thought some pages from my book were missing. It starts off like this-

"The player slapped his cards against the table, leaned back in his chair and grinned."


I found this a very odd way to start, as there is no build up to the scene. I am not saying that the beginning of the book can't be something that throws us off guard, but there was no bigger purpose to this over here. 

Ren’s leather corset is also mentioned several times in the book, which was very annoying.

“Let yourself feel it. (...) The pain. You need to let yourself feel it. If you don’t, you’ll never let it go. If you shove the pain away, if you ignore it, you won’t move past it. (...) Feel it. Don’t make yourself numb.”




The characters were well written and I liked all 4 of the perspectives. I hope we see them again if there is a sequel.


◙ Ren

“Silver is a part of me. I was born with it. I guess I just think about it like any other part of my body. I tell it what I want it to do, and it does it.”


Ren was an interesting character who strongly reminded me of Kaz from [b:Six of Crows|23437156|Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)|Leigh Bardugo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628438817l/23437156._SX50_.jpg|42077459]. She’s strong and fierce and knows how to hold her ground. I didn’t like the fact that she hardly had any flaws and that in some ways she was unbeatable. I wish her magic came at some price.

“but assurances and soft smiles were kindnesses Ren didn’t deserve. She was terrible and rusted. She was the kind of thing that gave you an infection if you were unlucky enough to scratch yourself on its edges”


I liked the way her arc progressed throughout the book. There was quite a lot of character development and it was great to see.

“She was not a delicate cherry blossom drifting down from the trees on a spring breeze. She was more like the storm that upended the cherry tree, the kind of person who wasn’t satisfied unless she was putting her fist through something.”


◙ Darek

“I can’t say the rebellion isn’t important to me. Since my mother died, it’s one of the only things that’s mattered.”


Darek is one of the leaders of the rebellion. He is short-tempered but kind. Personally, he was my least favourite character in the book. I think he was written well, but he was not as interesting as the rest of the characters. I wish we got a bit more development with him.

“An Erdis free of the Lyandor rule was my mother’s dream. I’m just trying to finish what she started.”


◙ Adley

“That was the problem with Ethen and all the men like him. He thought because she was quiet, because she liked books and the way flowers blossomed on the hills in spring, because she was a girl, he could dismiss her as frivolous and unimportant. Weak. He was wrong.”


Adley was my favourite character in this book. I loved how morally grey she was and I loved how she hid her heart behind a mask.

“She’d never enjoyed inflicting pain, enjoyed carrying that pain to a final, irreversible end even less. Every time she did it, she wished she could take it back.”


I loved that she was an archer, as I don’t see that often in a YA book. Her relationship with Lesa was beautiful to see.

“The crown had made her what she was.
A lethal weapon. An archer who didn’t miss.”


◙ Kellen

“Kellen recognized that he was a prince, and princes didn’t have the luxury of love.”


Kellen is the black sheep of his family, the second prince, the one neglected his entire life. He was my second favourite character in this book. I loved his arc- a prince with a soft heart living a double life as a pit lord. 

“When Kellen wore the mask of pit lord, he usually succeeded for a few hours in convincing himself he was someone he wasn’t, someone cold and malicious. But then he’d take the mask off. He’d come back to the castle and find he was still the same kid his mother had raised and tossed aside when he no longer suited her tastes. Kellen wished Heath would tell him how he was supposed to stop being soft, how he was supposed to tear his beating heart from his body and discard it like a broken toy. How he was supposed to stop being him.”


It’s clear he still loves his family despite the way they treat him, and it broke my heart a little to see the way his family constantly considered him a disappointment. His character arc was very engaging to read.

“[He] heard his brother’s words. They sounded in his ear. He felt the heat of them as close as a whisper. Stop being so soft. Then his father’s voice was there, too, seething with contempt. Nineteen years of criticism. Two decades of failure. Their voices bled together, pouring into his head like a vein that had been ripped open, and there was no staunching the flow. It kept coming, and it seemed like it was never going to stop, and Kellen just wanted peace. That was all. Just a little peace.”


◙ Freya

“Freya was more idealistic than a kid who’d grown up in the slums had any right to be.”


Freya is Ren’s best friend. She is a very minor character, but I liked the role she played. If there is a sequel, I am looking forward to seeing her again.

“There was a steadiness about Freya, something in her that a drowning person could grab on to and stay afloat.”


◙ Holland

I liked Holland as a character. She is another minor character that doesn’t play a big role in the story, but it was nice seeing her.

“You may be a prince, but I will not tolerate being treated as an inferior. I am your equal.”


I liked her relationship with Kellen, though I feel they share a complicated bond.



--- Character Dynamics & Relationships

~ Character Dynamics

“Some things are worth the pain.”


◙ Kellen & Adley

 “(...) she was as talented at killing as the rest of the King’s Children, there was something different about her. It was like she’d managed to hold on to a shred of warmth despite her training, which was intended to render her as cold as the mountains of Glynn. She hid her heart well, but Kellen suspected it was still there.”


Kellen and Adley are friendship goals! Both of these characters are very morally grey, which made their dynamic a lot more entertaining to see. They were struggling with their true inner self and bonded alongside. I loved their relationship.

“It was a shame Kellen wasn’t set to inherit the throne. This country would be a better place with him as king. Maybe if more kings were a little more like Kellen and a little less like his father, there wouldn’t be a need for King’s Children at all.”


◙ Ren & Freya

Ren and Freya share such a beautiful friendship. 

“I’m always concerned about Ren. It’s a natural state of existence when you’re friends with her.”


They clearly love and care about each other, and it was heart-touching to read.

◙ Ren & Holland

Ren and Holland have a complicated relationship, and if this was a series then their gradual friendship would have been amazing to see!

“Alone, both girls were their own forces of nature. Together, they might very well be cataclysmic.”


Regardless, I still liked their bond.

~ The Romantic Relationships

“Books are written about romances such as these,”


◙ Adley & Lesa

“Lesa knew as well as Adley why it had to be this way. They were King’s Children; they were forbidden to love. If they fell in love—with each other or anyone else—the crime would be punished by death. Their feelings were embers and needed to be stomped out, not stoked into an uncontrollable fire.”


Adley and Lesa are a very well written forbidden romance. They are both King’s children and hence forbidden to love.

“They were so different. Lesa was hard, and Adley was soft. Lesa didn’t care enough, and Adley cared too much. And maybe if they had met in any other circumstances, they never would have wound up wrapped around one another. But somewhere along the way, things had slid into place.”


I loved their relationship. As I mentioned, Adley is my favourite character in this book, and seeing her with Lesa made me happy.

“Her life had gone so horribly wrong, but with Lesa, one thing had gone right. Maybe it was luck or a small mercy from the gods that she’d found someone who cared about her in a place where it shouldn’t have been possible.”


◙ Ren & Darek

“Ren didn’t want to get into the way Darek had reached inside her and pulled at all the wrong threads. She didn’t want to admit that it had stung. She hated him. For bringing her into a budding revolution, for putting so much weight on her shoulders, for voicing every ugly thought she’d ever had about herself.” 


Ren and Derek were an enemies to lovers- or to put it better, rivals to lovers romance. While I didn't love their relationship, I was ok with it. 

“But Darek had thought maybe when they spoke she would show a hint of compassion, an indication that she cared about more than stolen jewels and card games—something resembling decency. Anything. He’d hoped she’d surprise him.
She hadn’t.
The only language she seemed to speak was one of greed and gold.”


I wish their relationship was a bit more of a slow burn as that would have made things more entertaining. They had some banter, but most of it wasn't that fun to read. It seemed a lot more like a petty disagreement than actual romantic tension. 

“Darek thought he’d had Ren figured out, but he was starting to realize she was not as unshakeable as she pretended to be. He didn’t know if the fire had done it, or if the streets were to blame, or if she was tearing herself apart because she thought she deserved the pain, but there was something a little bit broken inside of her.”


◙ Kellen & Holland

I liked Kellen & Holland as a couple, but I think their relationship is very complicated. I'm not 100% sold on their relationship.

“Whenever he was with Holland, he forgot about everything plaguing his mind, his shortcomings and failures. With her, he didn’t have to try to be someone he wasn’t, to be something more than simply himself. He wasn’t a prince or a pit lord. He was just Kellen, whoever that was. She didn’t ask anything more of him than that.”



Audiobook Comments

I loved the audiobook narration. All the parts were well narrated. Would recommend the audiobook.

Overall, Of Silver and Shadow was a compelling read and I would recommend it if you are looking for an entertaining dark fantasy.

“Why does anyone look at art? Perhaps it makes her feel a little less alone.”



Review written and uploaded on 22nd July, 2021.

DISCLAIMER-All opinions on books I’ve read and reviewed are my own, and are with no intention to offend anyone. If you feel offended by my reviews, let me know how I can fix it.

How I Rate-
1 star- Hardly liked anything/ was disappointed
2 star- Had potential but did not deliver/ was disappointed
3 stars- Was ok but could have been better/ was average / Enjoyed a lot but something was missing
4 stars- Loved a lot but something was missing
5 stars- Loved it/ new favourite


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Finished. 3 stars I think. Review to come soon. I promise I’ll get it out by next week.
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