el_catimi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
j_j_catcrazydragon's review
4.0
3.5⭐️
So, this could have been so much more, but has some definite issues.
As the first book in the latest trilogy, it follows pattern, and is excellent … except..
The FMC is supposedly a farm raised, loving family protected, scary awesome neighbours favourite, animal loving, gentle, young adult.
Yet, when attacked, survives assassination attempt, life severely changed against her will, cut off from all and who she knows … she’s cool, calm, collected.
HuH? How? What life experience, or knowledge, training, does she have to make this possible?
The assassin - she isn’t truly mad or upset with him, he was hired and it wasn’t personal .. won’t say who of course, no biggie
So, this could have been so much more, but has some definite issues.
As the first book in the latest trilogy, it follows pattern, and is excellent … except..
The FMC is supposedly a farm raised, loving family protected, scary awesome neighbours favourite, animal loving, gentle, young adult.
Yet, when attacked, survives assassination attempt, life severely changed against her will, cut off from all and who she knows … she’s cool, calm, collected.
HuH? How? What life experience, or knowledge, training, does she have to make this possible?
The assassin - she isn’t truly mad or upset with him, he was hired and it wasn’t personal .. won’t say who of course, no biggie
nuv's review
2.0
I wanted a light fun read and I got that I suppose. It still wasn’t majorly memorable and I burned through the book fast.
rebeccazh's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. another awesome KM Shea book! i can always trust her books to get me out of a reading slump.
i really love her first-person-pov books. this is really similar in tone to the [b:Magic Forged|51804106|Magic Forged (Hall of Blood and Mercy, #1)|K.M. Shea|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582747084l/51804106._SY75_.jpg|76315029] series and it's a sort of spin-off series about one of the side characters that appeared in Hazel's trilogy, although you don't need to read the first series to read this.
it has the usual things i love about KM Shea's writing: feel-good, funny and lighthearted, an endearing and very likeable protagonist and fast-paced adventure. overall: really fun to read!
now i'm off to devour the second book.
i really love her first-person-pov books. this is really similar in tone to the [b:Magic Forged|51804106|Magic Forged (Hall of Blood and Mercy, #1)|K.M. Shea|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1582747084l/51804106._SY75_.jpg|76315029] series and it's a sort of spin-off series about one of the side characters that appeared in Hazel's trilogy, although you don't need to read the first series to read this.
it has the usual things i love about KM Shea's writing: feel-good, funny and lighthearted, an endearing and very likeable protagonist and fast-paced adventure. overall: really fun to read!
now i'm off to devour the second book.
riiiclark's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5 So this has to be one of the slowest slow burns considering book one ends with the smallest fraction of friendship between the love interests. I’m here for a little edging
abookapothecary's review against another edition
5.0
this is like if acotar and zodiac academy had a baby that was somehow raised right to always have a good mindset 10/10
jayne_waser's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-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? It's complicated
4.75
stormwalls's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
greystory's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars?
I thought I would enjoy Leila's story because of her animal magnetism and I was right - I really enjoyed her relationship building with all of the Night Court animals and the role that played in the story. The night mares, the shades, the glooms, the trash griffin - loved them all.
Leila herself is a pretty good character and I'm liking her a lot. I'm enjoying the premise of half human/half fae being in her situation and seeing her take on unique problem solving as a result of her human upbringing.
This series feels like the author was improving their character development game when it came to the side characters because they were also great! I loved Skye and Indigo especially but even less frequent characters like Lord Dion, Dusk, and Dawn were nice additions that gave the world more depth.
One of the ways this book is lacking is in the main male character, Rigel. He's unfortunately boring. I'll get into this even more in book two's review but the character development for him is non-existent.
The overall plot was alright. Leila was facing so many issues that it wasn't entirely clear to me what the narrative arc was for most of the book (winning over her court specifically). It was kind of strange because, on one hand, things are written in such a way that it feels like everything is too obvious and spelled out (like predicting what's going to happen and getting annoyed at characters for not connecting the dots sooner about things) but at the same time, it felt a lil bit messy, like scenes weren't quite so smoothly connected as they could be. This might be a product of the fact that KM Shea writes very quickly and probably has very minimal editing?
OH! ALSO! It's high time I finally note this: What is up with everyone hating on Aphrodite? Seriously, what does KM Shea have against hairless cats?? Not every single character has to dislike the cat, what the hell! Leave her alone! Her life is probably annoying enough having to live with the Paragon, she doesn't need your disgust and attitude, too.
I thought I would enjoy Leila's story because of her animal magnetism and I was right - I really enjoyed her relationship building with all of the Night Court animals and the role that played in the story. The night mares, the shades, the glooms, the trash griffin - loved them all.
Leila herself is a pretty good character and I'm liking her a lot. I'm enjoying the premise of half human/half fae being in her situation and seeing her take on unique problem solving as a result of her human upbringing.
This series feels like the author was improving their character development game when it came to the side characters because they were also great! I loved Skye and Indigo especially but even less frequent characters like Lord Dion, Dusk, and Dawn were nice additions that gave the world more depth.
One of the ways this book is lacking is in the main male character, Rigel. He's unfortunately boring. I'll get into this even more in book two's review but the character development for him is non-existent.
The overall plot was alright. Leila was facing so many issues that it wasn't entirely clear to me what the narrative arc was for most of the book (winning over her court specifically). It was kind of strange because, on one hand, things are written in such a way that it feels like everything is too obvious and spelled out (like predicting what's going to happen and getting annoyed at characters for not connecting the dots sooner about things) but at the same time, it felt a lil bit messy, like scenes weren't quite so smoothly connected as they could be. This might be a product of the fact that KM Shea writes very quickly and probably has very minimal editing?
OH! ALSO! It's high time I finally note this: What is up with everyone hating on Aphrodite? Seriously, what does KM Shea have against hairless cats?? Not every single character has to dislike the cat, what the hell! Leave her alone! Her life is probably annoying enough having to live with the Paragon, she doesn't need your disgust and attitude, too.
niatonie's review
5.0
4.5 stars: I really enjoy K.M. Shea's writing style and how she creates her characters. From the Hall of Blood and Mercy books (which I highly recommend!), Leila (who was only a side character in that series) seemed quite reserved, but Shea really let her shine in Crown of Shadows. I always love a strong-willed yet caring female lead (plus she loves animals), so I don't have many complaints about the book.
I'm already waiting to see how Leila manages to turn Rigel into a less broody soul, so on to book 2 I go~
I'm already waiting to see how Leila manages to turn Rigel into a less broody soul, so on to book 2 I go~