Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Shadow & Flame by Mindee Arnett

1 review

hollyk's review against another edition

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

3.0

The sequel to Onyx & Ivory is much, much darker. And while I love a good, dark fantasy, this one missed the mark for me. The prologue starts about 6 months after the end of Onyx & Ivory, but the book itself takes place a year after the prologue (therefore, 18 months since the end of Onyx & Ivory). So much has changed: locations, people, allegiances, but we don't see any of that really happen, we just see the effects with an occasional flashback thrown in for a treat. This is what caused me to feel a disconnect to the characters, I think. Kate was so likable and easy to root for in the previous book, but here, she's a lot harder to care about. If everything that preceded the main book were to have been fleshed out, it would've been a lot easier to understand and empathize with Kate. As it is, we have to take her word for what happened and the words of those around her.

Kate is now much more comfortable with her powers (some may say too comfortable) and I feel like we missed that journey, dark as it may have been. The romance between Corwin and Kate is barely established in Onyx & Ivory before
straight up being yeeted into the void in the prologue--we are told they were inseparable, but we barely saw true evidence/examples of them being a couple to warrant much more than the barest wisps of sympathy at Corwin's supposed death
. There were a lot of new characters shoddily introduced, including one who I swear was never introduced and just popped up to replace
Raith or someone else who died. There's a lot of death here.
.

Also
Dal's death was so weak. I don't know why they didn't just have Nadira bring him back
and
Corwin barely talks about detoxing from an addiction?? The timeline of this book is messy, so it's possibly weeks passed with a mere sentence, but it wasn't clear. He was dependent on nenath just for it to go away??
.

A disappointing sequel to a very promising first book. Shadow & Flamejust did not have the heart and soul that Onyx & Ivory had, making it lose its luster.
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