alirenreads's review
3.0
I really enjoyed this book. Characters include a demon haunted by her past, a royal family of vampires, mages with a bone to pick, and a loveable dragon. This is fantasy with a slight political element, and a world that the author only touches the surface of in terms of its rich history and fascinating ruling families. There are some elements of our main character that remind me a lot of the MC from the Throne of Glass series, that they both share a dark past that spawns nightmares and at times crippling fear, and the possibility of finding new love after letting go of an old one. So if you enjoyed that series, this book may be right up your alley.
The story is interesting and switches between two character perspectives, using past events through our main character’s nightmares to provide more context to what is happening. Our main character’s demonic profession was something I thought was intriguing, and I wish we could’ve spent more time learning about her world when she wasn’t summoned to the mortal world.
I wish the author would’ve done a bit more world building in this first book, something that I think is important when setting the stage for current events being caused by the layering of bad choices historical figures made and the devastating effects on the countries and populations. These elements seemed mostly on the surface for me when they could’ve gone a lot deeper and been more detailed for even richer context.
Overall, I still enjoyed the journey this book took me on, and I will be continuing with the series when the next book releases.
I received this copy for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for providing this.
The story is interesting and switches between two character perspectives, using past events through our main character’s nightmares to provide more context to what is happening. Our main character’s demonic profession was something I thought was intriguing, and I wish we could’ve spent more time learning about her world when she wasn’t summoned to the mortal world.
I wish the author would’ve done a bit more world building in this first book, something that I think is important when setting the stage for current events being caused by the layering of bad choices historical figures made and the devastating effects on the countries and populations. These elements seemed mostly on the surface for me when they could’ve gone a lot deeper and been more detailed for even richer context.
Overall, I still enjoyed the journey this book took me on, and I will be continuing with the series when the next book releases.
I received this copy for free in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for providing this.
mycellia's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was a fantastic book with fantastic, complex characters. The plot was good and intersected with the protagonist and her past in really interesting ways.
kari_marie's review
2.0
Thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and Dianna Gunn for a free copy. This an honest review.
Moonshadow's Guardian is about a girl named Riana and her quest to be free. Riana sees some old friends, makes some new, gets a pet dragon and must destroys another's culture to gain her freedom.
While the world was cool and interesting I did struggle with this book. I felt like I was missing information and at times I was just bored. Loved the dragon though. I felt like the use of Loki was weird because really any god could have been used or the author could have created her own god system and it would have benefited the story more. The use of Loki kind of ruined the story for me from the beginning.
2 stars for me because I don't recommend this book and did not like it. I wanted to and the world was interesting but I just did not connect with this book.
Moonshadow's Guardian is about a girl named Riana and her quest to be free. Riana sees some old friends, makes some new, gets a pet dragon and must destroys another's culture to gain her freedom.
While the world was cool and interesting I did struggle with this book. I felt like I was missing information and at times I was just bored. Loved the dragon though. I felt like the use of Loki was weird because really any god could have been used or the author could have created her own god system and it would have benefited the story more. The use of Loki kind of ruined the story for me from the beginning.
2 stars for me because I don't recommend this book and did not like it. I wanted to and the world was interesting but I just did not connect with this book.
authrcatlabadie's review
2.0
I was enjoying it until a cheap trick at the end with a very unnecessary death (shock value, I guess.) DNF. It was almost four stars, but I took one away for poor formatting and another for the unnecessary death and rushed "romance."
Sorry, fellow author. I've been trying to give nicer reviews but this one just doesn't get one. I won't post my review to Amazon.
Sorry, fellow author. I've been trying to give nicer reviews but this one just doesn't get one. I won't post my review to Amazon.
dbguide2's review
3.0
I realised it had been a while since I had read a fantasy book – and by a fantasy book, I mean like an adult fantasy book, and I forgot that with adult fantasy books, it takes some time to get into the story, be involved in the plot, connect to the characters, etc. And that was my opinion towards this book – I wasn’t allowing myself to connect to the characters because I was so used to loving them the second you meet them (not that that’s wrong) that I forgot about the characters that take a while to connect to and how they can be good too.
That was definitely my feeling in this book. It took me awhile to connect to the characters (though Rolf, the dragon, was a favourite from the get-go. I mean dragon, boom). But I’m glad I kept reading because I ended up loving them. Especially our main character – Riana. I felt for her, was angry when she was angry, became sad when she was sad. All which I love to see in characters! The same thing with the plot! I only realised it was great when I realised I that it was – yes, this sounds confusing, but it works. Somehow.
Loki was another great character – and by that I don’t mean he was a good character – as in morally good, but just very Loki – he is the god of Mischief and Trickery, after all. Though I didn’t like how he treated Riana – but that’s because I loved Riana and wanted the best for her.
I’m not going to spoil anything for anyone but there are vampires!! Which, of course, gets me all excited, because VAMPIRES. They added a bit extra to the book, amongst everything else that also give the book even more extra, and I, for one, am happy about that.
That was definitely my feeling in this book. It took me awhile to connect to the characters (though Rolf, the dragon, was a favourite from the get-go. I mean dragon, boom). But I’m glad I kept reading because I ended up loving them. Especially our main character – Riana. I felt for her, was angry when she was angry, became sad when she was sad. All which I love to see in characters! The same thing with the plot! I only realised it was great when I realised I that it was – yes, this sounds confusing, but it works. Somehow.
Loki was another great character – and by that I don’t mean he was a good character – as in morally good, but just very Loki – he is the god of Mischief and Trickery, after all. Though I didn’t like how he treated Riana – but that’s because I loved Riana and wanted the best for her.
I’m not going to spoil anything for anyone but there are vampires!! Which, of course, gets me all excited, because VAMPIRES. They added a bit extra to the book, amongst everything else that also give the book even more extra, and I, for one, am happy about that.
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