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A review by tiamariatamera
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
4.0
I am conflicted. Gordon Ramsey would be impressed with the overall consistency of flavour and be satisfied after devouring the metaphorical cake that is this book. However, I feel there is a spice missing, I'm just not sure what it is.
I really enjoyed what Islington brought to the story, the plot was really compelling and keep serving us twists and turns till the end, I love worlds that leak all its juicy goodness until the very end. Also very very nice end battle, I hate it when a book curates tension towards this epic battle we are meant to look forward to and then its legit like two pages long like uhhhhhh, but the pacing was great in this instance. The magic system and monsters/beings are all very interesting and have a wealth of lore still to be explored which i love. Also just Caedan. What a baddie. We stan, I am in the fan club.
But idk i think some of my hesitance comes down to how I read it, like very slowly over two to three months, oopsies. I really liked everything it had to offer, I just felt a bit iffy toward most of the main characters and the way they processed grief/trauma. It was a little off and didn't really allow me to fully embrace them as fully fleshed out people. Cause u get all their relative perspectives, thoughts and feelings - but something bad would happen, like the torture at the beginning, where davian and wirr would be like "oh this is not good, this is horrible and will scar me 4lifebruz" but nec minute - NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN like bro, what. Or when something bad would happen to one another they would be like "this is devastating dude" but then wouldn't rlly process their grief or feelings in their parts, maybe its down to it not being in first person idk but I have heard if this improves in the second book. Idk maybe I just like to see people suffer, gosh I dont wanna trivialise trauma but idk it felt a little washed over in some parts. And this just stopped me from rlly loving the mains - dav, wirr and ash - at the start but towards the end during the battle their feelings and interactions definitley felt more raw and realised. Maybe even just seeing them all at the beginning going to classes and joking around, inciting a deeper connection wouldve helped but it kinda got there.
Just gotta commend Islington on Caedan, too good. Like bro he is so bad ass and doesn't even know why, he brought the spice I was kinda missing from the mains. Same with Malshash and the Northwarden they were so mysterious and edgey oof. I just think I like the reserved mysterious bad boi types cause there is so much more to explore from their backgrounds. I mean except for the northwarden cause... ya know. He ded. But the reveal of what was happening with him *chefs kiss*.
I really enjoyed what Islington brought to the story, the plot was really compelling and keep serving us twists and turns till the end, I love worlds that leak all its juicy goodness until the very end. Also very very nice end battle, I hate it when a book curates tension towards this epic battle we are meant to look forward to and then its legit like two pages long like uhhhhhh, but the pacing was great in this instance. The magic system and monsters/beings are all very interesting and have a wealth of lore still to be explored which i love. Also just Caedan. What a baddie. We stan, I am in the fan club.
But idk i think some of my hesitance comes down to how I read it, like very slowly over two to three months, oopsies. I really liked everything it had to offer, I just felt a bit iffy toward most of the main characters and the way they processed grief/trauma. It was a little off and didn't really allow me to fully embrace them as fully fleshed out people. Cause u get all their relative perspectives, thoughts and feelings - but something bad would happen, like the torture at the beginning, where davian and wirr would be like "oh this is not good, this is horrible and will scar me 4lifebruz" but nec minute - NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN like bro, what. Or when something bad would happen to one another they would be like "this is devastating dude" but then wouldn't rlly process their grief or feelings in their parts, maybe its down to it not being in first person idk but I have heard if this improves in the second book. Idk maybe I just like to see people suffer, gosh I dont wanna trivialise trauma but idk it felt a little washed over in some parts. And this just stopped me from rlly loving the mains - dav, wirr and ash - at the start but towards the end during the battle their feelings and interactions definitley felt more raw and realised. Maybe even just seeing them all at the beginning going to classes and joking around, inciting a deeper connection wouldve helped but it kinda got there.
Just gotta commend Islington on Caedan, too good. Like bro he is so bad ass and doesn't even know why, he brought the spice I was kinda missing from the mains. Same with Malshash and the Northwarden they were so mysterious and edgey oof. I just think I like the reserved mysterious bad boi types cause there is so much more to explore from their backgrounds. I mean except for the northwarden cause... ya know. He ded. But the reveal of what was happening with him *chefs kiss*.