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A review by emilyrainsford
Shadows of Truth by Astrid Scholte
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
3.0
I really wish I could rate this one higher but it's a point of honour for me to always review honestly, and this one just didn't hit the same way the first book in the duology did.
A lot of the fun of the first book was the prison and the legal storyline. The second book is a huge shift in setting, story and plot. That's not a bad thing per se, and a lot of the world building and plot was still fun to read.
There were just a few things I couldn't get past. The main ones were, in no particular order:
1. The majority of the female characters are incredibly annoying. Both Farrow and Elenora made me want to throw the book. The emotional reactions of the characters at times just felt unnatural and awkward, as if they were being forced into a reaction for the sake of injecting drama, even when it didn't make sense. Narena was the best female character by far. The relationship between Elenora and Cayder filled me with so much visceral cringe I almost couldn't read it.
2. There were a lot of inconsistencies and plot holes. Elenora's dislocated shoulder was an example, twice. Firstly, she's been passed out for TWO DAYS and you wait until she's awake to push her dislocated shoulder back in?? And then not long afterwards have an internal thought about how the first hours and days after a dislocation are the most important for healing? Why wouldn't you have pushed it back in while she was passed out, it makes no sense?? Then in the climactic battle, she dislocates it again, and then moments later is jumping on a flying horse creature like it ain't no thang. Secondly, I felt like there were a lot of things that didn't make sense about the rules around edem, where it could and couldn't survive, who could and couldn't go through the veil. Why wouldJey, with just a bit of it in his veins, be able to go through, but not the whole ass Shadow Queen?? Why didn't they just all shoot up with edem and go through? Why did the edem in Jey not disappear when all the edem left the world? How TF did the hullen survive without edem?? I was continually asking myself questions like this. It felt like the whole concept of the world just got too tangled for it to make any sense.
3. There was way too much forgiveness in this book. Yeah, I said what I said. Some actions and choices don't deserve to be forgiven. Cayder's parents were both *terrible* people and somehow I'm supposed to get schmaltzy about happy families at the end. No thank you. Not to mention other characters who made unforgiveable choices and yet it all gets glossed over.Elenora narked on Cayder to the cops with no concern for his future or wellbeing and he's totally over it? Erimen committed literal treason that killed his parents, the *reigning monarchs*, and that's fine because everyone makes mistakes? Like, whatttt, I just cannot.
I can deal with an irk or two in a read because I know I'm a very critical reader (not by choice, my brain is just very detail-oriented and pattern aware), but with this one I was irked so frequently that it just felt like one big irk.
There was genuinely a lot I did enjoy about this duology in terms of the unique and interesting worldbuilding. I would recommend it for younger teens or anyone who can turn off their critical thinking easier than I can.
A lot of the fun of the first book was the prison and the legal storyline. The second book is a huge shift in setting, story and plot. That's not a bad thing per se, and a lot of the world building and plot was still fun to read.
There were just a few things I couldn't get past. The main ones were, in no particular order:
1. The majority of the female characters are incredibly annoying. Both Farrow and Elenora made me want to throw the book. The emotional reactions of the characters at times just felt unnatural and awkward, as if they were being forced into a reaction for the sake of injecting drama, even when it didn't make sense. Narena was the best female character by far. The relationship between Elenora and Cayder filled me with so much visceral cringe I almost couldn't read it.
2. There were a lot of inconsistencies and plot holes. Elenora's dislocated shoulder was an example, twice. Firstly, she's been passed out for TWO DAYS and you wait until she's awake to push her dislocated shoulder back in?? And then not long afterwards have an internal thought about how the first hours and days after a dislocation are the most important for healing? Why wouldn't you have pushed it back in while she was passed out, it makes no sense?? Then in the climactic battle, she dislocates it again, and then moments later is jumping on a flying horse creature like it ain't no thang. Secondly, I felt like there were a lot of things that didn't make sense about the rules around edem, where it could and couldn't survive, who could and couldn't go through the veil. Why would
3. There was way too much forgiveness in this book. Yeah, I said what I said. Some actions and choices don't deserve to be forgiven. Cayder's parents were both *terrible* people and somehow I'm supposed to get schmaltzy about happy families at the end. No thank you. Not to mention other characters who made unforgiveable choices and yet it all gets glossed over.
I can deal with an irk or two in a read because I know I'm a very critical reader (not by choice, my brain is just very detail-oriented and pattern aware), but with this one I was irked so frequently that it just felt like one big irk.
There was genuinely a lot I did enjoy about this duology in terms of the unique and interesting worldbuilding. I would recommend it for younger teens or anyone who can turn off their critical thinking easier than I can.