A review by greystory
Crown of Shadows by K.M. Shea
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.