A review by victinerary
Elf Shot, by Alessa Thorn
4.5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️0.5/5
🌶🌶🌶 /4
**Contains Spoilers**
First and foremost, I love Layla. So often we see badass FMCs who are flawed humans, maybe they're violent or mean or any of the other things we see as imperfections and yet can be ok with if we still see them as "strong". Layla flips the script on this one. She is the voice of every person who has been outshone by those around them and has grown used to shrinking into the shadows. Not only does she see herself as the "leftover" Ironwood, only good enough to be backup to her more famous / badass / skilled family members, she goes a step farther and has internalized that second place mentality. Alessa did a great job bringing us inside the mind of a truly insecure person and the havoc that can wreak on not just a person's sense of self worth, but also their ability to feel worthy of attention and love enough to be an active partner in a loving and healthy relationship.
Through her own hero journey and through learning to love and accept the love offered by Arne, she really grows into a person who doesn't just magically overcome her self-doubt issues. Instead she learns to embrace herself and turns her weaknesses into a strength. She is the nerdy insecure girl inside many of us and it was so refreshing to see her finally get a day in the sun.
~
Ok gushing over. Now for the reason this book only gets 4 instead of my usual 5 Alessa stars. If you're an Alessa fan you know she writes some fantastic found family dynamics. The Court of the Underworld (first 7 group), the Mercenaries & Magic set, and now the whole lovely mashed up Fae Prince x Ironwood clan. So many of her books build on each other and even if you're left feeling like one or two books are occasionally too short (we always want more of these characters!), you are supported by the rest of the stories and community continuing through the series. As we gain new characters they become part of the greater group and the result truly does come out better than the sum of the parts.
As we got into the Ironwood books we got a taste of that with the expansion of the Fae Prince universe, and we saw those original characters show up for their newly joined family again and again, not to mention we got even more new & supportive characters like the Greatdrakes. However in Elf Shot those connections seemed cut off. We barely saw the other characters, and when they did show up it wasn't as meaningful.
Overall, this is nearing the end of a series and started to feel a little rushed instead of giving us that tie back to the characters we have already come to love.
🌶🌶🌶 /4
**Contains Spoilers**
First and foremost, I love Layla. So often we see badass FMCs who are flawed humans, maybe they're violent or mean or any of the other things we see as imperfections and yet can be ok with if we still see them as "strong". Layla flips the script on this one. She is the voice of every person who has been outshone by those around them and has grown used to shrinking into the shadows. Not only does she see herself as the "leftover" Ironwood, only good enough to be backup to her more famous / badass / skilled family members, she goes a step farther and has internalized that second place mentality. Alessa did a great job bringing us inside the mind of a truly insecure person and the havoc that can wreak on not just a person's sense of self worth, but also their ability to feel worthy of attention and love enough to be an active partner in a loving and healthy relationship.
Through her own hero journey and through learning to love and accept the love offered by Arne, she really grows into a person who doesn't just magically overcome her self-doubt issues. Instead she learns to embrace herself and turns her weaknesses into a strength. She is the nerdy insecure girl inside many of us and it was so refreshing to see her finally get a day in the sun.
~
Ok gushing over. Now for the reason this book only gets 4 instead of my usual 5 Alessa stars. If you're an Alessa fan you know she writes some fantastic found family dynamics. The Court of the Underworld (first 7 group), the Mercenaries & Magic set, and now the whole lovely mashed up Fae Prince x Ironwood clan. So many of her books build on each other and even if you're left feeling like one or two books are occasionally too short (we always want more of these characters!), you are supported by the rest of the stories and community continuing through the series. As we gain new characters they become part of the greater group and the result truly does come out better than the sum of the parts.
As we got into the Ironwood books we got a taste of that with the expansion of the Fae Prince universe, and we saw those original characters show up for their newly joined family again and again, not to mention we got even more new & supportive characters like the Greatdrakes. However in Elf Shot those connections seemed cut off. We barely saw the other characters, and when they did show up it wasn't as meaningful.
Overall, this is nearing the end of a series and started to feel a little rushed instead of giving us that tie back to the characters we have already come to love.