A review by book_hoarding_dragon
Shadow Kin by M.J. Scott
4.0
I am kind of ashamed to admit that the cover originally drew me to this book. I try to be all 'don't judge a book by its cover' (for instance there is Moira J. Moor's early books which I loved but the covers were atrocious. They were more suited to humorous books which her series is not). But it was the models hair, it was all very The Fifth Element (the one with Bruce Willis).
Anyway, this story has a bit of everything fantasy (knights, Beast Kin-shapeshifters, Fae, Vampires, Oh my), steam punk, medieval times, etc.
I kind of liked Shadow or Lily cause of her tough attitude, with her abandonment issues, and how she wasn't all powerful. In fact, she was in a kind of abusive relationship which you get to see her grow from.
I liked Simon, the hero, at times. Though he does come off deuchey at times. But in general I did like his character. He kind of had a bit of a tarnished white knight syndrome going on, but it wasn't overdone into making him a cliche.
One thing that nagged me is the editing. I know sometimes editors don't get all of the mistakes, but there were five of them. I know they don't seem like a lot but outside of self-publishing that's the most I have ever seen in a book in years. I don't know if in recent years Australian authors have cut back to make the books marketable to readers outside of Australia or if the publishing have augmented them (like with harry potter). But I found some of the grammar and word usage a little bit different. What I mean by this is my first Aussie author was Old Magic by Marianne Curley and that book was chock full of Aussie slang. I imagined these teenage australians wandering around wearing overalls carrying actual torches (ones lite by fire).
Anyway, this story has a bit of everything fantasy (knights, Beast Kin-shapeshifters, Fae, Vampires, Oh my), steam punk, medieval times, etc.
I kind of liked Shadow or Lily cause of her tough attitude, with her abandonment issues, and how she wasn't all powerful. In fact, she was in a kind of abusive relationship which you get to see her grow from.
I liked Simon, the hero, at times. Though he does come off deuchey at times. But in general I did like his character. He kind of had a bit of a tarnished white knight syndrome going on, but it wasn't overdone into making him a cliche.
One thing that nagged me is the editing. I know sometimes editors don't get all of the mistakes, but there were five of them. I know they don't seem like a lot but outside of self-publishing that's the most I have ever seen in a book in years. I don't know if in recent years Australian authors have cut back to make the books marketable to readers outside of Australia or if the publishing have augmented them (like with harry potter). But I found some of the grammar and word usage a little bit different. What I mean by this is my first Aussie author was Old Magic by Marianne Curley and that book was chock full of Aussie slang. I imagined these teenage australians wandering around wearing overalls carrying actual torches (ones lite by fire).