Review: Shadowblack

Shadowblack
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

It's a few months since Kellen left the Jan'Tep people. Now aged sixteen, Kellen is an outlaw, relying on his wits to keep him alive in the land of the Seven Sands. He misses home, he misses family and more than anything, he misses Nephenia, who he once loved. 

Then he meets Seneira, a blindfolded girl who isn't blind, and who carries a secret that's all too familiar to Kellen. Kellen and Ferius resolve to help - but the stakes are far higher than they realise. A Shadowblack plague is taking hold - and Kellen can't help but suspect his own people may be behind it. 

Shadowblack has a freaking hilarious opening, let me tell you that for a start! It's been four months since the events of Spellslinger and our little trio have been on quite the journey. I really enjoyed the first book, it was a lot of fun and had lots of originality to it, so I was excited to dive in to the sequel and see where the story was going to take us this time! 

In the first book we where getting to know the world and the characters and how things work while dealing with some scheming and so on. This time round things are a little bit different and there's a different vibe as our trio are on the run from the trackers after Kellen, and they stumble in to a mystery that they need to help solve. 

Kellen goes on quite a journey in this book, trying to figure out who he wants to be and what he wants to do now that he can't be what he always thought he could be. He's never been more relatable, like he's a relatable character anyway...but his journey in this book will be incredibly similar to one readers might be going through too or have gone through. Ferius is definitely my favourite and I love her more each book and we get to see more of her in this book, and more of the Ferius under the mask she usually wears. We delve deeper in to her character and who she really is which was nice to see! 

Reichis gives me Rocket Raccoon vibes, I'm not going to lie. He cracks me up frequently and you know what? He might even start to be caring a bit more for Kellen...I mean...way deep down, but it's still there. He's kinda like the Grinch. He and Kellen are really starting to work more and more like a team in this book, which was nice and has the potential to be a lot of fun! 

We get two new characters this book, Seneira who was fiery and super intelligent and I was looking forward to seeing more of her but I guess that isn't in the cards. She was determined and kinda touchy at points but she was a nice addition to our group. Now Daxon...I wrote "He's going to be fun" in my notes swiftly followed by "Immediately changed my mind"! Let's just leave it at that shall we! 

Despite not being with our group, we do get to see Shalla in this book and I'm still finding it hard to bring myself to like her. I actually get quite annoyed at her if anything. It provides me with endless chuckles that Shalla can't work out why Kellen wouldn't want to come back home to the parents that counter banded him and the people that would cheerfully kill him and/or treat him like crap. Ditto to the people saying he's betrayed his people and blah blah blah. Like hello? Someone needs a reality check. I think Shalla is going to be one of those characters that I don't really like no matter what little semi-kind thing she does. 

Thanks to Kellens travelling and Seneira's brain we get lots of cool information about the Borderlands and Teleidos. It's fun to see some new locations in this book and have the world built up more and more! We spent a lot of time in just the one location last book, so I was looking forward to exploring more of the world and seeing what it was like and how it would differ from Kellen's home! I haven't been let down either, each location is vivid and has it's own particular atmosphere to it. 

Shadowblack is fast paced and it's so easy to fall in to the plot! It completely hooks you. There's the plot of this book, and then there's little threads connecting back to the previous book in a way, and definitely connecting to the coming books. There's something much bigger going on and it's all related to Kellens people which should be interesting to watch play out. I'm interested to see how everything will come out and what new twist is going to happen next, this series is really keeping me on my toes so far! I have a list of prime suspects as to who's behind what's going on, thanks to this book, and some of them...might surprise you. I'm probably wrong but I'm so impatient to know who it is! 

The plot of Shadowblack gets deeper and deeper the further in to the book you go, drawing you in more and more as you try and Sherlock your way through it. You're initially presented with an interesting mystery that morphs in to a nefarious plot that morphs again in to something much deeper and spoiler filled so I won't say anymore. I just love the layers to the plot and the effortless connections between the books, the little thread joining them together and evidently building up! 

Shadowblack has a cinematic world, and it's got bags of originality and fun to it. The main characters are memorable, hilarious and relatable. Personally, I relate to Reichis on a deep, spiritual level. Don't know about you guys!? There's action, some Wild West vibes, and plenty of humour and snark provided by certain characters as well as a rich and deep plot to keep you guessing! 

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