Review: Queen of Coin and Whispers

Queen of Coin and Whispers 

Rating: 2.5/5

Buy or Borrow: Borrow 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review 

When teenage queen Lia inherits her corrupt uncle’s bankrupt kingdom, she brings a new spymaster into the fold ... Xania, who takes the job to avenge her murdered father.

Faced with dangerous plots and hidden enemies, can Lia and Xania learn to rely on each another, as they discover that all is not fair in love and treason?

In a world where the throne means both power and duty, they must decide what to sacrifice for their country – and for each other … 

I really wanted to rate this higher because I was so here for the f/f romance and all the LGBTQ+ representation the book provides but while I did enjoy myself somewhat reading this, it ultimately fell a little flat for me. 

It does jump straight in with the plot and things move forward quickly, the book is fast paced which I appreciated and there was a huge amount of political intrigue and plotting and so on. There are really smooth and seamless transitions through time throughout and as for our main character Lia, she was very determined. She has a lot to contend with and there's a lot of political treachery that she has to find a way around and she wants to be better than her Uncle and make things better but as she discovers it's not too easy to do so. 

Our other POV is Xania, she's quite the badass and she becomes more and more adept at her job as Whispers over time throughout the book. She and Lia are quite ruthless, or at least they're supposed to be which was quite refreshing I just didn't particularly feel any true danger or high stakes throughout the book. I also appreciate side character Matthias. I loved his entire attitude and I spent a good chunk of the book really hoping he wasn't going to turn out to be shady. 

Unfortunately, I can't do a review anywhere near the length that I usually would as that's really all the positives I can say about this book. It was just...okay. I read this book in two sittings although it took me a little while to work up to reading the other half, I put the book down and I didn't feel that burning need to pick it back up and finish it I'm afraid. 

On the negative side of things, I feel like while the pace is fast and we move through time quickly, it's at the cost of developing the characters. I don't feel like they were fleshed out enough and that also affects the romance as well. I personally felt the romance to be quite sudden, I was looking forward to watching it develop and having some slow burn to squeal over but it was just suddenly there. I feel like some time could have been taken to fully develop the characters and the romance, and it was a little unconvincing how adept Xania became at being Whispers with no previous training doing such things. You do see her get more adept at it over the course of the book but the time skips do allow for it to be glossed over. There were just a lot of things about Xania that didn't really make much sense, she could just suddenly do this, or she'd learned this and so on. 

The world building was okay, it could have had more depth to it and I didn't really have a true image in my mind of the setting. I found it difficult to be bothered about the characters when they weren't that fleshed out so while there's plenty of blood and action and politics I was kind of breezing through the book without feeling too invested. The writing style was also a bit bland and there wasn't really that much of a difference between Lia's narrative and Xania's. The writing didn't draw me in at all and I felt like when it came to Xania the author was trying too hard to make her seem dangerous and edgy with her inner monologue and some of the imagery used. 

Overall, Queen of Coin and Whispers is a quick, fast read and it's an okay book. It's not truly bad, but it could have been improved a little, like it could quite easily have been a duology and more time could have been taken to develop the characters, the romance and the world. There were too many things about this that were a little hard to believe, and Xania wasn't entirely convincing a lot of the time. The romance lacked chemistry and development, and the characters weren't fleshed out enough for me to truly care about them and what happened to them. The setting could have been any generic fantasy setting with one little original twist and the writing didn't work to draw you into the story. I found myself making myself finish this once I'd put it down and I was overall very disappointed because I'd been so excited for the f/f romance that's in this!

Review: Incendiary

Incendiary 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

I am Renata Convida.
I have lived a hundred stolen lives.
Now I live my own.

Renata Convida was only a child when she was kidnapped by the King's Justice and brought to the luxurious palace of Andalucia. As a Robari, the rarest and most feared of the magical Moria, Renata's ability to steal memories from royal enemies enabled the King's Wrath, a siege that resulted in the deaths of thousands of her own people.

Now Renata is one of the Whispers, rebel spies working against the crown and helping the remaining Moria escape the kingdom bent on their destruction. The Whispers may have rescued Renata from the palace years ago, but she cannot escape their mistrust and hatred--or the overpowering memories of the hundreds of souls she turned "hollow" during her time in the palace.

When Dez, the commander of her unit, is taken captive by the notorious Sangrado Prince, Renata will do anything to save the boy whose love makes her place among the Whispers bearable. But a disastrous rescue attempt means Renata must return to the palace under cover and complete Dez's top secret mission. Can Renata convince her former captors that she remains loyal, even as she burns for vengeance against the brutal, enigmatic prince? Her life and the fate of the Moria depend on it.

But returning to the palace stirs childhood memories long locked away. As Renata grows more deeply embedded in the politics of the royal court, she uncovers a secret in her past that could change the entire fate of the kingdom--and end the war that has cost her everything. 

Incendiary starts us off with an intriguing opening that provides threads of the world we're embarking into and leaves you with plenty of questions. We're in the middle of a rebellion that's been brewing for a long time and the history to the world and this rebellion is woven into the opening chapters, along with the mythology and lore of the Moria's magic. 

I have to say, Ren was such an interesting MC to me, not only because she has no memory of her past but also because it's kind of refreshing to have an MC that's got this super rare power and first of all, there's consequences to using it. Her power is different to the others in that she gets scars on her hands in exchange for using it and if she takes too many memories she leaves a Hollow behind. Second, she's not viewed as the 'chosen one' which happens in quite a few books from this genre. Instead she's viewed with suspicion, called a traitor and treated quite badly because of it. I was kind of half waiting for her to go down the villain route and I genuinely would not have blamed her one bit if she had.  I just enjoyed her character, she's a badass, she's fighting against other people's image of her and coming to terms with herself and who she is. 

When it comes to the rest of Ren's group, only Dez and Sayida treated her as normal, but it made for an interesting dynamic to have Margo and Esteban be so hostile towards her. I loved the pay off towards the end of the book when Esteban had warmed up to her, though I'd expected more from Margo. I was surprised at her character and a little disappointed. I felt like her reason for disliking Ren so much wasn't particularly strong as she didn't exactly make the effort to befriend Ren either. 

I have to mention Leo as well, I really liked his character and he was quite the source of mystery and debate as I was reading and trying to figure out if he could or couldn't be trusted, or if he was a spy or not. Lady Nuria was also a pleasant surprise, and I liked her immediately. I would have just liked to see more of the two of them, particularly Nuria but I hope for that in the next book! Castian was also quite the surprise. I was torn for most of the book between disliking him but also having a strong inkling that he was going to be the love interest and trying to figure out how that would be possible. I wasn't quite sure what to make of him and my opinion on him kept changing thanks to all the pieces of memory that Ren discovered. Eventually though, I had to admit he was going to be on of my little misunderstood cinnamon rolls. 

The romance aspect is quite interesting to me, because there's very little of it. It's sprinkled in at the beginning and I'm not quite used to having a relationship already established and then of course some things happen and the romance is pretty much non-existent as we focus on the story. What does intrigue me is where it's going to go in the next book. I'm envisioning a love triangle and I'm curious as to how it's going to play out. 

I'm going to be honest, I was living for the world that was being built. It's Inquisition era Spain and I really enjoyed the world building and the magic system. I thought it was nicely crafted with the backstory to the Kingdom and the rebellion and it was very realistic that Memoria had been wiped out and their traditions and beliefs changed and twisted. The Kingdom of Puerto Leones is definitely out to conquer and colonise as much as it can and there's a long road ahead to take them down. There was so much tension and danger in the first few chapters I couldn't help but be drawn in and I was ready for things to get going...except they already were so I was curious what the story was going to do when the rebellion was already in full swing. I also had a very big sense of unease as I read certain scenes with certain characters. I shipped two characters, I thought they were cute but I had such an awful feeling and then the big twist happened and everything I thought this book was going to be was turned on its head. 

There are so many stunning plot twists to this novel. There are ones that you kind of have an inkling about from the way things are going but you're like 'oh no, the author wouldn't do tha-never mind'. Then there are the ones that are subtly crafted and creep up on you, so you start to get a creeping suspicion about something and then you get hit with the realisation as you put the pieces together right before the reveal and you have to take a minute to process everything and order your thoughts. We have all the exact same information as Ren does, and we find out bits and pieces at the same time as she does, it's just a case of which of us can put it together first. 

I have to be honest, I did find things to be a bit slow in places and the twists did seem to be timed to counter that and could be seen to be a bit overdone in that sense, though I did enjoy them. Particularly towards the end, my attention was fully engaged with the book and I found it harder and harder to put it down. Incendiary is quite trope-y in that it uses a lot of tropes we're all familiar with and have seen many times in this particular genre, I do feel like it brings something a little different with Ren and the consequence to her power as well as the way she isn't front and centre leading the rebellion. 

There are intriguing characters, some more fleshed out than others, the world was interesting and I enjoyed the world building even if I felt it could have been a little bit richer in places. For the most part, I had a really good time reading this, particularly as the story picked up pace in the latter half of the book and I'm definitely going to need to get my hands on the sequel to find out what happens next! Not to mention how Ren's power may or may not develop based on something we caught a little glimpse of in this book! 

Review: Bone Crier's Moon

Bone Crier's Moon
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

Bone ​Criers have a sacred duty. They alone can keep the dead from preying on the living. But their power to ferry the spirits of the dead into goddess Elara’s Night Heavens or Tyrus’s Underworld comes from sacrifice. The gods demand a promise of dedication. And that promise comes at the cost of the Bone Criers’ one true love.

Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become the matriarch of the Bone Criers, a mysterious famille of women who use strengths drawn from animal bones to ferry dead souls. But first she must complete her rite of passage and kill the boy she’s also destined to love.

Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Yet when he finally captures one, his vengeance will have to wait. Ailesse’s ritual has begun and now their fates are entwined—in life and in death.

Sabine has never had the stomach for the Bone Criers’ work. But when her best friend Ailesse is taken captive, Sabine will do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means defying their traditions—and their matriarch—to break the bond between Ailesse and Bastien. Before they all die.  

Bone Crier's Moon has been one of my anticipated reads for a while so I was eager to dive in, unfortunately it didn't quite live up to my expectations and often fell a little bit flat. While the world was intriguing and I was incredibly fascinated by the Bone Crier's and the lore surrounding them, the negatives outweigh the positives for me. 

I'll start off this review with what I did like about this book. As I said, the world is intriguing and so is the lore that surrounds the Bone Crier's, I actually thought it was quite original. I was excited to dive in and learn more about them and how everything worked. The opening of the book was misty and evocative and the atmosphere for the book was very well done throughout and was, in my opinion, one of the best parts of the book. It was atmospheric throughout and it was this atmosphere that helped pull you into the book and bring the settings to life. It just added a little extra something to the scenes and provided certain feelings depending on the scene and location. I was really able to get a strong feel for the aesthetic of the book as I was reading which I particularly enjoyed. 

There's some nicely placed ominous hints throughout the book about what's really going on with one of the characters and serves to provide a sense of intrigue to keep you reading. However, I think the biggest plus about this book is how badass all of the female characters are. They're strong, they can take care of their selves and they aren't afraid to fight back when they need to. Even Sabine who doesn't really enjoy violence all that much! Each of the Bone Crier's really had each other's backs and I loved the strong, deep female friendship depicted between Sabine and Ailesse though I would have loved to see a bit more of it! I'm a sucker for strong female friendships in books and this one certainly provided! 

However, there was quite a bit about this book that let it down for me and made me rate it three stars. While I did love the world and was intrigued by it, I felt like the world building was really lacking. There was enough detail for the magic system and so on, and the lore of the Bone Crier's, but when it came to the actual world and setting a feel like it wasn't followed through on enough. I assume it's a French inspired fantasy world judging from some of the words that were used, and there's the catacombs that are built from bones, but other than that I don't really have much of a feel or picture of the place. The Bone Crier's, the catacombs and the small area that Bastien inhabits are all expounded upon to a decent extent in most cases but other than that small corner there's not much known about the world. Some royalty are then thrown in at the end with not much detail. There's also a mention of some distant war but that's about it and we don't see much of the world. So much is poured into the mythology and magic system that I feel like the world building fell to the side a little. 

The same could be said for the characters and their backstory. They seem quite two dimensional and flat and all we really know about them are their basic motivators. Revenge, completing a ritual and rescuing a friend, there's not really that much more to them than that. In fact I wasn't even aware that Ailesse was the main character when I started reading, I thought it was Sabine and I think I might have actually preferred Sabine as the MC because I did feel like out of all of the characters, we got to know her the most and see her develop unlike the others. 

I also really wasn't feeling the romance, I have to be honest. It was straight up insta-love and I really wasn't a fan of it. All signs seemed to point towards Bastien and his female BFF who's name escapes me, but all of a sudden he's in love with Ailesse and I didn't...really...see why? All I gleaned from the book was that it was 'just because'. So I really didn't enjoy the romance, there was no chemistry between the two and it felt really lacklustre and then to make it even worse another guy is thrown in right at the end and again...it's insta-love. Hell, he hasn't even met her and he's falling all over himself because of her and I'm not entirely sure how a love triangle full of insta-love is going to pan out in the next book because I'm not particularly rooting for either couple. Honestly I was expecting a really intense/deep romance and this was...not it. 

After the initial excitement over the world and the mythology, my interest waned pretty quickly. While it does have a fast start and a fast pace, I just ended up not being that hooked? To the point I could quite easily skim read to get through it. The insta-love had my attention straying but also the very repetitive plot. Ailesse is constantly running away and getting caught and then running away again over and over, while Sabine is looking for her and there's shady goings on. There's huge time skips that I honestly didn't feel worked because the plot still went nowhere? And I would have  preferred to spend more time with Sabine as she developed and had to do the one thing she didn't really enjoy all to save her friend instead of reading the same sequence of events over and over. I ended up being pretty bored, and once I'd finished the book and was reflecting on it I realised that not a lot really happened, honestly. Which brings me to my next point.... 

For the majority of the book not a lot happens, as I said, and it's super repetitive but in what felt like the eleventh hour there was a plot twist that literally came out of nowhere. There were no hints to it or anything, at least not that I detected, and it really seemed like it was thrown in for shock value or to add something to make people keep reading and anticipate the next book. It really didn't seem to have the most solid basis to me, which wasn't helped by the lack of world building to be honest. 

Despite a promising start and premise, Bone Crier's Moon ultimately ended up falling for flat for me and being more than a little bit disappointing. Perhaps my expectations were too high as I know a lot of people actually really loved this book, but for me there were too many negatives and aspects that I wasn't too big a fan of! I haven't quite decided if I'll check out the sequel to see how it all ends or not yet! 

Review: Bloodwitch

Bloodwitch 
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

High in a snowy mountain range, a monastery that holds more than just faith clings to the side of a cliff. Below, thwarted by a lake, a bloodthirsty horde of raiders await the coming of winter and the frozen path to destroy the sanctuary and its secrets.

The Bloodwitch Aeduan has teamed up with the Threadwitch Iseult and the magical girl Owl to stop the destruction. But to do so, he must confront his own father, and his past. 

The time is here friends, it's time to focus on Baeduan....*cough* I mean Aeduan. I'm not going to lie,  as much as I love Merik, I didn't quite love Windwitch as much as I loved Truthwitch so as excited as I was for this one...I was a bit wary. As it turns out, I didn't need to worry because Bloodwitch is simply excellent. I would advise you to watch out for that ending though! *screams in to the void* 

Like I said, this time we're focusing a bit more on Aeduan, he has a decision to make and a side to pick, and wow do I ship him with Iseult to the extent my heart hurt when he tried to push her away! Thankfully Iseult can see through him, but he does end up in quite a bit of trouble throughout this book and is it wrong of me to say that I kind of enjoyed seeing him regress back a little to his darker self at one point!? I'm still surprised by how much I've come to like Aeduan over the course of this series, but this book solidified for me that I made the right choice to love his character. We get some heartbreaking insight in to his past, and he'd already come a long way as a character since we first met him...but by the end of this book he's come even further and he's accepted himself and who and what he is and wants to be. 

Of course, just because we're focusing a bit more on Aeduan doesn't mean we don't see any of the other characters or delve deeper in to them. Safiya has a solid plan to deal with her situation, although honestly? Vaness is growing on me and I kind of ship her with Vivia but shh. Anyway, we see Safi struggle a bit in this book as she's using her powers and seeing some very real consequences to them and she has to deal with that, and she has such a natural and realistic reaction to it. But she's still the Safi who won't take any crap from anyone as is evidenced towards the end of the book, I live for the strength she has and how badass she is. I also live for her little bond with Vaness and we do see a more vulnerable side to Vaness. We also have an interesting twist with Safi as she comes up with a genius plan, implements it...and her power is changed, which wasn't quite what she was going for so it'll be interesting to see how this will play out! As well as the whole....Mathew and Habim....thing. I was kind of sad we didn't get to see as much of Caden, Zander and Lev though! 

Meanwhile, Iseult is with Aeduan, of course we had to make the poor guy suffer even more. Obviously Iseult and Safi want to get back to each other, but Iseult is taking care of Aeduan. She's still struggling with some things from the last book, and I had to say she has a few moments when I cheered as she gets her hero on. Although she ends up tangled up with Leopold who I still don't trust further than I can throw him but maybe I'm being overly suspicious. 

She's also with Owl who kind of annoyed me a little? But I did enjoy seeing Iseult coming to understand her and dare I say...bond with her a little? Although much like the Hellbards...not enough of Blueberry this book either! 

Merik...I just...for Gods sake dude, did you have to do the thing and end up having some quality time with Esme?! Speaking of Esme *refers to Windwitch review* Y I K E S. I retract that statement about her entirely. Anyway, Merik is just...suffering. Again. For a good chunk of this book, but there appears to be some hope for a certain character....until it gets torpedoed by that ending. Just....when will his suffering end? 

Vivia...*refers back to Truthwitch review* well....this is awkward. I started to like Vivia during Windwitch and this book solidified my new opinion on her character. While I didn't get to see more of her and Merik working together and repairing their relationship like I'd hoped, I was so proud of Vivia in this book. She's still struggling with her role in leading Nubrevna, which isn't made any easier by her father. He was getting on my last nerve, and the opposition and patronising, derisive characters who don't believe in her ability is something ridiculously relatable to most women, I'm sure. Vivia had me so proud when she stood up to him, and slapped the other crusty old men down in the Council, like the badass she is she says screw them and goes with her own plan and I'm ready to see her save the day and be the hero! 

What got me about this particular book out of all of the Witchlands books so far, is that we have these powerful female characters. Even Esme, as much as I love to hate her, and they're surrounded by men who ignore their opinions, ignore what they have to say, and don't think they're capable of anything and wow is it freaking relatable and infuriating to read about at the same time. I am so ready for the ladies to take over. 

Things are changing in this book, Aeduan as a character changes even more and becomes more resolved, Safi's powers have changed, things have shifted for Vaness and Vivia is striking out on her own. Allegiances have also shifted as well to some extent. 

Bloodwitch steadily builds up towards the final part of the book, showing us more of the world than we'd already seen, and more of the different magics and how everything works, showing us more of Aeduan and his past and letting us get to know his character even better. Building upon what we already know of our characters, bringing in a couple more plot threads and intrigues, before we head in to the final part of the book when things come together. I have to say I was a lot more engaged with this book than Windwitch, sorry Merik. There's lots of excellently written action scenes, and lots of intrigues, one of my ships is sailing, there's a couple of reunions...some more brief than others and as we finish the book the Raider King is launching a new attack. I just have to say though....Safi going to Henrick? Nah. This ain't it. Let's not. 

I was screaming towards the end of this book, screaming and cheering because of all the characters and what they were doing and where they were going and "NO SAFI DON'T DO THE THING! YAAAS ISEULT" and so on. Honestly the last part of the book was pretty insane with the twists, I can't even. We had plot twists throughout the book, don't get me wrong, but the ending of this book blew me away. We've got some seriously epic and intriguing teams up coming to us in the next book, that's all I'm saying, and some characters are heading in to very interesting situations. 

Most importantly, things are all set up to once again move forward and now we've reached a new stage of the story, I feel. 

Review: Circle of Shadows

Circle Of Shadows 

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Sora can move as silently as a ghost and hurl throwing stars with lethal accuracy. Her gemina, Daemon, can win any physical fight blindfolded and with an arm tied behind his back. They are apprentice warriors of the Society of Taigas—marked by the gods to be trained in magic and the fighting arts to protect the kingdom of Kichona.

As their graduation approaches, Sora and Daemon look forward to proving themselves worthy of belonging to the elite group—but in a kingdom free of violence since the Blood Rift Rebellion many years ago, it’s been difficult to make their mark. So when Sora and Daemon encounter a strange camp of mysterious soldiers while on a standard scouting mission, they decide the only thing to do to help their kingdom is to infiltrate the group.Taking this risk will change Sora’s life forever—and lead her on a mission of deception that may fool everyone she’s ever loved. 

It's taken me a while to sort this review out because I wasn't sure how I felt about the book when I finished it. It's one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I so badly wanted to give this 5 stars...but I just feel disappointed with it. In my mind...it wasn't as good as The Crown's Game and it's not without it's flaws. 

Feel free to check out my book discussion video of the book for a more in depth look at it, there's a spoiler free review section as well as a spoiler section: 

What I will say is that the opening chapter introduces you to the main characters well and fills you in on what happened in the world to lead us to this point with an action packed display that serves to introduce us to the magic system. We find out all the things we need to know in the beginning in an interesting way that piques your interest rather than info dumping and we swiftly get on with the story. 

Sora is an enjoyable main character, even if she's one of those characters that's just good at everything she interestingly doesn't utilise her potential and is a troublemaker. Her character took an interesting route and made for an interesting narrative. Her Gemina Daemon has mysterious origins and I had suspicions about him from the beginning, I turned out to be wrong which was a nice surprise. He's luckily immune to the villain's power, and he surprised me by being bad at magic, I liked the fact he was more of the hero of the book for a chunk than Sora. The Gemina bond did remind me a little bit of Parabatai, with the not being allowed to be together and in love, and the bonding and so on, but with this bond they feel each other's emotions. 

We have an interesting supporting cast in Fairy and Broomstick, I'd have liked to see more of them as their POV's when we had them where very brief and it made it hard to get attached to them to the extent I sometimes thought they where there just to keep you updated on stuff back in the Citadel or with the Council. Empress Aki seemed quite...quiet in the beginning and I was surprised she'd pulled off what she did. However, she did start to change my mind and I did come to like her as she realised the problems with the Council and was willing to change the old ways to newer ways. I'm actually hoping to get to see more of her and for her to get a chance to shine. There's also Virtuoso who surprised me multiple times, even if I wanted to smack her one more than once, I did understand where she was coming from. I was also intrigued by Prince Gin because he seemed like a morally grey character that might still have some good in him...but we didn't spend enough time in his POV to get to know him well enough and by the end of the book he was just the villain. 

I was fascinated by the magic system the Taiga's use, with the various different animal aspects, and then we had the magic system the Ryuu use that's more about seeing magic and getting it to do whatever you want with your mind and depending on certain conditions each Ryuu can do different things. It was less restrictive, and an interesting contrast to the Taiga's magic. 

The world was allegedly inspired by Feudal Japan according to the back of the arc I have, but I'm not sure I really saw that. Unless you're going off of the throwing stars, a couple of names and the ninja feel to the Taigas. I was intrigued by the way it was set out and it was definitely imaginative with some fun twists, like the actual goddess we got to meet! But I just couldn't pin down the worlds cultural inspiration at all. 

I liked the mythology that we came across in the book, and hearing about the different legends and tales and I would love to see more of that though! We had gods, goddesses, magic and science all combined, an academy for warriors and it did suck me in. I am intrigued enough that I had a tonne of questions after the ending of the book, I'm looking forward to seeing Sora overcome everything that's happened, because we end on quite a bleak note and she's quite downtrodden. 

The pace was also an issue for me, it's steady, which wouldn't ordinarily be a problem and I did like the focus on sisterly bonding and getting to grips with everything at the beginning but towards the middle it was getting quite slow. Things do build up and get faster towards the end but 

On to the things I didn't particularly like about this book, starting with the pace. It started out great, it really did, I was intrigued and so ready to binge read this but towards the middle it started to get very steady. Things didn't seem to progress much and then towards the end things started to rush a bit. Alongside the pace, I also had an issue with the point of view switching and switching to POV's that I didn't feel were necessary. Some of them didn't seem to contribute much to the story, and for Fairy and Broomstick for example, it seemed a bit too obvious to me that they were there just to show us what was happening at the Capital. We switched so much and their POVS were so few that it didn't give me a chance to get to know them as much as I would have liked so I had a hard time connecting to them. 

I was also disappointed with Prince Gin's POV which I address properly in the spoiler section of my video. I was just expecting him to be more fleshed out and to delve in to his character more from the teasing of him in the first part of the book but I ended up being disappointed as he just ended up being the bad guy with nothing more to him. 

I also feel like some things were a bit too convenient, some things happened too fast, and I do realise this could just be my problem with the book because it could be meant for a younger audience than I actually thought it was. I'm just disappointed because of how excited I was for this book and rather than raving about it, I finished the book feeling...uneasy. 

Perhaps one of my biggest issues with this book though is the romance and this is a hardcore spoiler so I'm going to talk about the basics of it rather than explaining it in too much detail. Again, all the details are in my video if you want to check the spoiler section. I was loving that he was the one with all the feelings, and I was so excited to see Sora develop her feelings for him and have them have to overcome the obstacle of not being allowed to be together but that was shot down by the end of the book. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, to me at least, the romance that had been going in one direction, did a complete and utter 180 and I am really not a fan of this love triangle that has suddenly sprung up. Not least because I'm not particularly loving the fact that it started with one character making a move on another minutes after they'd been cured from being drugged and having hallucinations and so on. I love a good love triangle if it's done well, but this one? I'm not a fan. 

While there's a lot I did love about this book, certain characters, the mythology and lore, the imaginative world, the action scenes, the intrigue, the fact they weren't starting a rebellion for once but trying to put an end to one and so on. There are also a few issues I had with it, lack of connection to characters I was supposed to care about, some pointless POV changes that aren't consistent enough to let you connect with the characters, teasing about Gin and teasing about Sora and Daemon, a love triangle that I feel came out of nowhere and had an unpleasant start to it. 

I do want to see what happens next, I'm so here for Sora making a comeback and Daemon figuring out his past and powers, I just feel like this initial book could have done with a bit of tweaking and polishing before it was released. 

Review: Shadowscent

Shadowscent: The Darkest Bloom 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

In the empire of Aramtesh, scent has power.

When disaster strikes and the crown prince lies poisoned, long suppressed rivalries threaten to blow the empire apart. It’s up to a poor village girl with a talent for fragrances and the prince’s loyal bodyguard to find an antidote.

To succeed, the pair must uncover secrets – cryptic, ancient tales as well as buried truths from their own pasts – in an adventure that will ignite your senses. 

I was so intrigued by this when I heard about it, a poisoned prince, fragrances, a loyal bodyguard and a quest to find the antidote and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this adventure! 

I really liked the focus on scents, not just in the story but in the writing. Scent subtly seeped in to the pages, and the writing style itself was rich. Each sentence was laced with detail that draws you in to the world and gets you acclimated to it in one chapter, although I did have a few confused moments as I was adjusting before everything was figured out. 

I do feel like the history of the world, and the politics could have been delved in to a bit more, and the magic system expanded upon a bit more than it already was. Then again this is a first book and I'm anticipating that perhaps happening in the next book. 

Rakel's a spitfire of a character, she's sarcastic and determined and I loved that about her. I also loved that she wasn't at all what I was expecting. She has a fantastic sense of smell which she uses to her advantage a lot throughout the book. As for our other POV, Ash, he's Prince Nisai's bodyguard and his narrative had me chuckling. He's so snarky but he also struggles with...something. I can't elaborate because spoilers but it was an interesting route to take for his character, and I'm eager to know more! 

Rakel and Ash are quite the pair, and I enjoyed reading about them together and individually. They made a pretty good team, and obviously I started to ship them. I liked watching them grow closer and learn to trust each other, it was nicely paced and didn't take over the plot. My one gripe is Rakel has an epiphany about Ash being in love with Nisai but I feel like it was glossed over and never actually made apparent from Ash's point of view, and I'm still unsure if it was a true thing or if I missed something. Speaking of Nisai though, I liked what we saw of him so far, and I'm intrigued to get to delve in to his character more in the next book! 

Barden was another interesting character he comes across as such a snake at multiple points in the book, more so than Zakkurus. His reasoning didn't seem that solid and he didn't seem like that great of a friend but then he turned it around by the end of the book and I'm curious as to what's going on with him and what his point of view of all of this is. I can't quite figure him out. He, along with Zakkurus has left me with a tonne of questions. 

While we take some time to build up to the main part of the story, meaning the actual poisoning, that's not to say the book is slow to start. It's well paced, as we spend the first 100 or so pages meeting our two main characters, getting a feel for them and the world and how things work as everything is set up and everyone's manoeuvred to where they need to be. We have a tense journey, a fight with a lion and a trial/test to get through before everything really kicks off. When it does...we've got a mystery that seems impossible and a legendary library! There was such a great sense of adventure throughout and never a dull moment. 

There's plenty of twists and intrigue with Ash's secret and the truth Rakel is trying to find out, and I loved the quest. I'm a sucker for a quest, and this was not only a fun one, but it let us see a lot of the world. Which is imaginative and full of interesting creatures, by the way, I also loved how they where casually slotted in. The picture of the world that's painted was vivid enough that it pulled me in, but it definitely leaves you curious and wanting to see and find out more about it. The mythology to this world also fascinated me, and the history we did get to learn about, I just wanted to learn more and more about it. 

Shadowscent is a fun start to a new series, it's got an interesting and imaginative world, I enjoyed the characters, it was vivid and the plot hooked me in and kept me reading. I loved the quest, and the clues to figuring out their next destination and seeing what cool creature, or tense situation we'd find the characters in next. Yes a few things could have been delved in to more on some fronts, but it successfully piqued my interest, and has left me with suspicions as to the culprit, and with plenty of questions that I need answered.