Review || The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

The Shadow Reader (Shadow Reader #1) by Sandy Williams ★★☆☆☆

Some humans can see the fae. McKenzie Lewis can track them, reading the shadows they leave behind. But some shadows lead to danger. Others lead to lies.

A Houston college student trying to finish her degree, McKenzie has been working for the fae king for years, tracking vicious rebels who would claim the Realm. Her job isn’t her only secret. For just as long, she’s been in love with Kyol, the king’s sword-master—and relationships between humans and fae are forbidden.

But any hope for a normal life is shattered when she’s captured by Aren, the fierce and uncompromising rebel leader. He teaches her the forbidden fae language and tells her dark truths about the Court, all to persuade her to turn against the king. Time is running out, and as the fight starts to claim human lives, McKenzie has no choice but to decide once and for all whom to trust and where she ultimately stands in the face of a cataclysmic civil war.

I. Don't actually remember why I added this to my TBR in the first place. I'll be honest with you. Even as I started the audiobook, I went and reread the summary on here to see if it would spark some kind of recollection. And I've got nothing.

I don't know why I thought this would be somehow different from all the other urban fantasy shenanigans. But it really really wasn't. Which is fine, because once I realized that I stopped taking the book seriously at all and just laughed my way through it mostly.

I have tried to get along with urban fantasy in general, I really have. But in it's most common of forms, it is just not for me.

So there was a lot of eyerolling at the intentional descriptions of muscled chests and all that other nonsense. And a main character who is self-aware enough to recognize she probably has Stockholm Syndrome, but then brushes it off because 'oh well, he's hot, amirite?' (I might be paraphrasing there, but.)

And oh my god that agonizing love triangle. Please just stop.

That said, if you're a fan of the genre, this book has some things going for it. I especially liked how chapter 1 drops you straight in and forces you to hit the ground running. It explains the magic and politics in bite-sized pieces as needed, but it sweeps you into the action immediately. And there is a lot of action in this book--and I think it was fairly well written to boot. And the worldbuilding was definitely interesting.

I listened to this on audiobook and am kinda "meh" about the narrator. It's the same woman that did Rebel Belle, though minus the attempted Southern accent. And with more characters to voice in this book it's clear her range is limited. All her male characters sound the same. I don't know if she even tried to do different female voices. Not that it was excruciating to listen to or anything, but I wasn't particularly impressed by it.

Anyway. The moral of the story here is: the next time you see me add an urban fantasy book to my TBR, please feel free to hit me with something. What was I thinking?

Review || Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge ★★☆☆☆

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

May was a strangely productive reading month, but I was starting to feel a little burned out. So I picked up the audiobook version of this on a whim and started listening. There was a different kind of concentration involved in listening to a book as opposed to reading it, and it definitely helped soothe my reading fatigue.

Overall, the narrator of this audiobook was quite enjoyable. That was one of the strongest parts of this "read", I felt.

That's not to say that Cruel Beauty didn't have its other selling points. The classical mythology references that were scattered throughout the narrative were interesting. The prose itself had a lyrical quality to it, and the descriptions were lush with detail. And the nefarious bargains made by the demon lord were fascinating--especially the way the consequences were twisted up in the seemingly harmless wording.

However, for the most part, this book just didn't really do it for me. I found myself wanting to listen to the audio often, but I think that was more because of the novelty of it. The story itself ended up just being okay for me.

Nyx was one of my major barriers. She's angry, frustrated and hurtful--all of which is to be expected. She's been preparing for most of her life to be a living sacrifice for her people. Not only that, but she's burdened with their hopes as well. Her familial love is twisted by this sense of duty, jealousy and despair. Her anger is justified.

But she blames that on herself. She thinks herself selfish for wanting a different life when she alone could save her people. The feelings twist and tangle up inside of her and she lashes out.

All of which are completely understandable. This is not the reason why I didn't like her. It's because, instead of growing, instead of taking action, Nyx is constantly waylaid by her own angst. She's so wishy-washy. She loves her family, she hates her family. She hates the demon, she loves the demon. She's going to save everyone, she doesn't care about anyone. She's going to betray her husband, oh no, maybe not.

It was infuriating.

The narrative isn't much better.

There's an entire system of "magic" that's almost completely unexplained and exists for almost no reason except to be a plot device. It's not fleshed out and despite the scraps of information we get about it, it doesn't seem to mesh well with the rest of the world here.

The plot also likes to remind you that it's smarter than you and does things like have Nyx find out everything, not explain any of it to the reader, and then have her conveniently forget it all. Why. Why.

Ignifex as a love interest was baffling as well. The relationship doesn't seem to develop at all, just suddenly changes to love for no reason. One minute Nyx is hurling crockery at him and threatening to kill him, the next she's being bedded by him. Ignifex is mocking and cold and detached for the most part. The narrative tries to play it off because they're both "monsters" (Ignifex literally, Nyx because of her hatred) but the romantic tension was never believable. Also, I really can't stand violence and emotional manipulation being played off as romantic. No. Just no.

And then the ending happened.

One of the major "twists" I saw coming, but it still pleased me to be right. But then everything afterwards got really convoluted at the end. And then suddenly happily ever after? Wait what.

I don't know if I would've finished this had I not been listening to the audiobook. Overall, I found it lacklustre, confusing and annoying for the most part. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.