Book Review: To Kill a Shadow

About the Author-

Katherine Quinn is most well-known for her book series “The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea” (The Azantian Trilogy #1) along with its second installment, “On These Wicked Shores” (The Azantian Trilogy #2) The third book just recently came out, “Crown of Salt and Bone” along with this book I’m reviewing today, “To Kill a Shadow” (Mistlands #1) the first book in the series.

She’s a Fantasy Author and “To Kill a Shadow” is her first YA book, so that’s a different journey altogether. Quinn loved reading and her writing passion came after reading a book by Tamora Pierce, “Alanna The First Adventure" Song of the Lioness series. After reading that book she wanted to be a dagger-wielding hero, however, Pierce’s book was published when Quinn was a child, so she wasn’t old enough to be a hero just yet. The passion she found from that one story has fueled her writing inspiration and her attention to detail, fight scenes, and the banter between characters really shows just how passionate she is.

Click here to check out more about the Author!

Book Genres-

Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy Romance, Young Adult Fantasy, Fiction, LGBT, Magic, Dark Fantasy

About the Exclusive Book-

Release Date- December 5th, 2023

Format- Hardcover

Language- English

I got this book in my Owlcrate box, so I have the Owlcrate cover design and it is beautiful. So much like the regular edition it has purple inked edges, the owlcrate edition sports a hardcover white book with gold leaf on the front. It reads at the top, “Asidian Lore” and beneath that, “A Tale of the Gods” It then has Raina, riding her steed embossed in gold leaf. I’m unsure if the regular book sports this detail, but the Owlcrate one does, and it's beautiful. As usual, the Owlcrate book features an art piece inside the cover and it's really pretty. As well as artwork on the inside leaflets of the book.

The Owlcrate edition sports this on the back, “Never lower your eyes in the face of death” whereas the original edition has, “In a world of darkness, become the nightmare”

I actually like this small change, and I think it fits the book cover really well.

It’s 432 pages with the bonus content included in the Owlcrate edition and 421 for the regular edition.

I should note that at this time January 15th, 2024, the hardcover edition closest to the Owlcrate edition is in limited stock. People, please be aware, that you would be buying a first edition of this book. If you do purchase it, handle it with care as first editions are usually pretty rare years from now. Its a limited time you will be able to get sprayed edges, and pretty soon they will probably default to a non-sprayed edge.

Book Format-

This book doesn’t sport a page with chapters and numbers, so unfortunately there's no guide to tell you which chapter is on what page. There is also no Addendum, so any word you read in the book that you don’t know is usually explained. Thankfully, there aren’t that many unknown words and Quinn does a pretty good job of explaining through conversation between characters.

At the beginning of each chapter, there is a small blurb of a letter, a portion of the Asidian God's book, or correspondence between two parties, the one always being labeled as "Unknown". Who are you unknown??

The acknowledgment in the book is genuinely so sweet. She thanks her husband, editor, and friends. On top of that, she makes a really sweet letter to the reader about why she wrote the book. It's very touching.

Fable BookClub-

Interested in reading along to the books I review? Check out my book club on Fable, The Bookish Fae! I include the books I get in my Owlcrate boxes and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the books!

There are other great book clubs on here too for a variety of different books you might be reading ATM.

(I put this here this time so you don’t have to read past the spoilers!)

The Story-

So right from the gate, it's important to note that as a reader I don’t enjoy LGBT stories. There are readers out there who do enjoy those, and that’s great; I’m not one of them though. That being said, I still gave this book a read as I was initially confused by the proclamation made by Kiara Frey at the beginning of the book. She states that a girl from town had been her love, but that it ended abruptly. It goes nowhere else from there. Kiara is then smitten with Jude Maddox, the commander of the Knights and personal Assassin of the corrupt King Cirian.

The two are drawn to each other the moment they set eyes on each other. The Goddess and Lover story are also male and female, so I’m not sure if it's fair to assign the LGBT genre tag to this book just yet, but this is only book 1# so it's possible more relationships could emerge or become featured in the future books. The romance between Kiara and Jude is almost unavoidable, each of them irresistibly drawn to the other, and even more realistic they both know where they are is neither the time nor the place for romance, but it's also the only thing keeping them sane.

So anyway, the story; A long time ago, 50 years I think based on the snippet letters at the beginning of each chapter, the Goddess Raina of the Sun fell in love with a mortal. It’s a tale as old as time, she trusts him and he betrays her. He tries to steal her power and ends up losing it, which causes eternal night to befall the world. I’m not sure how the world has continued living in a sunless state, but as you read on you can tell it's pretty bleak and the situation is getting dire. Food stores are slowly running out and pretty soon, nothing will be left. So, Jude is given an order by King Cirian to take a small group of knights with Kiara in tow and return to the Mist.

The description wasn’t lying when it said this was like Evil Dead, and it is. They have no idea what they will find in the Mist, they are entering a whole new territory and there are small hints that give you an ick feeling about King Cirian. First, he’s been king for a long time. Like, a long time. Second, he kills anyone who disagrees with him, that’s a great skill for any King. Not. Thirdly, he’s oddly obsessed with Kiara. Foregoing the fact that she’s a girl, hasn’t had much training with the knights, (even though she’s trained since she was young and is a hella good fighter) however, she hasn't actually fought baddies yet so she's inexperienced in actual combat but is well-skilled enough to hold her own.

Jude as well, is an excellent fighter and he’s only a couple of years older than Kiara but already commander of the knights. Of course, his feelings for Kiara make him do things he normally wouldn’t do and that means trouble. There are some really sweet moments between Jude and Kiara at the beginning of the book. Honestly what I love the most about the romance in the book is that Kiara is vulnerable, and needs saving, but she’s also strong and a fighter. So, it’s not a damsel in distress situation, but she’s strong enough to accept when she needs saving and when she doesn’t. She’s a well-rounded character and I loved that about her. Jude as well, he’s a strong guy and, an avid fighter but he too accepts when he needs saving and is also comfortable showing his emotions. There are a lot of emotions in this book… a lot of people die. Or are killed.

The point is it's refreshing to have characters that balance out nicely. Because you have these “save” moments, you get these lovely scenes of just pureness from the characters and romance that you see bloom between them. Alright, enough of that- the fighting… oh the fighting in this book is so nice. Fluid, you can follow along with it really easily; sometimes fight scenes can be a little hard to visualize, if you’re that type of reader like I am, and these fight scenes were so easy to see in my head.

There are a good amount of side characters as well, they provide friendships and family to the main protagonists. The losses also showcase the vulnerability of these characters as well.

The way the plot is unfolded and secrets revealed is so good. I found myself enthralled by the story, and captivated every time a twist or turn was revealed. I won’t spoil the ending (do I ever?) but suffice it to say, I had suspicions about the characters' true identities and while I had it backward, I’m happy to say the little breadcrumbs in the book led me to the answer at the ending.

This is Book 1# so there isn’t a true “ending” per se, but it is pretty darn good. However, I have no idea where this series can go from here based on how the book ended. I guess we will just have to see when I read and review Book 2#.

About the Characters-

Kiara Frey- Red-haired, fiery, and mysteriously scarred. Kiara is a strong fighter, quick, and fights loyally to protect her friends. I admired this about her, the strong will she has to put her friend's safety above her own, sometimes not thinking it all the way through and making rash moves. Characters wouldn't be great characters without flaws, and Kiara’s flaws will be relatable to many people. Despite her being shunned by her village, she still has a kind heart.

Jude Maddox- Black-haired, honey-colored eye and one mysterious white eye. Everything about Jude is brooding, mysterious, suffer in silence type. He’s tormented by the things he’s been forced to do and he’s numb to those emotions. Meeting Kiara breathes new life into him, and he begins to feel again. He too fights for his recruits, determined to save some of them but more importantly Kiara. His attachment to her is pretty obvious from the second chapter onward. Even though he's mad at himself for feeling the things he feels, he can't help but want to feel more. She makes him want to feel.

Isaiah - Loyal sidekick. His kindness and watchfulness over Jude is well known from the beginning. Isaiah has been his friend, brother, and fellow knight for, I think forever. He's been there to tend the wounds, nurse the broken spirit, and basically keep Jude from snuffing out.

Jake - Sweet Jake, some skill, a little mousy but mostly cool. He’s for sure the comedic relief as he’s always cracking hilarious puns throughout the story. He’s a welcome reprieve from what is undoubtedly the most dismal scenery. A favorite line of mine, "So, yay mysterious savior?" is literally my favorite line in the book. There are a lot of great quips, but this is the best.

Nic- Oh, Nic. Young, skilled, inexperienced, and part of the friend group; he’s the little brother of the bunch. Nic grew up in the same village as Jake and they have known each other since they were five and are best friends.

Alec- Somewhat serious, still playful, and skilled. Another friend.

Patrick- Sweet, quiet and loyal. Patrick makes it his business to defend Kiara, he’s always beside her throughout the whole ordeal and is slightly obsessive. Bad thing?

Thoughts-

Without a doubt, this is the goriest, bloodiest book I’ve read in 2023 and it was awesome. Again, I’m unsure why this book is pegged as being LGBT when there isn’t anything but one reference in it. Again, could be more later, kind of unsure. Anyway, this book is just a non-stop ride. Just when you think you’ve got the story pegged, another twist is thrown at you. There is a lot to discover in the Mist and a lot of unknowns. I’d be interested to read the second book, for anything to understand what King Cirian's role in this whole thing is because he's very suspicious.

This is an enjoyable book, it’s got a lot of swear words in it, gore, blood, death, and some talk about the Gods and Goddesses of the realm. If those are not something you’re interested in reading about, you can avoid it simply by not picking up the book. You can always give her other series a try mentioned at the beginning of this article.

I love the romance between Kiara and Jude, the way it's written is addictive and had me reading chapter after chapter. This was a hard book to put down. On top of the bonus of the book being beautiful, you’ve got a killer story. The world detail is just wonderful, and the descriptions of the beasts are absolutely terrifying. This book has many Evil Dead, The Last of Us, and Bleach monster vibes. (Without the fungus monsters in The Last of Us, of course).

Spoilers-

Right so if you’ve been reading my articles for a while you know this is the bit where we talk a little bit about the ending of the book without giving too much away. Honestly, I would be doing you a HUGE disservice if I revealed the ending of this book. Honestly, this might be the only time I can’t complain about much without giving too many spoilers. I’ll try my best though.

First, there is not that much to complain about. Every time I had a smart-ass thing to say, Quinn jumped in through dialogue or internal monologue to validate and explain exactly what I was complaining about. There is enough history for you to know what’s going on, without getting too bored and caught up in the history of it all. This book is not Tolkien style, you will not be reading off-topic history, stories, legends, or anything of the like during this book reading. If you like that sort of thing, R.A. Salvatore’s books go into deep depth about the history of his world. His book “Homeland” of the Forgotten Realms Dark Elf Trilogy, has that level of detail for sure.

There’s not that much else to say without ultimately spoiling the ending. The only thing I will say is the triangle between Kiara, Jude, and Patrick really surprised me. I did not expect that twist in the story, nor did I expect the losses that we suffer through the book. Quinn does a really good job of making you care for these characters, and she sets up their personalities nicely. On top of the sheer terror that exists in the mists, this last-minute surprise was unexpected. When you read the book, you won’t see it coming.

Closing-

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Happy Reading and may you walk the road less traveled!