Shade of Light is a quick and easy dark fantasy read that's perfect for your fall TBR.
The story focuses on Adele, a young woman with mysterious powers as she navigates the world in an attempt to uncover the truths about her path.
The worldbuilding was original and intriguing. I enjoyed the concepts of the magic system (

Spoiler

especially the angels versus demons

) and I think that there's room to expand upon the possibilities in future books.
The plot was extremely fast-paced and while I didn't find it to be overly complex, I enjoyed it. This book is probably one I would recommend to readers unfamiliar with the fantasy genre or who are just beginning to read dark fantasy because it's easy to comprehend and the magic system/plot is relatively uncomplicated. There were a handful of twists too. I will say that I found the end to be a bit anticlimactic and that I wish the story addressed Adele's past with the General a little more, but those were my only main complaints.
As far as POV characters go, Adele was pretty cool. I did find her to be a bit rude and unrelatable at times, but that can be attributed to her past. Her internal monologue was more tolerable than those of other main characters. Personally, I liked Elijah and Rune more than Adele. Elijah was sweet and I wish we learned more about him. I liked Rune because she fell into some of my favorite character tropes (

Spoiler

non-human character who is clueless about the workings of the human world, wings, etcOverall, I enjoyed the book and while it's not the most nuanced of fantasy stories, it's a great read for beginning fantasy readers. (Also, it's more fantasy-focused than romance, which is a nice switch from the romantasy that seems to have the book world in a chokehold right now).

Official Rating: 3.75/5
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC.