shadowbooker's Reviews (780)

I’ve enjoyed all of Emma Lord books but I think this is perhaps my favorite. I’m usually slightly annoyed by her quirky heroines, and the food coded cursed words Andie uses are super annoying and took me out of the book often, but I really loved every character. The secondary characters were well rounded and nice, the love interest was one I was rooting for from the beginning, and nadie growth arc was really well done. I appreciated how much she grew without changing who she was in her essence, and I appreciate that she learned to be herself to be with others without having to mold her shape to fit.
I definitely recommend this book and if you like fun light YA books this is one you should read.

Elle Cosimano did it again!
I laughed so much with this book, the stakes were high, the mystery kept be captivated and I didn’t piece things together before the characters which it’s always a plus in my book! 
I can’t believe this book hasn’t been out yet and I already need book 4 in my hands!!!
This book truly had everything that makes Finlay Donovan a hit, but in a refreshing new (but also familiar) way. 
I am still team lawyer but I can accept my team lost and Nick is a good romantic interest.

The old war between the dragons and elves has long been over, and Deerium has entered a new age. The humans have taken hold and the last fragment of days gone by, known as the Takahrn, have been made slaves.
Gahlaia, the Takahrn’s rightful leader, is given a chance to save her people. Borhiim, a man with a confusing past, must choose between his new life and the one left behind. Tirehn, the soon-to-be king, seeks to find his father’s murderer. All the while, the Eternal moves them together to discover the reality of their world, and the one who’s been pulling all the strings.

If you are a fan of high fantasy, this debut novel is a must for you! It has the chosen one trope so prominent in that  genre but with a really cool twist, a very cool and unique magic system and a captivating story that grabbed me from chapter 1.
It has multiple POVs but they all add something interesting to the story and I never felt myself wishing we could skip it to go back to a different character. It also has a very interesting class division and the author does a great job managing the subject of slavery and “less than” races like the Takahrn are seen, and incredibly enough Michaels created a human character that I actually love!? Anyone who knows me knows I’m extremely anti human in any book or movie that has humans vs some other race, but King Tirehn is a great character!

Lastly and perhaps my favorite thing: there’s no unnecessary miscommunication for the sake of moving the story along! It was so refreshing seeing characters actually talking and sharing information while the story still kept its mystery and pace.

I think my only critique is that I wish the map had better art work because I love maps and this world could have an epic one, but since I received such an early copy of the book perhaps it’s in the works! 

The Faded Dragon comes out on February 4th so go ahead and place your preorders if you love fantasy as much as I do!

VAGUE SPOILERS!

This book was perfection up until 88%. I loved both characters a lot, and the story was adorable, but I really really dislike the way this author does the third act breakups… each of the books in the series I hope this is the book where the conflict comes from somewhere else and every time there’s a stupid breakup that didn’t need to happen.
I was ready to give this book a 5⭐️ and I think Caleb is the best MMC we have met so far in this series, I adore him to pieces, and even the HORRIBLE Spanish pronunciation of the female narrator (it was seriously awful, I’m a native native speaker and I understood maybe 5% of what she said) was going to be ignored because I was loving the book that much, but the third act ruined it for me…
Still a great read though.