Elise Kova

A Hunt of Shadows

Ashlee

A Hunt of Shadows has just continued to solidify how much I adore this story and love the world. And that ending! 😱🙈 Totally wild! 

This book is darker and more suspenseful than the first, as Eira continues to try and unravel the secrets around her. And sometimes that hunt leads to disastrous consequences. Beyond that you can, of course, expect sweet slow burn romance—I was crazy invested in this ship in the first book, and you can bet the romance was up my alley.

And Ducot!?! My new favorite character. Elise truly has a way of creating secondary characters that jump off the page. I loved him!

I loved seeing Eira and the others again, too! This series truly has a great friend group and I couldn’t get enough of them. Also—shout out for the ace rep in this! It felt like such a natural and accepted part of the story, and the characters talking about it was really meaningful and heartfelt. 

The only reason this isn’t a five star read is for four (minor) reasons: 
a) Eira was running headlong into danger so often that it was giving me anxiety and I’m not a huge fan of stories where characters try to “go it alone” so to speak, rather than asking for help from their loved ones. Eira is very capable, but she stressed me out! 😂
b) the romance felt sidelined at times, which left its progression closer to the end of the book feeling a little rushed and a bit unbelievable—I’d have liked to see it get more focus throughout the novel, especially with how important it becomes later on!
c) the story was repetitive at times, I do wish we’d gotten more of the competition alongside Eira’s scheming, missions, and following orders
d) I haven’t read Air Awakens or Vortex Visions, but know a little of the story from those books. I didn’t find this to be a problem with A Trial of Sorcerers, but with this one, I felt like there was information about previous events and politics/world building that I should be aware of, but was a little lost on. It was very small in comparison to the larger story, but at times the characters felt privy to info I should know but didn’t. 

That said, I still thoroughly enjoyed this one! The things I highlighted are small peas to the greater story! This book is full of intense action, great banter, more court intrigue and machinations, and an incredibly developed world and magic system that you feel you can step off the page into. 

And after that ending, I am dying for the next book now!