I was given this book through the Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Fanatics R2R group for an honest review, thank you.



This story is in first person told through the eyes of Nexa.

Shadows is the story of Nexa, a half-Luminos and half-Nathos, Duskie. She is kidnapped from enslavement in the Firen Caves by Prince Axon who needs a Duskie to protect his men from the Sathen, blood thirsty killing creatures, as they travel to Lysus. So begins the adventures of Nexa and Axon. Fighting the prejudice of Luminos and Nathos, Nexa proves her worth to both species as do almost all of the Duskies.

I can’t figure out why the author calls the book ‘Shadows.’ The Duskies aren’t really shadowy type creatures, and Nexa doesn’t really associate with the Nathos the species that sleeps during the day and awakens after the sun has set. She associates more with the Luminos, the species that falls to sleep when the sun goes down and arise at daybreak. This is the species that Prince Axon belongs to. The Sathen we know nothing about because the author never tells us. They are just mentioned as vicious creatures that enjoy killing and eating, even their own kind.

The one thing I have to warn people up front about this book is that you’ll need to suspend belief on what happens in the story. I understand this is a fantasy/paranormal story, but even in fantasy/paranormal stories, there is a process where the author leads us from point A to point B with every object or topic that is introduced. Meaning, point B happens because we have point A happening before it. But that is not what’s done in this book. The following examples I can easily remember as making no logical sense: Nexa can ride a horse the first time she is on one without any trouble. The second time she rides a horse she is an expert at fighting from horseback. Nexa can also swim for long distances towing something behind her without having swum before. Next was how convenient Axon saved Nexa. She was almost killed at least four times and he always miraculously showed up to save her. Another item was that the Duskies had never fought in a war but their abilities rivaled the soldiers in battle. Another instance is that the Sathen use scent or sound to find the sleeping soldiers behind the tents. At one point Nexa mentions she heard Dathien snore at the castle. I can’t believe that no soldier is snoring as they are asleep hiding from the invading Sathen. At another point Nexa is attacked by the Sathen, a gouge is taken out of her back and she’s being torn to pieces, but she can still fight and move. This and other instances are totally unbelievable. This lack of plausible reasons for events that happen is a bit mind-boggling. It’s like the author needs something to happen in the plot so the event is created without any logical build-up to it or whether it makes any sense at all. It feels like the author didn’t even bother to take the time to think about what she was writing. So, that is what I mean about ‘suspending all belief’ in this story, because there won’t be logical explanations to why something happens, you’re not going to get it.

Something else that bothered me was about the naming of the creatures of this world. They have animals with our known animal names and names that are part of this created world. For example, this world has ‘chickens, sheep, cows and horses.’ But then the author creates creatures like ‘lamak’ and the ‘Sathen.’ Reading the mix of animals is like getting culture shock. If this was a different world, than why use animal words from our world, especially if the word ‘lamak’ is thrown in? Create a complete world that would be more exciting with original words for say, a type of fowl that lays stripped eggs, it’s not that difficult. Instead, the author doesn’t put in the effort and the writing comes across as careless.

The characters were a bit idealized. Axon seemed to be a ‘Marty Stu,’ he didn’t seem to have any flaws except falling asleep at sunset. He was always kind, thoughtful, complimentary etc. Axon was two-dimensional, as was the King and Queen. I couldn’t tell if Nexa was a woman, or a girl on the edge of being a woman. The author gave inconsistent information about her. I often got the impression that Nexa was young, but the way the author portrayed her as fighting Sathen and her other behavior made Nexa seem older. But when Nexa is injured and needs healing, no mention is ever made about her female parts, like breasts, considering her shirt is almost completely shredded. Nexa is characterized as being easily embarrassed, but she is never about her breasts if she has them, but she is embarrassed by scars and her hair. It’s a very inconsistent characterization of the MC. Also Nexa is created as a typical heroine that doesn’t believe in herself because of her life at the Caves and Axon is always reassuring her. Maybe the author wanted to portray Nexa as humble, but it struck me as insecure instead, and the more it went on in the book, the more I got annoyed with Nexa. I also found it unbelievable that the Lumini Duskies would follow her as a Commander when they don’t know her or she hasn’t had any training to command soldiers. All of a sudden Nexa is Superwoman Commander with an inferiority complex.

The romance story doesn’t really convince me of why Nexa and Axon fell in love. He saw her the first time and thought she was beautiful. But I never felt pulled into their emotions for one another. It was a formulaic romance, certain things have to take place then they fall in love and profess undying love for each other. But I never felt it.

The idea of three different species divided by the time of day was an interesting idea. It created a tension in the story especially when the Luminos and Nathos were each heading to sleep or just waking up and they would become vulnerable to attack.

The author did a good job with the action, there was always something going on so the pace didn’t slow. I think if the action wasn’t so good, I probably wouldn’t have been able to continue reading this book because the characters were so predictable and the serious lack of logical reasoning as to why an event happened was annoying.

There are formatting issues where most of the lines are nicely double spaced, but then there were paragraphs where they were single spaced so that they look smashed together. Then the sentences returned to double spacing. This is repeated throughout the whole book.

If you want a teenage romance where you don’t have to think and you can suspend all belief about events and outcomes that are normally present in fantasy/paranormal books, then you might like this book. I found the characters two dimensional, the romance predictable and the lack of simple details in events and actions annoying. The pace of the story is good, as is the idea of three separate species. I give this story 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars.


( )

Shadows is a YA science fiction novel about the Luminos and Nathos, their cast-off relations, the Duskies and the savage Sathens. Like most epic stories, the story starts in the cusp of a big change and an impending war.

And that's when we are introduced to Nexa. A Duskie living in the Firen Caves, her face is divided into light and dark like two halves of Luminos and Nathos put together, with magnificent swirls twirling her skin. Duskies are treated like second-class citizens and have proved to be untrustworthy because they haven't pledge alliance by the two races that cast them off. Nexa was a captive in the Caves until the valiant Luminos Prince Axon rescued her. The attraction was immediate and even if I'm no longer a teen, there is a quiet passion that runs between these two that made me giddy with excitement. ( )