A world divided.

A queendom without an heir.

An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Acrss the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

When I heard about this being written and released I was excited, I enjoyed her other series and I was looking forward to this. Since it is such a long book I waited till I knew I have time to read it.

I finally had the time and I picked it up, I figured there is some word building and such but h boy was I in for a surprise. There was so, so much and it was just overwhelming.

So I figured since I have a free credit on audible I get the audio book and maybe that will help….. it did not . I was just so confused for about the first 200 some pages.

There was just so many people and even more things happening on different spots in their world.

I did finally start catching on for the most part and ended up enjoying it, well more than I thought I would. I switched between audio and hardcover so I got it done fairly quickly.

The audio in my opinion was okay, often the dialect or accent was super thick and string and it made it hard to understand and I had to go back to the book to check to make sure I didn’t miss much.

Overall, I thought it was okay, definitely way too much world building for me though, also some things were overly described and others not at all if a little.

I liked most of the characters/dragons and the relationships in this book

I have a hard time rating this book, I liked some and the aspect of the book but I disliked the intro into the book/ world. It was long and confusing.

So I think I go with 2.5 ★ maybe at some point I will reread it and enjoy it more.

Available NOW 

Amazon *** B&N *** Kobo 

This is a book I kinda wish I'd read as an e-book, it comes in at 830 pages and is a doorstop of a book (Husband did remark that you could do damage with it).  In a world with dragons almost a thousand years ago an evil dragon was defeated and sealed up.  Legends have built about it and now there are those who believe that all dragons are evil, those who revere dragons, those who revere evil dragons and those who wonder why people are wondering why anyone is worrying about something that is in the past.

Shannon has created an interesting world with varieties of people and cultures and complicated politics.  There is room at the end for sequels but there doesn't need to be any.

It took a while to read but it kept me reading.  It didn't travel with me!!!

A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

This is quite the enigma. I have picked this up and abruptly put it back down at least 9 or 10 times. I just can't get into it and that's confusing since the synopsis hit all the right notes. I was intrigued. I also saw all of those glowing reviews and I feel like I'm reading a different book. We're not vibing. Forget falling in love with it (like the other reviewers), I'm just trying to fall in tolerance with it... and I'm failing. I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt and say it's probably a simple case of "it's not you, it's me". Maybe it's because I have been reading some REALLY good books lately, I think it has set the bar pretty high. Either way, it wasn't for me and I set my limit at 10 tries before I call it so here we are... I HATE to say it but... I QUIT!

*** I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***

Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal prison camp of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the survivors are missing and she is the most wanted person in London . . . As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on Paige, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city's gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take center stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner. Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided.

*I received a free copy from the publisher and chose to leave a voluntary review. Thank you!*

4 ½★

I really don’t know why it took me so long to finish this awesome book. I really don’t. Though I should say that I shouldn’t have waited so long between book one and two since the world building is rather complex it would have just made it a bit easier.

This book a bit different than the last, we get a lot more of the underground and the different gangs and how they work and what all makes the gears turn. Also the character’s growth and development was fantastic. There is so much depth and so many layers to them, their relationships. Which with the awesome world building made you feel like you right there with them.

Paige grew so much in this book I thought and she did not shy away from stuff when things or people seemed to work against her, she just regrouped and found another way. While complicated, very much so actually, I enjoyed her and Jaxon working more or less together. Also enjoyed him a lot, even with all his errors and flaws, but he also had a lot of good qualities to him.

Warden. Yes we see him again and I really liked him but I must say while I enjoy him and I enjoy Paige, and them working together I’m not crazy about them as a couple. Not sure why but just something that puts me off to that idea.

Hmm, I’m not sure what else to say and not spoil it for other people. So I will just make it short.

I loved this book, it had a great pacing and always wanted to make to turn tro the next page, it also always kept me on the edge of my seat and I was speechless a few times. There are quite the few twists and turns and the end was just… I don’t even know … I sort if saw it coming but then not at all.

So be prepared for a cliffhanger that will make you want to scream. Overall, this is a pretty complex world to get used to at first but once you are in you will love it and it is sooo worth it . Also there are glossary at the end of both book one and two to help you along.

If you like fantasy I would most defiantly give this a try.

I rate this book 4 ½ ★

Buy Links

Amazon *** B&N *** Kobo