ARC Review: Of Silver and Shadow

I received this eARC for review from NetGalley for an honest review. This was one of my top TBR requests from NetGalley and I was not disappointed . . . too much

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.

Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title.

But time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out.

First things first, when I started reading this book I got intense Red Queen vibes and I was here for it. Thankfully, the book took a different path towards its own unique storyline into a rebel rousing, head turning story.

Second, the characters felt genuine to me and it made it all the more frustrating as I watched them make stupid mistakes and wanted to turn them around. Like real people they didn’t just change personalities or magically overcome an internal struggle, they dealt with things in a realistic way, which I liked.

There was one big thing I didn’t like though. Certain plot points were brought up throughout the story with no context. Suddenly they’re revealed but in such a way that was weak and confusing. Some major ideas about the world were not explained well and it made the revelation lack luster. I wanted that feeling of shock or pure excitement and all too often it fell flat. The ending was a similar feeling of disappointment. Instead of taking her time and wrapping things up nicely, it’s just too soon, too short, and overall disappointing. Even if she was trying to leave points for a sequel it could have been done in a better way in my opinion.

Overall, I really liked the book. It discussed difficult ideas and included some of my favorite tropes, but the ending really fell flat. That’s why I can only give this a .5//5 stars.