Black Dawn by Mallory McCartney has a lot of potential with its interesting premise and a world full of magic, rebellion, and political intrigue. The story follows Emory, who is thrust into a leadership role as she rediscovers a forgotten past and navigates a dangerous rebellion. The world-building was intriguing, and there are moments where the story shines, especially with the unique abilities and dynamics between the characters.

However, the pacing felt off at times, with some parts moving too quickly, leaving me wanting more detail, while others dragged a bit. I also found myself wanting deeper development for both the characters and the plot, as things sometimes felt rushed or underexplored. That said, it does have potential, especially if you're into fantasy with a lot of action and a fast-moving plot.

Overall, Black Dawn is an enjoyable read with a creative world, but I wish it had dug a bit deeper into its characters and story. If you're looking for a light fantasy read, it's worth checking out, but it left me wanting a bit more substance.

Story had an amazing premise, on the surface I had high hopes for this read however the execution was rushed.

The story felt too short and rushed for me, unfortunately the world building suffered a lot and I couldn't get through it. Shame, cuz the cover is superb

This was a slightly horrible case of man that is an absolutely beautiful cover. I have to read it. Why do I do this to myself. If I marked this as DNF it wouldn't have counted towards my read list on Netgalley. Sorry, I can't provide an actual review. I just couldn't read this book.

“I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Again, I was distracted by the gorgeous cover. But then again, the premise was quite nice so I still feel not guilty for falling for only the cover. This book is definitely one of those books I don’t plan on reading the sequels. It has been a rough read for me. Aside from poor world-building, this book has poor characters development. I don’t even understand half of the book.

This is really difficult to review due to the idea being so good.
Unfortunately the fantasy world lacks building and the characters just do not engage with the reader or evolve.
The whole story feels rushed due to being too short.
Not for me.

Black Dawn has a great concept, but did not execute well. Characters and plot lacked depth. It felt short. Felt like just another dystopian/fantasy book.

I really tried to love this book. I did. The cover and the synopsis really caught my attention and made me want to read the book. However after diving into the book, it was just bad. The writing was bad and did not catch my attention. I thought that if I kept reading the book would pick up and get better but it didn’t. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not finish this book.

Huge thank you to Clean Reads Publishing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book!

At first I assumed the biggest issue this story was going to have was a common one among shorter novels; not enough space to explain things properly, leaving the reader feeling left out of the loop. And while that’s true, the more I read, the more I realised the bigger issue was the writing.

Full (spoiler-y) review here: http://wmsreads.tumblr.com/post/181474555872/

I was so excited to read this one after I read the blurb but it fell short of all my expectations. The MC is an everyday girl thrust into a new world where she is royalty, but that is the most thrilling thing that happened in the book. I did not particularly care about any of the characters and did not have a connection to the world building or prose.
Some of the issues were in part to the many tropes, that I cannot bring myself to enjoy in most YA books these days. For example, the romance in the story was forced and seemed to just be an instant-love connection. When this situation happens, I find that the characters are bland and I cannot believe in anything they do across the story arc. The second thing that was annoying was the "chosen one" factor. This particular trope is used entirely too much and causes the pot to hinge solely on her success. The MC seemed weak to me and I cannot fathom how her pitiful "powers" could sway the battle in their favor- especially in 180 total pages.
the main issue that I had with this book was the multi-POV changes. The first three chapters are set in the POV of three different people who govern the plotline in the story. I get that their characters are key to the story but the first part of the bok is jumbled and confusing as a result. I almost DNF-ed this book right there as it set the tone for the rest of the plot.
I did like how the author set up the ending for the rest of the series. I believe that if they fix some of the main issues of the book that the rest of the series could be enjoyable.

Black Dawn is a story with a cool concept. Retrieving Emory from where she hides on Earth and pulling her back into a world of supernatural powers, war, and destiny, old friends she can’t remember guide her to her throne.

The plot was pretty interesting and the world crafted in this novel was pretty awesome. Emory proves to be a protagonist I think I could get along with. She’s completely confused and unprepared for the war zone she’s dragged into at first but she steels herself and pushes herself to remember, to learn, to train, and to accept her duties as their long lost queen and she starts kicking ass. So yeah, I loved her character development a lot!

I like reading about special abilities and shapeshifters so it was really enjoyable to read. I liked the multiple pov’s because I got to know a lot more about the characters. There’s still lots more I’d like to have known about the characters though. I want to know why Emory and Memphis did certain things and how Brokk is dealing with certain things. Regardless, I’ll definitely be looking forward to reading the sequel! The whole book has a pretty cool vibe, an interesting mix of fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal, and I really like the cover art.

This is really short, easy and really good read for me. I wanted to read when i read the synopsis and that cover is gorgeous too. I really want to read this world more.

The plot and world of Black Dawn sounded really interesting and unique when I read the blurb, but I honestly think the execution could have been better.

This story is about Emory Fae, a girl whisked away from her normal life and brought to an alternate world called Kiero, where she discovers she is basically a queen with superpowers. She joins the rebellion that tries to overthrow the evil current ruler.

Sounds interesting right? But because this book is extremely short and consisted of non-stop action, I couldn’t really connect to any of the characters and I didn’t particularly like any of them. Everything felt very rushed. Emory is supposed to change the course of the battle but to me, she was weak and I don’t see why her powers are supposed to be so extraordinary. She didn’t contribute a lot to the story and the action.
Also, the insta-love were completely unnecessary and felt forced. We all know I much prefer a slow burn over this!

This could have been so much better if only this was longer and there was more character development. I loved the world and the concept, and I hope the sequel and prequel will be better!

This book was good. It had a lot that needed work, but it captured my attention and I kept reading until the end.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

After reading the description I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book, reminding me of the Kricket series I thought it would definitely be up my alley, reading wise.

It is a short book and if I had control of it I would have liked some further character development to make the reader fall in love with the characters and find out their reasoning behind their behaviour s rather than being quite matter of fact, this is them.

Having said that I did really enjoy this book and I am really looking forward to the next book (due out soon) to further follow this story and find out what happened to my favourites. It was a definite page Turner I just felt like it needed to be a little longer to follow all the threads fully.

Highlights

The world

Brokk

The magic

Overall

I really enjoyed this short book. I flew through it without problems. There are a few hiccups here and there but nothing that prevented me from reading or understanding the book and its plot.

The Story

The story is a multi-perspective story following several characters in the world of Kiero which is currently in a war. There were several mentions of a war and they were living in hiding but there wasn't much evidence of the war around in the background of the story. 

Things start off straight away in this book. There is no slow build up or a slow burn. You are thrown straight into the fire.

I liked the direction of the story and the different views felt to be in the right time order. I hate it when it's not, but this was fine. There was one point of view from Emory (chapter 9) which stretched out for ages and it (almost) only features two characters. I started to wonder where the others were.

I did feel at times that things were moving too quickly and the other members of the public were silent - they were lacking some opposition in the background. 

World Building

The world felt small but grand if that even makes sense. I think, in distance, it felt small but in hight, it felt grander, taller. Tall trees, long way down with the elevator, high ceilings in the mines, etc. But only a couple of hour of running before the forest ended.

The world of Kiero is a dystopian world with concrete jungle and a real jungle side by side and on top of each other. The world has magic embedded in its core but the inhabitants don't seem to be able to use it until the faerie arrived. The world reminded me a lot of a dystopian Earth with faeries and magic.

Magic System

Some people have abilities and others hadn't. The ones who had seemed to mostly come from being related somehow to the faerie.

I didn't fully understand the system. To be fair there wasn't much time to explain it but still. It seemed to be of an endless source and the ones with a gift seemed to have more that one ability without explanations. They didn't seem to have any issues using as much as needed.

I personally prefer it when there is a limit to their power. It creates more tension with the character. 

I liked the type of abilities they had. there where shapeshifting, telekinesis, shielding, fire and so on.  

The Characters

There are several characters in this book but the main ones are Emory, Memphis, Brook and Adair.

Emory is the lost Queen brought back home from Earth without knowing who she is and without her memories. She quickly picks things up and quickly accepts who she is. It felt a bit too quick to me. She got the full load of who she is, what she is and that the entire world is relying on her in one paragraph, and she doesn't even blink It would have been nice with more friction here. However, I liked her as a character.

Memphis. I personally feel he's a dick. Manipulative piece of shit! (I'm clearly emotionally invested lol). When the end came I rejoiced.

Brokk was my favourite character. The shit he goes through without arguing much is heroic. I would have liked a viewpoint from him in the middle of the long Emery chapter for a contrast. Basically, everything of Brokk, yes, please.

Adair is a character you don't get much from and I'm not sure what to make of him or how to describe him. He is the King in Kiero and a little mad.

LGBT+?

None that came to my attention.

Romance

There is some but it's not very detailed. When it's focused on it's more on Emory's ability to blush than anything. 

Writing

I didn't find any spelling mistakes or flawed sentences

But there are repetitions of the same word/saying. For example, in English, there are several version of "Oh my god!". In this book, they were all "By fire and flame". It would have been nice to have one or two more just for the sake of diversity. And blimey the amount of "heat keeping up their necks/cheeks"

There is also plenty of room for fleshing out the story giving us readers more of the good stuff. Having said that I really loved the way Brokk's shapeshifting abilities are described by himself in the beginning. Very visual! It was spot on! 

Summary

I enjoyed this book and the story. I liked the world and there where twists and turns that seemed to come out of the blue, I didn't see them coming at all.

I'm unsure if I will continue with this series.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and the cover of it is so pretty! I just wish it could have been a bit longer to better explain certain aspects. This is a very intricate world that I feel requires a touch more explaining. It is the first in the series so perhaps the next book will have more information. We are immediately dropped into this world and there are a lot of POV shifts that at times make it a tad bit difficult to follow and connect to what’s happening.  There is plenty of action, some romance, and fun fantasy that make it fairly enjoyable read despite the confusion I felt at times. Overall, I liked the book and will be looking out for the next in the series.


*I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This book just proves how I judge a book by its cover. Black Dawn is gifted with such a mesmerizing cover, it is impossible not to catch your eye and make you want to know more about what lies beyond the cover.

Black Dawn is a very short dystopian/YA fantasy. It was slow go and confusing at the beginning, since it started in an awkward place and like 100 POVs. Honestly, this book has an interesting story. It has a very great concept too. It just fell short on the narrating and some other part.

Black Dawn tells the story Emory, Memphis and Brokk. Emory is the long lost queen and she must save her people from Adair, their mad king.
Emory didn't know she was a queen or that she had a special ability until Memphis and Brokk brought her back to Kiero. It's hard for her to believe everything they say because she doesn't have her memories of what happened in Kiero when she was younger... Memphis and Brokk are trying to help her by giving her, her old memories, and are trying to convince her to fight Adair.

This story is full of secrets, betrayal, love and loss! There were so many plot twists, it had me glued to the pages wondering just what would happen next. But Some parts were...mehh. I really wish there was more character development...

Black Dawn also reminded me of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and The Starlight Gods by Yumoyori Wilson, I mean the whole "kidnaped princess" / "hide the princesses on a different planet" thing was really similar to those two series, but otherwise Black Dawn was kinda unique, maybe. But now that I'm thinking about it, it's really like The Starlight Gods series, with the "bad guy" trying to take over the world or whatever, and the "princess" is the only hope. Ooh on that note it also kinda reminds me of Crimson Ash by Haley Sulich in a few ways.

Overall, this book was good. Really it is. It just fell short for me. There are parts that I actually like but there are more parts that I dislike. I would still recommend it.

I thought that I would love this book as it is usually something up my alley, but I couldn't immerse myself in to the storyline as much as I wish I could, so I have ended up with this being a DNF. I could however, see other people being interested in this book though.

This book was a little slow to start off for me but once it got going it was amazing!
I love the magic system and think that it's fairly unique in a book that doesn't contain elves.
The multi perspectives were a plus for me and I'll definitely be picking up the next one in the series!