*This review is based on an arc given by netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The Shadow Wand is a high personal stakes journey story centering on a young woman coming into and owning her own power. This alone should have made it one of my first five star reads in fiction this year. Sadly it had a few things working against it.. The first half of the book is a particularly slow build and often details of the races and overall world were easy to get confused on.
With that said I loved the way the story somewhat recapped itself allowing a refresher for those who have forgotten bits of the earlier installment. Our Leading lady was easy to understand and grew in a believable way over the course of the story. Further I found myself invested in the party getting back together and was left eager for the next book which bodes well for a series book.
Readers of such books as The Shadow of the Fox series may enjoy reading The Shadow Wand. and will likely feel eager for future installments in the series.

Realizing that I would have to wait for this story to finish was bittersweet. I love how each movement of the characters sets up something to find out in the next book. This was definitely a novel of cliffhangers and suspense for me. After reading the last two books in a whirlwind weekend, I wasn't sure if the third would live up to the standard of writing promised. However, Forest delivered a spectacular story filled with hauntingly beautiful plots and creations that have me craving more.

So for some reason I thought this was a trilogy NOT a sextet and now I am FEVERISH with the need for the next books and yet I received this as an ARC to begin with.

Look this book has everything. Any little thing you've ever wanted from fantasy, every trope in YA it's ALLLLL here and that is a GOOD THING. Forest gives the people what they want! Sometimes that thing is chaste longing, sometimes it's smut, sometimes it's extended battle training sequences, sometimes it's bitter feuds, sometimes it's all of those things at once!? How!? Idk but it's great. Read the first two books and saddle up for this one. Also having now read the prequels I feel much clearer on some history and I love it all. Very good.

Man, oh man! This series just keeps getting better. This book was amazing. The Shadow Wand is darker, sexier, and even more magical.

Elloren is finally starting to prove herself strong in this book. I’ve seen tremendous growth in her character and I adored every second of watching her come into herself. With our fellows, I have always been on the fence if I am team Lukas or team Yvan because they both have such great qualities and are very different. However, even though Lukas is more harsh I have always leaned towards him. Yep, this installment just solidified it for me. Do I still love Yvan? Oh absolutely. Do I love Lukas a bit more? Oh heck yes.

Keeping with all of our amazing characters, we finally get to see some new faces and territories in this book. It was super exciting and awesome chapters to read... I really enjoyed these sections! At the same time, they build the story perfectly.

Other than that, I am super happy to see all our main characters maturing more. In the first book most of our main characters were around 17-20 age wise and I felt they were a little naive. I’m happy to see so much growth.

The fact that I have to wait a year for the fourth book, which the name changed and I LOVE it, will definitely be too long of a wait! There is definitely a cliff hanger at the end of The Shadow Wand and I cannot wait to see what happens next!

The Iron Flower ended with Elloren and Yvan discovering they are the Black Witch and Icaral of Prophacy and The Shadow Wand continues after their separation to train to learn to use their powers. We are introduced to a few new characters and have multiple point of view chapters, which I love. You get to learn more in depth about each character, new and old, and what they have personally experienced. It made me feel closer to the characters and you get a much better understanding of the injustice they have endured and exactly how divided their races and religions are making them into the people they are. This book was a roller coaster of emotions for me and I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure how I will be able to wait for the next two books but I am looking forward to rereading again as a refresher when they come out. This is series is absolutely good enough to read multiple times!

I would like to thank the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

**Review will be posted on my blog on 5/29/20**
Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

My Reactions:

My Attention: wavered sometimes (mostly in the first half)

World Building: epic world building but sometimes too much going on

Writing Style: pacing was a bit off

Bringing the Heat: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 – was not expecting this…😬

Crazy in Love: …love triangle…😣

Creativity: love the world of The Black Witch

Mood: mixed feelings

Triggers: sexual harassment, violence

My Takeaway: I thought this was the last book of the series…and I think it should’ve been.

What I Liked:
*Elloren finding her courage – but damn it took so much and so long for her to do it. We are in book three girl, you gotta unleash that power and learn to control it! Be the Black Witch already!

*Lukas Grey is so knowledgeable and such a leader, sometimes I wish he was the Black Witch 😅. He is battle honed, politically savvy, smart and just an all around leader. I liked getting to know him better in this book.

*Epic world building is still there and you just get a sense this world the author built is so vast.

*There is so much action in the last third of the book, it really picks up pace and then it’s a irritating cliffhanger!

Things That Made Me Go Hmm:
*The beginning of this book could have been whittled down some. It took me awhile to get into the story. I wanted things to be tied up in this one but I felt like it added more things, new names, and just too much.

*All I wanted was for Elloren to just become the Black Witch and stop saying she is and just BE. Let’s get on with taking down Vogel and freeing all the people! She annoyed me because this is book three.

*There has always been a love triangle and okay I get the appeal of Lukas and Elloren, their affinity lines match, and like I said, he’s a leader, he’s super smart/knowledgable, sexy and lethal. He is someone you want at your back or side…but she loves/loved Yvan who is dead, supposedly. So her getting together with Lukas in this book chaffed at me because I just KNEW something would happen to mess them up as well. How many books are in this series?…because I can’t take this swinging back and forth on who she loves and who’s alive or dead. Maybe we just need her to love herself and wield that power to help all these oppressed people like she’s supposed to. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Final Thoughts:
Basically this installment is about Elloren embracing her power instead of fearing it. She learns to hone fighting skills so she isn’t helpless but honestly, this all takes place in the second half of the book! Elloren and Lukas definitely have an attraction and I am team Yvan but I definitely see Lukas’ appeal – the two of them smolder around each other (more than once in this book). And then there is that cliffhanger which made me groan out loud haha, because as much as I love this series, I don’t want it to drag on either. This so far is my least favorite book of the series but I hope the next gets us to the major battle and ties up loose ends.

This novel continues the story of Elloren and her friends, though they are all separated, each on their own journeys to develop their own abilities to fight the evil Marcus Vogel, who possesses the Shadow Wand, and his Gardnerian followers. Elloren is more powerful than her grandmother, but she has no control over her abilities and feels very alone. The only person she can turn to is one whom she hates, Lukas Grey, her fastmate. Many want Elloren dead and she needs protection until she can get her powers under control. However, there is so much danger and Elloren has to make decisions that will keep her alive, no matter how much it hurts her...all for the greater good. Elloren's allies are few, but they all believe in her, even though the prophecy says otherwise. Now Elloren just needs to find the courage and strength to believe in herself. An enjoyable read in the Black Witch saga.
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I give the book four out of five stars. I enjoy the story and series. However, overall I feel like most of the story progress happens in the last 25% of the book and I have started to get a little annoyed with Elloren’s character. For instance it took a good chunk of the book to determine if she can trust Lukas. Also, when she was receiving her training she was told it would be hard a difficult and brags she can do it. But whines how hard it is and asks why everyone is so distant. Would still recommend the Book and series.

There was definitely a good story somewhere in this book, but I think it could stand to be whittled down some. It was 640 pages long, and not a lot happened. There was a shift in the romance triangle toward Lukas, which I liked. What I didn’t like was how many times he and Elloren had sex, and the detail with which it was described. I skipped most of that, especially the entire chapter dedicated to the consumation of their bonding.

I think the pacing was also a little off, with a ton of things being crammed into the beginning of the book and then a huge training campaign that took up several weeks at the end. And the ending? It’s like Star Wars, where people you thought were dead suddenly turn up alive. I didn’t care for Forest’s blatant use of a deus ex machina, and thought it was a lazy excuse for her to pair off Elloren and Lukas. I did really like Lukas though, and I’m glad we got to see more of him. There were also a ton of other new characters we met. I’m not sure why everyone needs to be paired off, or why it is such a central part of the plot, but it was nice to meet new people.

I wish that the series could have ended in three books, especially with the high page count, but I am excited to read more of Forest’s work. She has a very fluid writing style, and her characters are definitely complex and flawed. She goes to great lengths to develop and humanize her protagonists, and it shows. Overall I’d say it wasn’t a bad book, and I’d definitely recommend it to others who are reading the series.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley, opinions are my own.

Let me tell you that I screamed when I got an ARC for The Shadow Wand. I have been obsessed with The Black Witch Chronicles since book one, and this book has been HIGHLY anticipated by me since The Iron Flower ended in such a massive cliff hanger. Now, it is going to be hard to discuss all of my true feelings about this book without giving away spoilers, but I will do my best. I immediately dove back into the world and the Gardnerian conflict and I am sad to say that this book underwhelmed me. It starts off differently than the first two books, with about the first 100 pages switching POV's and introducing us to some new characters. I really liked the new storylines and catching up on some old favorite characters and I thought that this storytelling structure was interesting, but it felt a little disjointed and I would have liked to have more of a solid start. While they were cool and added a level of depth to the world and the conflict, storytelling-wise they felt a little unnecessary and separate. Once we got into the meat of Elloren's story again, it began to fall into place for me, however; it felt like both nothing and everything happened at the same time. They kept talking about what they were going to do or needed to do, and I just wanted them to do it already. There was a lot of repetition in phrasing and moments that I felt could have been edited out and replaced with action to make it stronger. I've always loved and connected to Elloren in the past, but in this book she was so pitiful and never did anything to try to help herself. She had finally started to step into her power and herself in the last book and I felt that we lost that a bit. On a more positive note, I absolutely LOVED her romance and think I have officially switched sides in the love triangle. There was so much heat, as well as an emotional connection, and it felt like they really fit together. The fact that one part of the love triangle was absent for the majority of the book really bothered me though because it felt forced, weird, and sudden after having it set up so perfectly in both of the previous books. The ending left me in a flurry of mixed emotions and the need to read on. The Shadow Wand definitely felt like a filler book to set up for the epic battle that is coming, and after 640 pages, I can't help but feel like not enough was accomplished.

What an thrilling read. I really enjoyed the first two books, but this one definitely has a different vibe. It is heavy on the romance side, but I loved that. I was confused the first few chapters because there was a lot going on, and the story kept jumping around. However, after it settled on one character and went through her story, it became easier to follow. I liked having multiple point of views, that was a nice change from the other books. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down and ended up finishing it in one day. This book will be added to my bookshelf for sure!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an E-arc for an honest review. This review contains spoilers, so proceed cautiously.

Candidly, I am reeling from this book and I am profoundly relieved that I finally reached the conclusion. It was an arduous task, rife with violent emotional responses to myriad elements contained within the protracted 636-page tale. Laurie Forest is a talented writer, capable of weaving beautiful prose, unfortunately her fine words are diluted by her timorous, ambivalent and uninspiring heroine, Elloren. .

Elloren is maddeningly beset by her overarching fear and indecisiveness. She is deeply mired in self-doubt and succumbs to her fear far too much. She has shaped it into a paralyzing force, one that saps her ability to respond with direction and purpose. She is a tepid heroine, prone to melodrama and wide vicissitudes of negative, immobilizing emotions. She is aghast at everything, but impotent to enact change because she is too frightened to effectively control her power. She is the lynchpin of the resistance, but she is the plaything of so many forces that she has been rendered useless. Hopefully Forest will imbue her with sorely needed inner strength, facilitating a path to the heroine that she is capable of becoming.

So, now that I have adequately ranted about the MC Elloren, let me highlight other elements of The Shadow Wand. Please enjoy! 

Writing style: Forest relies on stilted language, continuously festooning sentences with unnecessary and tedious description. She writes lovely prose, but her lengthy descriptions frequently subvert the plot. Her writing is also laden with a redundancy that further curtails the story. Pages are littered with minimally varied iterations of the same thing. It is impressive she found so many different ways to convey how destructively powerful Elloren is and how catastrophic it would be if she a) unleashes said power; b) allows Vogel to wield her power; or c) allows her power to flourish in a dark space. I hope the next book is more succinctly related, as this book would have benefited from further editing.

Other issues: Forest mishandles her dynamic secondary characters and does not allow them the space to shine. Multiple viewpoints are introduced in the beginning, but they are bizarrely absent in the middle part of the story. Story threads end too abruptly, revoking enticing views into the plights of other more intriguing characters. Their voices form the insubstantial bookends of the story, but they need further fleshing out to be more effective. I love Thierren, Sparrow, Viger, Tierney, Trystan, and Vothe and I hope they have more page time in subsequent books.

Another issue I have is Forest’s blatant abuse of Elloren’s romantic relationships to forward the story. Yvan’s (potential) death in the first quarter of the book and Lukas’ (potential) demise at the end seem like plot contrivances. Yvan’s death felt too rushed and is sadly confined within scant paragraphs of a single chapter. Forest spent so much time on the burgeoning relationship between Elloren and Yvan in the previous book and then he is callously excised from the narrative to allow for Elloren’s connection to Lukas to grow. For an invested reader, Yvan is cruelly snatched from the story in a capricious manner. And, frankly, Elloren’s response is shameful. She sobs stormily for a couple hours and unabashedly moves on in shocking ways. She buries her “love” for the greater good, and although it resurfaces, she seems to largely ignore it when she aligns herself with Lukas (who is fabulous and who I have no qualms with). Forest seemed to use both deaths (and perhaps foreshadowed resurrections) as a means of spurring action and unnecessary conflict and it did not feel authentic. Elloren’s grief also felt superficial and farcical. If both men are still alive, which I fervently hope that they are since I vastly prefer them to Elloren, I hope that they can resolve their relationships amicably.

To sum up, The Shadow Wand is a worthwhile read, but it is riddled with issues. The story has great potential, but it is too verbose in delivery and lacks an electrifying heroine.

Elloren and the rest of her friends fighting for freedom have gone their separate ways to further the cause. The Shadow Wand follows them as they encounter new friends and enemies, discover more about their powers, and learn to trust each other in deeper ways. This book was everything I needed it to be and so much more! I am still trying to digest everything and I cannot wait for the next book!

This book starts off in a much different way from the first two books. With all our main characters split around the realm I was worried we would never know what war going on with those in the Eastern Realm, but of course Laurie Forest isn't that cruel. In the first several chapters we get many different points of view from some of our favorites and some new characters set in both realms. Sparrow is amazing and a badass and deserves all the good things in this world (namely Thierren, please). It made for a very different feel to this book that the others, but personally I really enjoyed it.

I love Yvan. He is such an amazing character and he and Elloren get to know each other before they fall for each other and I am here for it. I really don't understand the push everyone had for her to be with Lukas. They don't know a freaking thing about each other and whenever they are together all the do is kiss. Which is cute, but I need some sort of freaking development to care about a character and to want them to end up together. Lukas and Elloren makes no sense to me. Lukas is just a bit bland. That said, he really shines in this book. So all you Lukas lovers are definitely going to be happy. He and Elloren are definitely the main characters for this book. It was great to finally learn a little bit about Lukas and his intentions too. I am sick of only knowing that he thinks Elloren in pretty and that they can't lie to each other. Oh and that he is a level five mage. That was seriously it.

I spent a pretty good portion of this book stressed the heck out because one way or another Elloren was in danger. And even though she finally has the power that I feel like I have been waiting for since book one to show up, she cannot control it. Basically, she is still kinda useless. But she is training and ready to fight and accepting the fact that things are not going to be easy. Book four is going to mess me up. I can tell already.

However, there were a few things that bothered me. Not horrible, clearly since I still gave it 5 stars, but just left me wanting more I think.
- Wynter. I adore her and we get some crazy, crazy information about her and the Alfsigr and then nothing. Nooo! What happened to her brother? Is she going to get the Zalyn'or off? When?
- Basically everything in the Eastern Realm. I really wanted more Trystan, more death fae, more Tierney, more of the resistance.
- Aislinn. Poor Aislinn. I need a whole short story about what happened to her.
- Rafe, Dianna, and Jared. We literally get no freaking Lupines in this one. Unacceptable.

I know all of this couldn't have fit though. This was already a pretty long book. But, dang, now I have to wait at least a year and that hurts my heart.

ARC from NetGalley

4.5 stars

I really do quite enjoy reading things that Laurie Forest writes. This book was a bit of a departure from the previous in that it is a lot more sexually charged, which I am down for. It is done well, IMO. There were a few things that sort of threw me with this book. Something major happens right at the beginning that had me kind of raising a brow, and that brow continued to maintain that position for like 3/4 of the book. I don't think it was done as well as it could have been, but it wasn't bad. There wasn't anything about the book that I thought was bad. At the very, very end, like last page, there is a significant development that I saw coming from the very beginning. Significant spoiler incoming: (spoiler omitted but can be found on goodreads. I'm not sure if the tags work here, and I don't want to spoil anyone who might read this on NetGalley.

Eloren spends a good portion of this book being a wimpy crybaby, but she comes into her own at the very end, which has me looking forward to what is to come. Laurie Forest writes side characters really well. I LOVE a book with side characters I GAF about, and I GAF about all of the side characters in these books. There wasn't enough time spent with Tierney in this book. There was a decent taste of what's to come, and I am digging where it's going. I really hope she gets some dark fae action because I LIVE FOR THIS SHIT. I feel like I should have reread the previous books before digging into this one, but I was just so stoked that I got the ARC because I really, really enjoyed the previous books, and I couldn't stop myself. I'm just kind of sitting here blinking like.. it's over? I have to wait, what, at least another year now? Jesus wept.

I received an advanced reader's copy of The Shadow Wand by Laurie Forest from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book of The Black Witch Chronicles series by the amazingly talented Laurie Forest and I have been eagerly anticipating it for the past two years. I am so happy that The Shadow Wand was worth the wait!

Overall, I felt this was a solid sci fi/fantasy and romance novel. The primary and secondary characters drew me in and made me like (or dislike) them as though they were real people. I feel like you witness the protagonists, Elloren and Lukas, take a big leap forward in their relationship and development as a couple with common goals and a vested interest in working together rather than two individuals with split goals and ideas of how to achieve them.

Even though The Shadow Wand was a transition novel – tied up some things from the previous book and began the next story arc while introducing new characters – it was not dull. The action was steady, the romance between Elloren and Lukas continued blooming (I love them together), and the plot moved forward to kick off what will likely be a thrilling book four. If there was a downside, the cliffhanger that The Shadow Wand ended on was a little heart wrenching. I have my fingers crossed the next book will arrive soon!!

All in all, The Shadow Wand by Laurie Forest was a quick, fun read and I would recommend this book and this series for any sci fi/fantasy and romance fan.

This book just to be clear is my first Laurie Forest book. Does that make it even more special I think it does. This book rotates around different characters points of view which is also interwoven. There is a realm war where the Gardnerians who are a race of Mages believe they are superior to all other beings. The goal is to get rid of them for they prove no use.
The fairies in here Iron fully stripes them of their powers. However you also have a resistance against this realm takeover for a lot believe this is unjust. There are more than you think who want to change this realm for the better. Elloren makes unusual bonds and unique friendships that may not look the best for someone with her upstanding background. Elloren has to rely on ingenuous solutions, cunning, herself and hopefully the few people who actually want a better realm.
There are Dragons, Mythical creatures, and some fun creepy monsters, elves, lupines.
This is an interactive book which is really fun! ( things disappear and reappear) One minute your reading words on a page the next the words disappear.
There were Alot of gasps and oh no's in here too!
I was provided The Shadow Wand by Netgallery for an honest review.

Just to let you know I tagged some of this review as a spoiler because well there's just no way around it.

I know that I am not going to do this book justice so just bare with me please. So this one picks up shortly after The Iron Flower ends. We get a slew of POVs in this story as it goes through the steps of telling its tale. However, Elloren is still in the for-front of it. We learn that the trees are out to get her and I kind of hope that she comes to terms with them in her own way. Maybe helping them grow and thrive or something. We learn of a devastating loss that might not be a loss. And Lukas Grey has successfully found firm place in my heart. Of course if he is alive or dead isn't something we know by the end of this story. Which of course has been screaming so much. Because I thought that he was going to be her enemy only to find out that he wasn't. I kind of love and hate how Laurie Forest has us fall in love with these characters only to have the rug pulled out from under us when we don't know if they are alive or dead. Which happens a few times in this one. So be prepared for that when you read it.

The only bad thing about this book is all of the new characters and their names. I will totally need to reread at least this book when the next one comes out next year or so. Because it is a lot of keep track of. Although each time I went into a new chapter with these new characters it was refreshed whom they were which was helpful. In the end I both loved and hated the jumping around.

As for the story itself it was well paced and done. I would probably get lost in this world if I was ever dropped into it. Even if I had a map. As for characters that we have grown to love and hate. I have to say that the author did an amazing job with them all. I love how by the end of this one Elloren has come into her own and isn't a scared little girl anymore. She has put on her big girl pants and is ready to take on the war that has found her. And it ends on a cliffhanger that I kind of saw coming. Ive been chatting with the author and knew this one ended on one. But I was thinking it was going to be so much worse than it was. So many lives hang in the balance by the end of this story and although I do know that one certain person is still alive thanks to a slip of the tongue in one of my author shows. (HEHEHEHE Thanks for that Laurie) I have to say that the one character that stole my heart in this one was the little dragon that for the life of me I can't find how to spell his name.


Go Into This One Knowing: This book is going to kill you!! And man was it sexy!!

Reading this book was torturous. I liked the first two books, even enjoyed them, but…this one just didn’t work for me. The biggest issue is the length of the book. It was so long, and unbearably boring for the whole entire book I read. So many characters, so many POVs, so much going on and add onto that my disinterest in any of the romances at this point.

The Writing
The writing is fine. It’s filled with so much prose and inane dialogue though, and is twice the length it needs to be. In fact, so much of it is pointless. I just did not enjoy it at all.

The Pacing
Bad is one word for it. Really bad. As in, cut some of this out! If I’m falling asleep reading what is supposed to be an exciting part, it is too long. If I’m skimming pages, it is too long. I do not think the pacing was done well at all, but again, it is tied into the writing which is pitifully long and drawn out. None of it was working.

The Plot
What plot? I feel as if we have seen this plot over and over and over again. It is boring. It is trite. There feel like there are no stakes. We know all this information. This has been so dragged out. It was unbearable. I wish this book had been condensed.

The Characters
Too many. Way too many. Too much going on, it never works for me, and it really didn’t work here. I didn’t care about any of the characters at all. In fact, if they all died I don’t think I would care.
Every character paired up…I even liked some of the previous characters, but I hated them ALL in this book. I hated the good guys, I hated the bad guys…I am just over all the characters.
Elloren is back and forth on everything. She has no consistency to her, and while it could make the story interesting all it does is drag it out into boredom. I wanted more from her.

Overall
Disappointing. I had high hopes for the series. I will not be continuing it.

DNF @ 46%

This book was amazing! I love the new character POVs. We get more insight into Lukas and the reasoning behind some of his past actions. This is the first book I’ve read that made me cry real tears. Have your tissues ready, you will need them! A definite 5 star read. I can’t wait for the next one!