In 3 Words: Enjoyable, Underdeveloped, Potential

Mood It's Good For: When you need an easy fantasy tale

Favourite Quote: You are not to blame for the prejudice of others. But now that you see it, you must stand against it, wherever you are able

Favourite Scene: Ava and Aldin in the dragon pool

I really enjoyed the plot and characters in this novel. Ava is a defiant princess determined to rid her kingdom of its sexist traditions. There were a few swoon-worthy males, and the love triangle is not drawn out like in most stories. However, this novel felt more like a draft than a finished piece. There were a few inconsistencies, such as a twist near the end of the book being reversed to wrap up the story. It felt like the story was told rather than shown. The dialogue was used to directly acknowledge the characters' emotions, and the descriptions were lacking. The pacing also felt too quick, like I was getting the bare bones of the story. Kingdom of Shadows and Dust had so much potential, but the writing quality was lacking

SPOILER WARNING

Ava's grieving didn't seem realistic. She blamed herself for Bridger's 'death' (which felt cheapened when he turned out to be alive), but she appeared to mostly get on with life without taking the time to properly mourn him. The same happened after her parents' deaths. I guessed that Callan and Ava were mates before the reveal, and there was never any question where Ava's heart belonged after that. I kind of felt bad for Aldin. And whatever's happened, I don't trust Ulmer

Another great fantasy. The world building was amazing, the writing painted the perfect picture. I found myself getting lost in this world and it did not disappoint.

Thank you to both net galley and the author for giving me an opportunity to read this e-book.

Unfortunately for me I did not enjoy the book and struggled to engage with this. However this does not mean it is not for everyone. It is well written and has a good plot but for me it didn’t captivate me.

Interesting story but a bit long and boring at times

While her country is at war, Ava, as a princess, is supposed to remain in the palace, her face hidden behind a veil and her voice silenced. But when her childhood friend manages to bring her with him on the battlefield, everything will change for her. Fortunately, Callan, a strange black wolf will help her save her kingdom from destruction.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The story is interesting, the world well-built and I liked the main plot. But the romance... I didn't vibe with the instant love thingy AT ALL. Don't get me wrong, I usually love mates and all that, but here? We don't even have time to get to know the love interest and neither does Ava which is really confusing. It prevented me from liking him and also her because I could not understand her decisions and choices at all. Overall, the book felt long, and it might have been because the romance was a bit too present and it felt like the story wasn't properly exploited. Some scenes were a bit awkwardly written with a lot of tell and not enough show and some info dumping that was really clumsy at times. However, I really liked the side characters, a lot more than the main characters actually, and I wish they'd been more involved in the story because, well, Ava isn't that likable at all. Despite the fact that she really wants to help her kingdom, I felt like she was too immature, focused on her love life instead of what really mattered. I was confused for a good part of the story and even if I wasn't bored per se, I wasn't as enthralled as I hoped I would be in the end... So for me, it could have been really good, but some mistakes were made and it ended up a bit disappointing.

Would not really recommend, unless you don't mind the confusing romance.

""Just because it's how it's always been done doesn't mean there isn't a better way.""

I couldn't finish... DNF

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish. I lost interest quite fast, there is a good basis but I just couldn't enter the story. Some readers will probably like it but it's not for me!

<i> 💜~ Thank you to the publisher at ~ TrueType Press ~ via NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review ~💜</i>

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I enjoyed this book; it was an easy and entertaining read. At first, Ava irritated me, but she grew on me as her character arc unfolded. Her friendship with Bridger was sweet and fun, but still heartbreaking. The magic system, including the Magus, was very interesting but I wish it was explored further. Halfway through, I wasn't expecting that plot twist. I liked Aldin immediately, but something about Callan irked me and felt off about his character. After the halfway mark, I also started to appreciate a character who was a princess, but wasn't whiny, stuck up, or flawless. I did not like the insta love, and I disliked the whole "mates" thing. I personally hated the ending, for the sole reason that Ava shouldn't have picked the person she chose. So I'll be here pretending that the ending is different. I would recommend it to someone who wants a light and easy to read book with decent pacing, but I wouldn't read it again.

<i>**Disclaimer** This is all personal opinion and is in no way intended to harass or offend anyone. All thoughts and opinions are my own. </i>

I’m pretty relaxed when it comes to rating YA fantasies, but man, this book is pretty disappointing. It took me forever to finish reading because I just wasn’t enticed enough to even care about what’s going to happen to the characters.

Honestly the story itself had potentials, princess Ava trying to get rid of the traditional princess destiny, but there were too much cliches going on in the book. While MC tried to be a fierce independent female, it really didn’t sound like she put much efforts in and of course everyone loves her.
The ending however literally had like a bunch of different things all of a sudden happened in the last 10 pages it was very much a WTF moment.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC ebook copy in exchange for my honest review.

DNF

Thank you Netgalley and the author for the e-arc, I just couldn't finish. I couldn't connect with characters, I felt the characters weren't fleshed out enough for me and the world building just needed a bit more to it. The story has potential and it was intriguing to begin with, but it just lost me in the middle.

Kingdom of Shadows and Dust is a book about a girl finding herself, and in order protect her kingdom many sacrifices need to be made. This story is told through the eyes of Ava, a princess who has been forced into isolation by a tradition called "Terem" and the enforcer of said tradition is her father, the king of Ankara. She feels as though she has no voice, and she doesn't belong. An opportunity to escape the stifling life ruled by Terem presents itself, so she decides to take it and jump head first into danger bringing her into the path of a turnskin called Callan, and into the Shadow Kings lands. She feels as though she has an unbreakable bond with Callan, but her duty to Ankara makes a relationship happening between them seem impossible.

Basically, a sheltered princess goes to war and discovers that all is not as it seems in her kingdom, finding her heart and her strength in the process.

The biggest let down in this book for me was the romance. I really did not appreciate the insta-love better Callan and Ava, I’d hoped we’d left that trope in 2015 but I guess not! Their relationship was so fast paced there was literally nothing to get me to route for them to be together at all, if anything, they just created a general sense of annoyance towards the story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my exclusively my own.

I was really interested in the blurb: a sheltered princess that breaks free of her father rules in order to save her people.
Overall this book was an enjoyable read but I think it lack development in several aspect: the worldbuilding is just hinted at, the pacing isn’t consistent throughoutt the book and the romantic relationship is very rushed (it doesn’t help that generally i don’t like the insta-love trope).

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the book but have mixed feelings surrounding it. It’s an interesting fantasy and definitely will try reading it again

I love fantasy worlds, whether sci-fi set in the future or a variation of a medieval past (with magic, of course!)
I often think that it must be difficult coming up with a new take on the Medieval/magic/Lord of the Rings style genre, to come up with an alternative reality which is new and unique. And this story, as with most others since Lord of the Rings, does borrow and overlap with other worlds in the Fantasy Multiverse, it manages to find its own, unique place.
If you like Leigh Bardugo, Robert Jordan, Sarah J Maas, you’ll like this. I found the story a bit short; novels in this genre tend to be week-long reads, and I was just getting comfortably settled in when it ended. But it’s definitely the beginning of a series. The world- building lacks a little depth in my opinion, but that is due to the length of the book and I am sure it will be fleshed-out as the story continues.
Ava is the daughter of a king, in a kingdom at war. She rebels against the traditional role expected of her, and her choices lead to far reaching consequences.
The story explores the themes of love, duty, vengeance, and learning forgiveness. I will definitely continue with this series.

I loved how this book started, it was fast paced, the story was good and I was so excited to see where it went. However, it got really slow in the middle and the story seemed to drag out and became a little boring. I struggle really bad with my attention so even though I stuck with it I did find it very difficult. This book has soooo much potential, never the less I gave it 4 starts just for how good the good bits were.

Ava is a princess, who has been locked away in the castle for most of her life, awaiting the day she is sold to be married. When the opportunity arises to escape her cloistered life, she jumps at it; as she meets people from across the kingdom, the prejudices she has been taught begin to crumble.

Listen, I'm a sucker for a noble girl getting schooled on what real life is just as much as the next person, but this just... didn't quite hit, for me. I found the writing style to be choppy, clunky, and thus difficult to engage with. The only scenes that felt somewhat organic in description were kissing scenes, and even those left me with the age old question: why so much teeth?
The inclusion of more diverse characters had the potential to be really great, but their limited screen time and two-dimensional depiction made them seem tokenistic.
Ava's character arc was enjoyable to follow, but other elements of the story fell flat.

I thought Kingdom of Shadows and Dust was a fantastic read. I devoured the novel and stayed up late until I had finished it as I found it difficult to put down.
Kingdon of Shadows and Dust follows the story of a girl who because of her gender will never inherit her father's throne. She has grown up feeling alone and at odds, because she wants to live the life of adventure while her father wishes that she was more modest and rule-following like the other ladies in the Kingdom of Ankara.

One evening, the girl Ava goes to visit her friends in the White Wood where she gets to pick the path that she wishes to walk down. It is this critical moment when Ava chooses the path that leads her to free a Turnskin and where she meets Callan who will challenge everything she thought she already had figured out.

The writing was fantastic and easy to engross yourself in. All in all it was a fantastic read and I would highly recommend it.

Kingdom of Shadows and Dust is a story about a young princess, Ava, who’s path could change everything. Because she does not want to be stuck behind castle walls for the rest of her life and she wants to help her people, she leaves as soon as she has a reason and a semblance of a plan. However, things aren’t quite as they seem and her path becomes riddled with questions and with conflict. She is torn between her path and her duties while she goes on her journey, while also finding a bit more than she bargained for along the way.

In a general sense, the book didn’t ‘wow’ me on any fronts. There were a lot of areas in which I wished to see more development, one of these being the descriptions of the locations and the lore in general, another being development between the characters. The descriptions and the world building felt a bit lackluster to me, therefore not allowing me to transport myself into the story and truly grasp what was going on in the story. With more description, more of a way to connect to the characters’ environment, I would have felt more in tune with the events of the novel. As for the character development, the base motives behind the characters were satisfactory, but lacked enough depth for me to truly connect with their choices or their path in the novel. Along with this, I had a slight issue with the development of relationships between the main characters, Ava and Callan. It felt incredibly rushed to me and left me feeling a bit blindsided.

The pacing felt very off, either feeling very rushed, or very slow in some areas, and due to this, it didn’t feel like a natural flow. I would have loved to learn more about Ava’s home, about where she was staying, and yet it felt like I turned a few pages and the reader was being transported right into the story immediately. The characters didn’t feel incredibly genuine to me as the story moved along, and it felt as if there were things the characters did that did not quite make sense given their past actions or motives. However, said this, there were still moments I did enjoy within the plot that did have me interested.

Overall, this book felt a bit clunky to me, though I do believe there is a very good base story here. There were certain directions the story took that didn’t feel genuine, though I believe that if there was more description, more build up, I would have felt more connected to the world and to the characters. I was craving more development in the love triangle, more development in the world, and simply just more development in the characters themselves. I can see the passion for these characters and this story on the pages, but I wish that there was just a bit more to capture the reader’s attention and be able to hold it throughout the rest of the book. For fans of YA fantasy or insta-love with a bit more of a simple plot and story, this may be the book for you!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to receive an ARC for this book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was a really fun and light read. It was fast paced so I did not find myself bored throughout any of it. I really enjoyed to protagonist, and found that she was really fun to read about. I also really enjoyed the side characters in this novel. My one complaint of the novel was that even though I enjoyed it being fast paced, the romance did feel a little bit rushed, and I would have liked to see some more development in that area. Other than that it was a great read and overall I think it would be good for new fantasy readers!

I received “Kingdom of Shadows and Dust” by Sherry D. Ficklin from the publisher as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All of my opinions in this post are my own.

Note: This book was written in present tense.

From the outside, I loved everything about this book. The cover was gorgeous and intriguing, the blurb was great, but this book wasn’t what I expected and it took me a really long time to read it. Ultimately I DNFed it near-ish the end because I was disappointed by the insta-love romance in the book and the way the plot was unfolding. While there were parts I enjoyed, there were too few of them. What was done well I think was the character building of Ava and I really enjoyed the fact she was platonic with her friend! I kept expecting them to get together somehow, but it didn’t happen so that was a nice change of pace. Honestly, it just wasn’t my type of book once I began reading it, but I know it might still be a good read for others who aren't as picky about insta-love romance and such!

To summarize as best as possible: A young princess, Ava, faced with the fact that her life will be altered forever with each choice she makes. A love triangle that puts her heart in the crux of which of her loves to protect and if she could truly be selfish as she'd once been, gears the beautiful Ava to make some hard decisions that could equally destroy her and those she cares about.

So I read through this book pretty easily. I like the idea of the story and I do like the character development as a whole. I noticed I was not alone in this in regards to some issues with the pacing, especially in the beginning but also the insta-love. I found it a little hard to buy into with those love interests. On the other side of the triangle however, I could actually see the relationship build from hate to friendship to love and I feel in that respect we may have been missing the real connection with the first pairing. I do not dislike the two together but I feel like we only saw a skeleton of what they could have been in the book.







**Warning, some spoilerish possibilities here**
The ending also seemed a bit jarring but at the same time, not crazy as some of the lead up was mentioned further in the book. Overall, I feel some hurt for the characters at the end. I am happy though the author left room open for another's story. Also hoping to see more Bridger storylines.

I feel this story could have been expanded a bit more, fleshed out with more relationship building and a little world building as well. However, I aboslutely loved Ava's character development. I feel like she could have easily been a whiney brat but thankfully, the author steered her in a better light.

I would give this a 3.5 stars.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchanged for an honest review.

#KingdomofShadowsandDust #NetGalley

(Will be Cross Posting to my Blog and Instagram and will provide links)

I want to first and foremost thank NetGalley for gifting me this ARC for an honest review.

And I'm going to be brutally honest.

As someone who loves fantasy YA novels, I was excited to get into this novel. Especially because it was pitched as a standalone. However, I felt like this really did need to be at least a duology. So much happens at a whiplash pace that it was hard to keep up.

Within the first 100 pages she had found and fallen in love with one character, 100 pages later she was in love with another man. And then the whole thing is wrapped up in 10 pages.

I wished I liked this more than I did, but it really did need to be expanded.

And for that reason I can only give it two stars