This review will contain minor spoilers!

There were some things I certainly liked about this book--the world-building was really good, especially since it was done all through the eyes of one character (and a somewhat sheltered princess at that). There’s a solid childhood friendship that DOESN’T turn into a love interest, which is nice to see. The pacing was quick in the beginning (in a good way), and started off as a promising, action-packed, insta-love story. The insta-love trope is not for everyone, and even with the magical explanations in this story, it can be a tad cheesy… but still, I was loving it, because indulging in a hopeful romantic insta-love story every now and then is my jam. Especially if it has hot werewolves.

However, a little before halfway through, the pacing turned weird. Even with a magical insta-love element, it’s tough to ask readers to fall in love with two characters being together when they actually spend the majority of the story apart. The story became a little boring for me when I couldn’t tell which love interest I was supposed to be rooting for, thinking there wasn’t very much of the book left to flesh out an entire love-triangle plot… And by the time I thought I was sure which love interest was obviously the right one for her and her developing character (the one the author gave us enough time to actually fall in love with) everything was up-ended again. Around 65% for me, it got difficult to see where the story was going in general, and it was a struggle to continue. It did get more interesting later though.

Besides the pacing, the characters were pretty one-dimensional. Even the main character, Ava, had only pure intentions throughout, always just wanting to protect everyone. She did have fairly good character development, even if I’m personally unhappy with the way the ending sorta symbolically threw it all out the window. Other characters would be described as wholly good-intentioned, but then uncharacteristically get angry for the sake of a conflict or to try to make it sexy? Like how the werewolf, Callan, is always just wanting to comfort and protect Ava, but then in one moment goes from begging her not to do something to growling at her and saying possessively “I am your mate.” To me it really seemed like the author just wanted to fit that line into the werewolf book. I also think it was unrealistic how quickly Ava made friends, and that sorta took me out of the story. The story was told through first person-POV, but we only sometimes got to see Ava’s thought process. Other times her actions or words came off as kind of random to me, as a reader.

Finally, I’ve got to comment on representation. There was no excuse for the lack of POC. I know that in a fantasy world, even one inspired by European Medieval times, characters of any color are not going to have the same exact cultural backgrounds they would in a realistic and contemporary book. Still, though, all characters having light skin, golden hair, blue eyes, etc. rather than any other features is avoidable. Simply having characters with a range of physical characteristics would allow readers to at least see themselves in stories in that way. There was not much LGBTQ+ representation either, besides Ava’s immortal friend who is implied to be bisexual or pansexual, and her community of magic people who are said to be often totally androgynous in appearance, some women even having “full beards” (though, shortly after this description, Ava can immediately identify the next magical being she meets as a “woman,” so I guess they still assume genders even in this society, or have gender norms that identify them, as this character was wearing a dress… so the representation negates itself just a little).

Anyway, thanks for reading my extremely long review! I find when I have mixed feelings about a book, it helps me to write and reason out all my criticisms and the things I liked, to decide how I truly feel.

For me, this was a quick read while I was in the airport for an extended layover and I appreciate the opportunity to review it from NetGalley.

The plot was interesting to me right off the bat, being as anything to do with princesses and fantasy worlds automatically catches my interest. I felt like the world-building was deep enough for you to understand what was going on without it being too dense, which can be a turn-off for some people, although I would have loved to see the addition of political intrigue to pull the reader further into the world and give additional challenges. The characters, especially our main character, are explained well enough and I enjoyed seeing the growth in them throughout the story, although I feel like the romance was rushed and a bit one-dimensional. It is my opinion that if authors cannot make the romance fit with the story or give it a purpose, it could be better to leave it out because I was left confused rather than feeling like the romance complimented the story. Overall, a great, quick read.

An okay read. It took me a bit to get into the story. Characters were one dimensional and predictable.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley for letting me preview this book early! I'm very grateful!

Truthfully, I found myself FLYING through this book. It moved at a really quick pace, and I was always wondering what was going to happen next. Every flip of a page brought something new. However, this was also to me in this book. Conversations, events, pivotal moments seemed quickly passed through or glossed over, and I found myself being like "wait.. that's it? Isn't there more?" and then it was on to whatever was happening next.

I enjoyed the characters, but could've used some more depth, some more time in their thoughts and feelings learning about them, growing a connection to them. Overall even the romances and love interests moved so quickly it was almost hard for me to swallow the MC's feelings. I did appreciate all the consent in this book, and I think that's a very important point to make.

I would probably like to read a second book, assuming the epilogue left room for some. I'd just like a bit more...time...spent connecting the characters to the readers, and building those relationships in the book.

I loved every moment of this book! From start to finish it was an amazing read! Oh nice I picked it up I could not put it down!

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

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Ava and her commitment to her family and kingdom. Would highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and TrueType Press for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was very drawn to the synopsis of the book: princesses, wolves, an evil king, love triangles! And while the book was enjoyable, there are a few things that keep me from giving it a higher star rating. I do want to give it some praise! I enjoyed Ava as a character and there were some really cool world-building aspects, including the additions of the Turnskins and the Magus. I remained very interested in these groups and wanted to know more about their backgrounds, etc. but it never quite made its way into the plot of the book. Yoann was a really neat "higher magical being" and I think deserved some more attention than what was given as a side character. While I enjoyed the addition of Aldin and the Shadow King to the story, there wasn't as much political tension or strife that could have pushed this book to the next level. I think what frustrated me the most reading was the romance storyline. The introduction of Callan seemed a bit rushed and could have benefited from more of a slow-burn style.
While I did want to leave some constructive 'criticism", it was a fun read and I think Sherry Ficklin has a lot of potential as an author!

This review of Kingdom of Shadows and Dust by Sherry D. Ficklin is courtesy of NetGalley. #KingdomofShadowsandDust #NetGalley
Rating: 4/5

Enjoyable story about an originally sheltered princess, Ava, who learns how sheltered she was during the course of the novel. Good characterization on Ava's thoughts and concerns. Interesting magical world with it's Magus and Turnskins with hints of more to come in future books.

Kingdom of Shadows and Dust immediately intrigued me with it's captivating blurb. An isolated princess breaks free of the chains that come with being a noblewomen, and sneaks off to fight in the war currently ravaging her kingdom. Sounds like the making of an incredible new fantasy story.
I went into this book knowing it had the potential to be the next epic new fantasy, but sadly was left feeling unsatisfied. Overall this book was enjoyable and I don't regret my time spent reading it, but it just did not live up to my expectations. The bare bones of this story are great. The premise, world, and characters are all very intriguing and kept me interested through the first few chapters of the book. However as the book progressed, I began to realize that this story lacked development. The world building was just enough to let you get a grasp on the world, but never really went into the depth that's required to create a really vivid world.
When it comes to the romance, I once again feel like this was an area of the book that lacked true development. Ava and Callan's relationship progressed way too fast for my taste, and I really couldn't get on board with how fast she fell for him. I also feel that the love triangle in this book did more to harm it than benefit. I think that if this story was solely on the relationship between Ava and Callan, the relationship between them would've had more time to develop in a way that felt much more natural and believable.
I did enjoy many aspects of this book though. The author does a great job at platonic relationships, which is something I usually don't care about all too much. There were plenty of times during this story that I actually was more interested in the platonic relationships than the romantic ones. I also really enjoyed Ava as a main character. I found her very interesting and loved seeing her navigate the world. Lastly the side characters were an absolute joy and part of me wants many spin offs just to know more about them!
Overall I think this book had great potential that ultimately did not live up to my expectations, but nevertheless was still an enjoyable read. I look forward to the next book and am now interested in reading more from Sherry Ficklin.

I really enjoyed Kingdom of Shadows and Dust! The cover and blurb are right up my street and I devoured the book in a couple of days.

The story follows Ava, the only daughter of a king who is forced to follow traditions where she is to not to be seen or heard! Ava doesn’t want to stay in the castle and sneaks out to the surrounding areas and help people. She also wishes to fight alongside the army to stop the war against her kingdom. Fate intervenes and allows her to fight alongside the army but it doesn’t end well and Ava has to run for her life.
Ava ends up meeting a Turnskin, battling the enemy and also falls in love whilst trying to save her kingdom. She is willing to sacrifice everything for her kingdom, including her true love.

I would say the book can be read from ages 11+, there’s war but in context and the relationships are very vague.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc copy and letting me review! All views are my own.

Thank you Netgalley & Author for the privilege of reading this arc.

This is the best arc I have read this year and a solid 4-5* novel, YA Fantasy. I have been reading a lot of YA & NA fantasy this year and this one is great, held my attention, was original; with some fairytale vibes too.

A strong female MC
Warewolves
Magic
A love triangle

It is hard to find fantasy stand alones.
I read this in 1 day and it held my attention.
I highly recommend to fantasy lovers.

I am now going to Google Sherry Ficklin & read some of her other works. I hope she continues to write fantasy as she has a new fan in me!

Sincerely.

Give this lady a crown!! Sherry's world building is masterfully flawless. Her characters three dementional and exquisite crafted. Reader's will be thrilled with each turn of the page.
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This is not the first book I have read by Sherry Ficklin and it will not be my last. Her historical fiction series, Queen of Someday has the same writing style which is well thought out and organized. In this fantasy novel Sherry pulls no punches encompasing the elements we, readers, want in a book. Intrigue, conpanionship, royalty and a dash of romance.
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Our main character is in her on battle of desire and duty. Which won will win over?
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5 stars and a tip of the Nerd Girl hat. I anticipate many great things from this series!!
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*This review was done in conjunction with 𝕹𝖊𝖗𝖉 𝕲𝖎𝖗𝖑 𝕺𝖋𝖋𝖎𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑 book blog.

I had really high hopes for this book after reading the description and am sad to say that I was disappointed. The character development and romantic interests (especially between Ava and Callan) felt extremely rushed. I felt that there was more dialogue that could have been exchanged amongst characters and more development, as everything felt rushed.

However, while I do feel that there was a lot left wanting, the book was overall still enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a light read. I’m looking forward to reading other books in this installment.

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

I am new to the world of fantasy books but as soon as I read the description I knew I wanted to read it! I really liked Ava as a character she had everything I would want a rebellious streak, not meak and mild like the other nobility. I liked her sneaking out and doing what she wanted, even her father the King couldn't stop her. It was a really straightforward story and unlike many fantasy books I didn't find any aspect confusing. I really liked the different love interests and what was good was they were both good choices in their own right. The only thing for me was Ava fell in love a bit quick, the bond I could understand but I couldn't really grasp the second.

I thought it was a nice, well-written easy to read story and it helped me get out of a reading slump! Would recommend for someone looking for a good read, without a massive cliffhanger!

To start off, I really enjoyed the idea behind this book. I thought the world building was pretty well done, and there were a lot of unique elements such as the Turnskins who are people that can shift into wolves, and the Magus, those with magic. While there were some parts where I found myself not able to put it down, there were other parts where I felt that the writing was very rushed. Thing after thing kept happening in the book, and I felt that Ava seemed to just brush it off instead of going through the proper emotions.

I also found myself slightly confused at many parts, as if there were some key things that were left out or weren't included, and that was honestly throughout the book. I think more detail and descriptions would definitely be necessary to add to this book and make it better. I also think the plot could have been developed a little more, as this was your classic story of a girl who is different, and she has to choose between two men. Not really anything different to what I have read before in other books.

All in all, it was definitely not my favorite book, but it was different enough that I did enjoy it as a simple and easy read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Kingdom of Shadows and Dust by Sherry D. Ficklin is an amazing YA fantasy debut. It reminded me a lot of From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout, and I'm sure fans of that series will enjoy reading this book. The story revolves around Ava, the royal princess of Ankara. Although her father the King wants to marry her off to secure a political alliance, Ava does not want to conform to gender roles. She fights in battles and rescues children who are falsely imprisoned. She is the definition of Girl Power.

A large part of the plot involves a love triangle. Although some readers may be turned off by that cliche, I thought it was well done. There is no "insta-love" here. Ava falls gradually in love with Callan, a Turnskin, the author's term for werewolf. Soon afterward, she is "imprisoned" by the Shadow King, Aldrin, the King of a neighboring country. However, Aldrin turns out to be a decent fellow, and I enjoyed the witty banter between him and Ava. Ava will be forced to choose between the two young men. While one match will help her country and secure an alliance, she's formed a close bond with the other one. Overall, this story is part love story, part fantasy, part action adventure, and part court intrigue. Fans of From Blood and Ash and similar YA Fantasy books should definitely check out Kingdom of Shadows and Dust when it comes out.

Kingdom of Shadows and Dust tells the story of Ava, the princess of Ankara, a country at war with the army of the evil Shadow King. Ava dreams of a change and wishes to join the battle, protecting her people, instead of remaining hidden away in her father’s castle.

The book follows Ava’s journey of love, friendship, betrayal and uncovering if everything told by her father has been a lie

I love a fast-paced book, but there were times where I had to go back a few pages to figure what was happening.
 There are some great ideas in the world-building, and I wish that these were explored or explained more thoroughly.
Some characters can share their thoughts through a mental bond, but it was hard sometimes to tell if the characters were talking to each other or communicating through telepathy.

The relationships with the other characters were too quick to form, and the romance was not an excepcion.
It was so fast paced there was literally nothing to get me to route for them to be together at all.
It was also too quick for characters to suddenly change their minds, it was too easy overall.

I think the characters are nice, but almost everyone is good except for the couple of evil characters and it would have been amazing to see some morally grey characters around, maybe some development in them.
The main "villains" aren't even real villains, and the ending is a bit too easy and very anti-climatic.

Reading the synopsis had me very excited to read Kingdom of Shadows and Dust so I was very happy to get to it.
At the beginning we are introduced to Ava, Princess of a kingdom at war overshadowed by her title and duties but wants more from life than to be married off to a Nobleman. She seeks adventure and ends up in a love triangle with a Turnskin and an enemy King. She is a strong protagonist dealing with the realities of life after so many years of being sheltered.

I have mixed feelings about this book as I really liked the characters, I just felt like the pacing was a little off especially the relationship between Callan and Ava. I know they were mates, but it just seemed to happen so fast without much build up, so I actually didn't care too much about their relationship. What I did like was her relationship with her younger brother and also her best friend who was never a love interest, I found it really refreshing and enjoyed their dynamic.

Overall, it was an easy read, and I really enjoyed the Mages & the Turnskin. I would love to see where this story goes in the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and TrueType Press for allowing me to read Kingdom of Shadows and Dust and share an honest review.

As the king's only daughter, Ava was supposed to be many things; meek, submissive, and above all, silent. While she dreams of fighting alongside the armies of Ankara, she's forced to hide her identity behind a veil..

Kingdom of Shadows and Dust tells the story of Ava, the princess of Ankara, a country at war with the army of the evil Shadow King. Ava dreams of a change and wishes to join the battle, protecting her people, instead of remaining hidden away in her father’s castle.

Upon first reading the synopsis, I was immediately sold and requested a review copy. It just sounded so good! I mean, a princess, wolves, a shadow king, a love triangle?! In my opinion, those are all aspects that could really make the perfect fantasy novel! However, after reading, I have to admit that I feel quite torn about Kingdom of Shadows and Dust. Unfortunately, even thought it was an enjoyable read, the book did not leave me as satisfied and enthusiastic as the synopsis did, as there were quite a few things that bothered me while reading. However, I would like to add here that reading is very much a personal experience and therefore something that might not work for me, may work very well for someone else. However, I would like to remain honest in my review, so I will go on by listing some aspects which I enjoyed about Kingdom of Shadows and Dust and some aspects which were not really my cup of tea.

When I first started reading, I personally quite enjoyed the author’s way of writing. I enjoyed that it was quite easy to read yet still very intriguing. Yet, after a while, I started to feel as if it, primarily the dialogue, was a bit too basic at times (for my liking) and I started to notice quite a few grammar and spelling mistakes popping up, which made the reading a bit less enjoyable for me. I soon noticed that I started paying more attention to the construction of the sentences and to its grammar than to the actual story and dialogue, which I thought to be quite a shame at times. In my opinion, this distracted me a bit from the actual story and caused me to perhaps enjoy it less than I could have.

What I really enjoyed about the book, were the various groups; the Turnskins and the Magus. I truly enjoyed the idea behind them and I thought they were a great introduction to the actual story. I’m primarily referring to the events concerning the Turnskin boy immediately in the beginning of the book as well as the first time the reader gets to meet Ava's Magus friend: Yoann, I thought both were great moments that made for a nice introduction of the book’s world and its various inhabitants. I also enjoyed that there was a supposed tension between the various groups, although I did hope that the tensions would be more focused on and further developed. I was also hoping for more background information on both. I wanted to get to know more of their history, their way of living, their cultures. I think there is a lot of potential there for further exploration.

I also really enjoyed the friendship between Ava and Bridger. It was nice to read about a childhood friendship in a book that doesn’t immediately turn into a romance from page 1, as is often the case in many other YA novels. I especially liked the fun ‘training’ scene between them in chapter 1 or 2. However, sadly, I felt like there wasn’t enough Bridger in the book. I definitely wanted more of his wit! And more of those playful scenes between him and Ava!

Three characters that I really liked were Aldin, Yoann and Ulmer. In my opinion, they were definitely the most interesting, but again here, especially with the latter two, I needed moooore! I wanted to see them more often! I felt like there weren’t a lot of bad or morally grey characters in the book, and for someone (like me) who is a sucker for morally grey characters, I thought that to be a bit of a shame. To me, Ulmer felt like the only villain or true bad guy in the book and I just wish we would’ve gotten to see more from him, more character development, more focus on his reasons behind being the bad guy he is, but it wasn’t really there that much.
I also have to admit that I expected Aldin to be more morally grey than he ended up being. I didn’t expect him to be bad, but I also didn’t expect him to be so sweet to Ava immediately upon meeting her, either. I do have to be honest and admit that the character I probably enjoyed the least was Ava. I think Ava had a lot of interesting aspects, I enjoyed the relationship between her and her little brother (even though I felt like reading more about that) and she very much felt like a bad-ass character to me, especially in the beginning part of the story. However, I have to admit that I had a very difficult time connecting and I found it difficult to understand or recognise her character development. For some reason, I felt like I could never truly figure her out. I felt like I didn’t really get to know her character traits and her train of thought as they seemed to change rather quickly as well. To me, her character did not always feel very consistent and therefore it was hard for me to connect with her and like her as the main character. In addition, even though I quite enjoyed Cassian (even though the readers don’t see him that much), one other thing that bothered me at times was Cassian’s way of speaking. I understand the reasons why it's difficult for him to speak, but I felt like the dialogue for Cassian could have been more than just brief sentences like “Ava back?” and “Ava sad?”.

Some aspects that I did not enjoy that much were the world building as well as the romance.
During the beginning of the story, the reader is told that the ‘Shadow King’s’ army is attacking innocent villages as well as being informed about the war that is going on between Ava’s kingdom and the Shadow King’s kingdom, yet the war never feels fully fleshed out, as well as the various kingdoms. We get to know about the Turnskins, the Magus, some of the reasons behind the bad ‘relationship’ between King Aldin and Ava’s father, but it still felt very flat in my opinion. I wanted to know more about their kingdoms, what do their kingdoms look like? What kind of cultures are there? What do the people look like? And then I’m also referring to the villagers and not just the people inside the royal courts. In what sort of area does the story take place?
I also felt a need for more political tension, more war, between the kingdoms and the various groups. I feel like the book started out really well on this front: the events concerning the Turnskin child, Ava going to war against the Shadow King, getting to know the groups (Turnskins, Magus) that are not truly accepted by the King, etc. However, in my opinion, this very much changed once Ava meets Callan and, in my opinion, there seemed to be a shift, from a focus on the war, the political tensions, the world building, etc. to a focus on the romance in the novel. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m a true sucker for romance in books, especially in fantasy books, and love triangles always excite me, but the romance between Ava and Callan / Aldin didn’t excite me very much. I think this was primarily caused by the romance, especially between Ava and Callan, happening very quickly. It felt like they hadn’t even spent a full day together yet were already madly in love. I truly enjoyed the idea of the bond shared between them, the sort of Sarah J. Maas-like ‘mating bond’, but I did not really enjoy how they immediately seemed to be head over heels in love, only a couple of pages after their first meeting. I know that there are a lot of readers who truly enjoy an insta-love romance, but I’ve personally always had a preference for more of a slowburn romance, so once again, I think it also comes down to personal preference a lot. For me, the romance happened way too quickly and was also a bit way too fluffy. I mean, as a girl who falls in love with pretty much every morally grey fictional prince, I really hoped there would be a more enemies-to-lovers type of romance, with Aldin especially. The synopsis truly made me feel like that was what the story would include, but I felt like Aldin was too sweet from the get go, like Callan was as well in my opinion, and therefore the romance, from both sides just felt too fluffy for my taste. I remember Ava telling Aldin that she felt that the two of them “brought out the worst in each other” and during that moment I was rather confused because I felt like there hadn’t really been many ‘bad’ or ‘enemy-like’ moments between them where the reader was able to see this.

Even though Kingdom of Shadows and Dust contained some aspects that weren’t necessarily my cup of tea, I still consider it to be an entertaining read. A YA novel perfect for fantasy fans with a love for fluffy romances! While reading it was very clear to me that the author had a great time writing this book and her enthusiasm and love for it shows. I will rate Kingdom of Shadows and Dust with a 2.5/5 stars, primarily because of the reasons that I have mentioned above and because I feel like the book has such great potential, but I needed more. I wish Sherry D. Ficklin lots of luck and fun with the release of her book and I hope that many readers will join Ava on her journey, fighting for her kingdom and everyone she loves.

I really liked the idea this book was following, and did connect with the book but it felt like it was going in a circle. Like they took a lot longer to get to the climax then I think they should.
I think that if your looking to read this you should read this little by little everyday. This isn't the type of book that I at least could one shot read, but it was a great read overall. I don't find the MC dumb and annoying or any of the side characters to be to much or for them to be flat.