This book is fantastic, an absolute pleasure and one of those you can't put down, this is the first in the series and it finishes on such a major cliffhanger that I was left with my jaw hanging open. I really can’t wait for the next book as I have so many questions I need answers to.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I appreciate the level of work and effort that goes into producing a book. Unfortunately this one wasn’t to my liking, I couldn’t get on board with the characters and such the story fell flat for me. I really wanted to love it.

I am disappointed that I didn't love this book. I tried on multiple occasions to read it, but there were multiple challenges to this. The characters lacked depth and I found myself unable to root for anyone. The pacing was a bit all over the place for my taste.

Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

I really tried with this one, and I don’t know if it was just the mood I was in or if it’s just really not my cup of tea. I did just read a blurb stating if you loved Shadow and a one you’ll love this, and I did NOT love Shadow and Bone I ended up DNF’ing that series.

So that said if you love shadow and bone my guess is this will be a book for you!!

I give 3 stars because the authors writing etc are all good, it’s just not for me

I’m really sorry to say that I didn’t enjoy this at all. I kept hoping it would get better but it didn’t.

The characters lacked depth and were extremely one dimensional, and therefore so were their relationships with one another. I couldn’t get to know them and felt no emotional connection to them. The characters seemed to have very strong emotions towards certain things or people that didn’t make sense to me; their actions also made zero sense to me most of the time.

The writing is lyrical but not in the way I like - it was over the top and overdramatic. Very exaggerated character responses which had me rolling my eyes.

The world was boring and difficult to picture in my head. Also, the world building/magic in this world was unclear and uninteresting. It was very basic and not enough time was spent on establishing the world.

The story is just a series of convenient plot points which left me with more questions than answers leading to a very frustrating read. I just didn’t care.

3.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/04/12/sisters-of-shadow-by-katherine-livesey-review/

Sisters of Shadow is tagged as an “unforgettable teen fantasy perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone”. Now, while I’ve not read Shadow and Bone (yes, I know, I know), I’m skeptical of this. First about the “unforgettable” part. I found the whole thing very forgettable, thank you. But I really want to focus on the “teen” part. Because other than the whole ’sapphic love’ thing, I’d argue that nothing in here seems very “teen”.

And that’s just a personal preference thing, really. If you’re the type of person that thinks homosexuality is wrong—be it religious, or culture, or personal, or whatever—that’s your call, yeah? I don’t want to debate anyone over this. If you’re that kind of person, you’re probably not going to tell your child about it until you absolutely have to, and when you do, just say that it’s wrong and leave it there. Otherwise, I don’t know what the appropriate age to hear about this is. Puberty, I guess? But, see, the ‘sapphic romance’ within… there’s no sex, or anything. Nothing like that at all. Two of the characters do fall for one another, but they don’t do anything more than cuddle. And maybe kiss. It’s implied that they’re together together, and that’s about it. It’s not very heavy or adult, as these things go.

Anyway, the book. The read.

I found it quite boring. But also quite maddening. You’ll see why. At this point, I’ll say the two best things I can about Sisters of Shadow. One—I didn’t hate it. And two—it was a pretty quick read. Now, I realize none of those things are all that flattering. And from the above rating, you probably know there’s a bit of a rant incoming. So. Um I guess. Read on to find out more?

In the prologue, Alice is kidnapped.

Shortly after, we meet Lily Knight. The adventure starts when her uncle, Alf—who seems like a fantastically nice human the entire time we see him—just tells her that she alone has to go rescue her friend (yes, alone; no one can go with her), because Alice is her responsibility. Serious, wtf. I don’t even remotely understand this. Much less how Alice is somehow Lily’s responsibility. They’re friends, not lovers.They’re both humans. They’re not related. Alice isn’t a pet.

At first I suspected it was poorly worded. Then it was reiterated. “Alice is your responsibility”. Because.

And so the journey begins. And it’s… not great. And here we come to my main problem with Sisters of Shadow.

Nothing happens.

Okay, okay, stuff DOES happen. It just never feels important. It never feels epic. It never feels REAL.

Adventures and journeys aren’t always fun. That’s kind of their thing. There’s always a problem, somewhere. No matter how well you play it. And when you don’t plan it, one would think that there’d be problems all around. That’s the whole allure of reading about epic quests and adventures, especially spontaneous ones; stuff goes wrong all the time, and it’s up to the characters to deal with these, frequently in creative or inventive or roundabout ways.

Every problem has an immediate solution, one she never has to do anything about. When Lily finds out how far it is to the ocean she gets dejected about the walk—and a horse appears. It just wanders up, pre-saddled and ready to ride. No further explanation. People go out of their way to help her through her journey, for no reason. (Yes, I realize this is a thing that some real people do. But everyone that helps her does so immediately and for nothing. Everyone.) Later, when Lily reaches the ocean, there’s a boat handy. When she reaches the lighthouse, there’s a dark-eyed boy who takes her in and feeds and waits on her. He’s even her own age and—yes, this is the actual romance. At least it takes Lily some time, if not any actual effort. Alice’s romantic other is literally the first person she meets.

Now, I will say that the ending is decent. Things almost feel real, consequential—and maybe that’s reason enough to read the sequel. Not for me, though.

Billed as a coming of age fantasy, Sisters of Shadow features two young women around the age of adulthood (Alice is 17, I presume Lily’s about the same). They just never act like it. Lily never acts any older than 13 or so. In the beginning, honestly it’s a bit younger. Alice is a little better, though not much. None of the others they meet around their own age are any better either. So. If this had been written as a late Middle Grade fantasy—I think it would work out great. For teens or middle-grade. Other than the same-sex romance (which I’ve already gone over), there’s nothing explicit or adult about this.

There might be a good story in here, somewhere. Heck, you might well have found it already, and are reading this review—shocked, annoyed, incredulous—that I didn’t see it too. But I did do my homework on this one. I checked the ratings, I skimmed reviews. Some people loved Sisters of Shadow. Some hated it. But most people thought it was meh. Not terrible, not great. That’s about the size of it. This wasn’t a terrible book, though it also wasn’t good. I’d even say it was meh if it hadn’t been so boring. If something had ever happened to change my mind about it. If anything had ever made me want to continue it, or the series. It did read quick, though I never felt invested. I did finish it, but I skipped around a bunch. But this definitely wasn’t for me. You might like this, or not. It’s $3 for an ebook, if you’d like to take a chance on it. Maybe you’ll love it. Maybe you’ll hate it. Or maybe, like the majority of reviews I’ve seen, you’ll think it was all a bit bland, a bit forgettable.

This was an interesting read I was not captivated by the story but I did find it intriguing.
Many thanks to Harper Collins UK and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Full review to be posted soonish.
I'll update review with links to socials.
I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sisters of Shadow is a lovely fantasy adventure story which reads like a centuries old fairy tale. The world of the Shadowlands was intriguing, completely cut off from the modern world, stuck in the past while everywhere else seems to embrace modern technology.

Alice and Lily make unlikely friends. They are complete polar opposites, Lily all sunshine and warmth, Alice dark and distant. As I got to know them, they reminded me a little of Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked.

I loved getting to know the supporting cast of characters, and quickly fell for Grace and the gentle care she took of Alice.

The end of the book felt quite sudden and easy but I loved the hints of what was to come. At times, the pace felt a little slow, but I could tell it was building to a sequel, and this is a book that I am looking forward to reading.

I love the premise of this book. It makes for such an interesting read and the author did such a good job. The story was so well-written and I loved the dimensions to the different characters.

I really wanted to love this one but I simply could not get into it. DNF. I'll be revisiting it in the future though because the writing was lovely I just picked it up at the wrong time .

This was an okay story, I guess, but the pacing was so slow. It felt like the descriptions were so long, and it took forever to get anywhere with the plot. Then something would happen, and it flew by. I couldn't even get settled into the exciting parts because they were over so quickly. This one just didn't work for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for providing me with a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have to admit, when I saw the average ratings for this book it made me a bit tentative, but I was pleasantly surprised! Yes, I'm rating it 3/5, but it wasn't for lack of enjoyment. The flow of the writing really drew me in, and I enjoyed reading both Alice and Lily's perspectives. My main complaint, is that I wanted MORE.

I found the first half of the book (which many people said was boring) to be really cozy, slowly building up some tension, and helping us understand who the characters were. It wasn't until we got into more action-y sequences, that I found myself left wanting. I wish they had been drawn out more, with more detailed descriptions and more self browsing in their internal dialogue, in order to create more tension.

In the end I found the climax a bit anti-climactic, and wasn't exactly hooked on the cliff hanger either. I am however, intrigued by the story, and appreciated all of ththe things that weren't explained to us, because it makes me feel as though there is more to be uncovered within the world and magic system, in the upcoming books.

All in all, I had fun reading this, and finished it rather quickly. I'll definitely recommend it for people who want a simpler story, without a ton of infodumpy world building or confusing magic systems.

Really loved this Sapphic adventure fantasy story by author Katherine Livesey!

I enjoyed Alice and Lily, and liked that we got to see both girls journey as they discover more about themselves and their abilities. The secondary characters were memorable as well, and I am excited to know what happens after that ending!

Sapphic witches just the kind of book I was going to read.

This book is one of those you can't put down and suddenly it's over and you are heartbroken as you wanted more of it.

The only issues is once the book hangover is over there was a lot of questions unanswered and so now I am hoping for a second book

Dnf 63%
Started decently with interesting ideas, but the writing degraded the further the story went and became just plain bad

Sisters of Shadow fell a little flat for me. I felt like everything was bland, from the worldbuilding to the characters to the relationships between characters. I wasn’t very interested in knowing what would happen next or the outcome for the characters.

I liked the cottage core feel meeting the sapphic witches concept to this book. It was an interesting read that drew me in and I enjoyed reading it. It's not my favourite book, but I appreciate it for what it is. It's a 3 stars for me but that by no means is a bad rating

Sisters of Shadow by Katherine Livesay is an enjoyable read about true friendship.

“Nobody really noticed when Alice Blackwell disappeared. The ‘witch-girl’, as the village folk came to know her, lived alone in a hut nestled amidst tall ferns and ancient oaks in the mountains that surrounded Alder Vale.”

Alice and Lily have been friends for as long as they can remember. They are complete opposites, but neither can imagine being separated until the day Lily discovers Alice has disappeared.

“Almost everything about the two girls was different. They should never have got along. Alice contrasted Lily’s light and easy manners with darkness and awkwardness.”

Alice’s family had loved and cherished her until the age of six when they left on a hunting trip never to return. Alice was an unusual and introverted child, so it was easy for the locals to label her as a witch. However, despite her deepest wishes she has never possessed any magic and when a stranger offers her the chance to discover her powers she cannot resist.

Lily lives with her uncle Alf and doesn’t believe in any magic beyond that which exists in nature. She loves working in the apothecary beside him and he is the only other person in town who cares about Alice.

When Lily arrives at Alice’s hut in the woods to find her missing her uncle helps her prepare to set off on a dangerous solo rescue mission.

Lily feels out of her depth and unequal to the challenge but the strength of her friendship with Alice means she can’t leave her to her fate.

Sisters of Shadow has all the elements of a good fantasy book; a quest, true friendship and a seemingly unsurmountable evil.

I will definitely be reading Sisters of Midnight when it is published.