A great read! I loved how Hughes navigated the plot and maneuvered her characters in return. I was amazed at the level of detail in the world-building, and can't wait to read more from her in the future.

ARC provided by the author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Genres: Children's Fiction | Sci Fi & Fantasy | Teens & YA


"You spend your free time defending the territory from deadly monsters, but you're scared of heights?"
I shrugged. "Monsters can only kill you. Heights can kill you and make you throw up. It's all very messy, really, and I'd rather avoid it when possible."

As a whole, I really enjoyed this book. This book is very reminiscent of Percy Jackson and it had beautiful imagery, mythical creatures and childhood friends to lovers romance. The cover alone drew me in and I've loved a previous novel by this author so I had high expectations.

This book genuinely made me laugh out loud at times, and Jackson Harper had a fantastic first person narrative style as the MC. He's witty and hides his fear by joking.

It was very easy to read and to fall into the story , the layers of mysteries surrounding the plot were one of the reasons for this! Even with the mystery, characters and world building the book does a good job of not flooding you with that information from the get go and instead allows you to absorb from pieces here and there.

Overall, I would give this book a solid 4.5 stars. I like the characters and the plot was overall really rich. If you're looking for a fast paced, easy read then this is for you!

Thanks to NetGalley & Independent Book Publishers Association for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadowed Flame follows wisecracking Jackson Harper and his unicorn partner as they team up with his old best friend Moira to stop the world from ending.

I feel bad I'm rating this low because it was pretty enjoyable at some parts, I just really couldn't understand some of the writing decisions.

First off, the childhood best friends to lover stuff was really unnecessary and frustrating, it felt shoehorned in. Their friendship was really good and I just didn't like that it evolved into a romance that I found, frankly, boring. It got *very* YA tropey with their love parts. Zzz.

I really did enjoy the unicorn lore and I actually felt like it wasn't really expanded on enough. A ton of it was just sequel bait which I hate, so that was great. (sarcastic). It's a very fast paced book so it can be hard to keep up with the universe's lore when they're dealing with one disaster after another.

I found the ending really unsatisfying. No spoilers, though. Sequel bait at its worst...

Well, that was a cute, quick read. It's very typically YA, a bit on the young/juvenile side of things, but that's okay. If I worked at the library I'd recommend this to twelve year olds who want to get into the fantasy genre.
I must admit I skimmed some parts because it just wasn't holding my interest that much. But it was fun and short enough that I didn't feel the need to DNF it. The writing was just a bit too juvenile for my 20-something ass.

4.25/5 stars

This new novel is marketed as a younger-YA version of Percy Jackson and I agree! I love the main character Jackson and his sass, and this interpretation of unicorns is fantastic!! Can’t wait for the sequel!!

Goodreads synopsis:
Jackson Harper slays monsters on the sly.

He's a unicorn rider, a defender of the territory. But he has to keep that a secret, because technically he's supposed to be pure of heart to be approved for a unicorn bond, and his shady past rules that out. If the authorities catch him now, his monster-slaying dream job is all over.

But when a snake-dragon battle gets out of hand, he's forced to get help from a real rider: Moira Maldrigo. She used to be his best friend and unrequited crush. Now, she's duty-bound to turn him in to the unicorn regiment.

But the unicorns have a dark secret too. And when Jackson and Moira stumble on it, they're caught up in a battle that's much bigger, and deadlier, than they'd ever anticipated.

As I said before, probably my favorite part of this book is Jackson’s iconic wit!! Yes, his jokester attitude is a coping mechanism, but also he’s hilarious so whatever works for him!! 😂 But in all seriousness, I really liked the characters and appreciated the depth to their internal conflicts, and how those internal conflicts factor into the development of Jackson and Moira’s relationship from reunited childhood friends to lovers.

”'It’s how I deal with conflict,' I said, my voice muffled. 'Try throwing one of those skillets from your bag at me, my material gets even funnier when my life is in danger.'”

This book has a distinct Percy Jackson vibe in its witty main character, intense action, and mystical beings, but it also differentiated itself in the internal conflicts I mentioned earlier as well as how the fantasy elements were used to advance the plot. This book is a fast and pretty easy read, so the plot is fairly simple, but the conflicts between the humans/riders and unicorns and how it all relates to magic is so interesting, and I was consistently invested in finding out where all the secrets would lead.

So overall, this is a super fun read and I really really enjoyed it!! It’s fresh and unique, but I think you would love it if you enjoy middle grade/younger YA novels similar to the Percy Jackson series! I can’t wait to see how everything turns out in the sequel! And this book released on September 7th so get your copy today!

Big thank you to NetGalley and Naomi Hughes for the free e-arc in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own! The quote I used may be subject to minor change.







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3.75 stars

The Shadowed Flame reminds me of I fel when I started to read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series. We have adventure and myth and Jackson's POV is entertaining.

I'm glad that this was not a rip-off and it has its own charms. I'm excited for the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley, Naomi Hughes and Independent Book Publishers Association for an e-ARC for this.

To start off I would like to thank you NetGalley for this amazing E-ARC. No seriously it has amazing characters, unicorns, and unicorns gone BAD. “The Shadowed Flame” is a spectacular start to a fantasy series. Jackson’s comments in life or death situations reminded me of Percy from PJO so much it was uncanny. I was smiling, laughing, and gushing over this book. A great start to a new fantasy series and a must-read for everyone.

Disclaimer: I was given an advanced reader copy for an honest review

The Shadowed Flame was one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long time. The story was fun and lively with enough questions to have you look up and realize you've been reading for more than you had planned.

For this being the first book Jackson and Moira are some of the most developed and intricate characters. They have pasts that justify their morals and it feels as though a lot of care was taken in their writing.

Full of mysteries and legends that will keep you guessing until the very end.

If you love a book that feels real and action packed, this is the book for you. Jackson will have you laughing to tears one chapter than sobbing the next.

This is a powerful story and I see it becoming the next great. Step aside Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, This is the book every kid will be begging their parents to get. This is the book teachers will use to show children how fantastic reading is. This will be the book series of a generation.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 / 4.5 stars
The Shadowed Flame is a story about Jackson, a unicorn rider who has avoided his official registration. During a mission he is reunited with his ex-best friend and official unicorn rider Moira.

Reading the synopsis, it really had me intrigued. I love horses and unicorns being sort of like horses, I’m always down for a story involving them. The unicorns and their riders being monster slayers makes it just that much more interesting. I couldn’t wait to start reading. Once I did start reading, it was just addicting and I couldn’t stop.

The world-building is really given bit by bit and you don’t get overloaded with tons of information. You get eased into it and it makes you that much more curious as to what will happen. It gave me the time to absorb and understand the world the characters live in. At the same time, I missed a bit of dept to the world-building that was given. Much of the world still isn’t known to me, like who’s in charge. It has much room for growth and expansion.

I loved how the unicorns were their own characters and not just animals who bonded with riders. I also really liked how it wasn’t only females as riders, but males as well. The same with the riders. All the characters were really written well. I especially loved how witty and amusing Jackson was to read. His jokes made me laugh while reading them. Then Moira is the perfect character to balance out Jackson’s wit and humor with her serious personality.

The book is said to be young YA and that really shines through the pages. It is super easy, fun and teens and young adults can really enjoy this story. It had a bit of the same vibe as Percy Jackson has to me. At the same time the characters were really well developed and didn’t feel overly juvenile in a way that wouldn’t have been fitting of the story.

Overall, it was a super enjoyable, fun and easy read and I look forward to what the next book in the series will bring to the table! Especially with the teaser at the end!

We meet Jackson, a unicorn rider. Yes, you read that right. A u-ni-corn ri-der. 🦄
Then there are some childhood friends, prophecies, and family things.

I loved this book so much, I just flew through it. 🤩
Yes, it has a lot of the standard tropes, and yes, I did predict almost everything that was going to happen... But I still loved it! 😁

I thought the pacing was just right, with enough stakes to stay believable. 😎
A lot happened in this book, and I already do not know how she can top this in the next one. 🤯
Which I will definitely be reading by the way! 💙💙

I do have to say that the cover gave me more middle-grade vibes, so when I started reading and learned that the main character was 16 years old, and the things he talks about were quite heavy at times... It is not a middle-grade book. 😅

I would absolutely recommend this series to everyone who loved a good adventure story with youths as the main characters. 😍😍

The Shadowed Flame is a fast paced and fun YA novel. Hughes has created a world drained of magic - all except the unicorns. The unicorns have their own society - and their own secrets - which provide a nice counterbalance to the riders. The central characters, Jackson and Moira, are really lovable. Jackson is afraid of his past and makes jokes to hide his fear. Moira has suffered some trauma int he past, but has used it to try to make herself stronger - together they make a fabulous team who show the importance of being around someone who brings out the best in you. The story is non-stop action and movement, making it am easy read as you can't wait to find out what happens next. Warning: this ends on a cliff hanger, so be prepared to order the next one in the series - you won't be able to help it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Naomi Hughes for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"The most dangerous part of being a unicorn rider was never knowing what kind of creature you'd have to slay next. My job was a daily game of monster roulette, and this morning I had, unfortunately, hit the jackpot."

I really loved this book!! The tone and characterisation of the main character Jackson is captured perfectly in the opening sentences (quoted above). A very refreshingly not annoying and not self-centred young male main character! He is written with great depth that is gradually revealed over the course of the book in an excellent way. His love and care for his mother, his unicorn Luna, and his childhood friend/crush Moira come through very strongly. Moira was also a very well-written character. I very much enjoyed reading a character (plus the tertiary characters) who is described as BIPOC but at no point in the story is this made a big deal of. She's fierce and strong and is very relatable in her methods of dealing with past traumas. And Jackson and Moira's relationship was also very sweet, especially with their history of being childhood friends.

I don't think I've read the concept of unicorn riders in any other book and that was a super cool aspect of this book! I loved that riders and unicorns can communicate, that added a great extra dimension to their relationships and was also a great way of giving the unicorns character and personality. The twist in the revelation of the unicorns's wider role in the world was so well foreshadowed and then so well revealed. The book ended in such an interesting way and after reading the preview chapters for the second book, I can't wait to find out how the story continues!!

Thank you very much for the opportunity to read and review this book, however I found it is not my type of book. It is very young to me and not something I’m particularly interested in reading.
But it was entertaining, just not for me, sorry!

trigger warning
<spoiler> trauma, mental illness, ptsd, flashbacks, threat of torture, grief</spoiler>

jackson may be an unicorn rider, but never joined the Regiment, instead preferring to do odd jobs alone with his steed, Luna. But of course, one day he meets another rider - and not only is she alone with her unicorn, Mort, but the two humans know each other from ages ago.

We have a postapocalyptic setting in which people now have to do without the magic that powered their technology. I could not discern if the postapocalyptic part is meant in relation to the Draining, as the disappearance of magic is called, or if we have a postapocalyptic world in which the Draining happened.

The plot is pretty straightforward. There is a clear goal that has to be achieved, and Jackson is a stubborn one. His plans always are some kind of version of "and then I wing it, somehow".
It threatened to become too much, but then the other person who joins him brings some much needed balance.

It felt all very predictable. I did not get on with the characters, who most of the time didn't feel very three dimensional. The tropes used are so old and well-used that they kind of annoyed me.
Did not really get on well with this one, but I like animal-companion-fantasy.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

What made me really want to read this was a. the cover illustration (I'm a sucker for a pretty cover) and b. the comparison to Percy Jackson. I'm a big fan of pretty much anything Rick Riordan writes, so this being compared to it? Sign me up!

To start off with, I love the the sarcastic wit of the main character Jackson Harper. (It really is very reminiscent of Percy and I can't really decide if that's a good or a bad thing.) Another thing that's really good is how fast paced this novel actually is; at times you don't really notice that you've read twenty or so pages until you need to have a sip of water. It's brilliant like that.

The plot is solid, with few plot holes and it doesn't feel the need to over-explain with info dumps. Bits of information is trickled in over time, which is great and leaves you wanting for more. There's a bit of a romance, which normally I'm really not a fan of romance, this one actually works and seems believable.

This is the first in a series, The Sundered World, so that makes me incredibly hopeful for more of this brilliant world. That's one thing that I wanted more of in this, world building. Don't get me wrong, I love character driven narratives, but sometimes I'm more in the mood for the world building of a fantasy setting and I definitely wanted more here.

One more issue is that the ending was incredibly abrupt. Too abrupt. Like, where's the sequel abrupt.

(Check out my August Wrap Up when it goes live in the beginning of September!)

THE SHADOWED FLAME is a well crafted and entertaining story. It features some of my favorite tropes: the chosen one, enemies to lovers, magic disappearing, and hidden truths. And it has unicorns as supporting characters, which is always fun!

The magical system left me a bit confused, especially when it pertained to unicorns and the portal. The confusion pulled me out of the story, and left me trying to parse out what would and wouldn’t work. I know it’s hard to explain all the rules of a magical system without info dumping.

Overall, this book is a solid YA fantasy read, and would appeal to readers who grew up reading Percy Jackson, but aged out of MG category and are now looking for books with more mature content.

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A cross between dark fantasy and unicorns, this book is truly one of a kind. And best of all, though it's YA, it has none of those terrible, cliche characters.

Jackson Harper is an unregistered Rider, which is illegal. But secrets from his past, and maybe his unicorn Luna's, makes them both reluctant to be registered. But on a mission gone awry, Jackson suddenly finds himself with powers, when the only ones who should have them are unicorns, and a confrontation with an old friend, who turns out to be a Rider. With misfortune and a dark unicorn following their every move, on top of the secrets that everyone is hiding, especially the unicorns, Jackson will quickly have to find allies and figure out what's going on because his very existence depends on it.

This book, or really, the characters, reminded me a lot of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. Jackson uses jokes to cope with serious situations and his friend Moira is a no-nonsense fighter. With the two personalities combined, it brings to life two more realistic characters, completely unlike the stereotypes of typical YA fantasy.

* 3.6 stars

Let me start by saying: I completely adored this book! It was marketed as perfect for Percy Jackson fans, and me being one, had to read it! This book is fast-paced, which I love, so you´re never bored while reading it, The characters are lovable as well, Jackson has that kind of humour that we´re used to in Percy, and Moira is the perfect pair for him, being more level-headed. I enjoyed the flashbacks that explained the plot further, as I felt like they added a lot to the story itself and they helped us understand the Characters´ backgrounds even better. The relationships in this book are strong, wether we´re talking about friendships or romantic ones, which made my heart extremely warm. One thing that I would like differently is that I wanted a more developed world-building. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, teen or adult, and Ican´t wait to see this author future works!

The Shadowed Flame

By Naomi Hughes

Two words (Unicorn Rider) and I was hooked.
The book has a very lost world stream-puck feel and is hard to put down once you start to read it.

(Jackson Harper) is an unofficial Unicorn Rider, he hunts monsters with the help of his Unicorn (Luna) they both share the gift of a telepathic connection as all Unicorn Riders do..

When Jackson finds himself in a bit of a tickly spot battling a dragon, one of the bigger monsters he has come across a mysterious Archer shows up and saves him.

Her name is (Moira) and they know each other from the past.
Moira is a Unicorn Rider and use to be his best friend before her family moved away.

If she reports him to the unicorn riders as a lone rider he could get in huge trouble, can she trust her not to rat him out.
and what is the secrets she keeping from him, and what part dose he play in it all.


Twenty years ago, the worlds (Magik) something they used to power machines mysteriously vanished in a matter of seconds, and now Magik can only be found in unicorn.

The old can remember a time before the draining of the Magik when the beasts were not called monsters and were not killers but just a part of the wildlife living in harmony with them.

When trying to escape a nest of dragons his life is turn upside down and inside out, the only clue where the words echoed in his mind, (we’ve found the rift. The traveller has escaped, but he does not have the shadowed flame.) so loud his brain hurts and left him injured, the power in the Magik returns for a few minutes and helps then with their escape from the dragon nest, but Jackson is left in bad shape.

a story of trust, friendship and love that i couldn't stop reading, highly recommend for Fantasy lovers.

Wow, this book is actually pretty good! I really enjoyed the humor and the writing style! The world is not fully described, but we find various elements during the course of the story.
The protagonist, one of my favourite, Jackson: funny, ironic but broken on the inside :( During the story we discover his past, the history that binds him to Moira and the difficulties related to his family, especially his mother.
I loved the chemistry between him and Moira, strong and devoted to her "job" ! Many moments between them made me laugh but also cry, the cutest 😭 I also loved the unicorns and the mysteries about them ;)

The last few chapters: O M G I'm still shocked
I need a sequel N O W

In conclusion, I really appreciate this book and I rate it 4 stars