**Title:** *The Sun and Its Shade*
**Author:** Piper CJ

**Rating:** ★★★★☆

**Review:**

*The Sun and Its Shade* by Piper CJ is a beautifully crafted tale that explores the delicate balance between light and darkness, both in the world and within the characters. The novel is rich with lyrical prose and deeply emotional moments, drawing readers into a story of love, loss, and self-discovery. Piper CJ’s characters are vividly portrayed, each with their own unique struggles and growth. While the pacing may feel slow at times, the poetic language and compelling themes make this a memorable and poignant read.

Honestly, this is one of, if not the worst, books I have ever read; so much of this story is pointless, and with only two more novels in the series, I highly doubt that Piper will be able to create an overarching narrative that can tie the mess of plot threads together.

This book was really ambitious in the world-building it was trying to achieve, but it fell short in pacing and character development. The plot felt incredibly random at times, with key events stretched thin and losing their impact overall. Moments of the book were really dragging. Additionally, some characters lack depth and growth, which made it difficult for me to form a strong connection with them. Overall, while the book had potential, it struggled to deliver a cohesive and engaging narrative.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

A decent sequel to book 1! I do have some conflicting feelings on how Nox/Amaris are developed in this book. In book one, there was so much self assuredness that seemed to get lost in book two. This book also felt a little more disjointed than book 1. Instead of being propelled by the plot, this book felt like more of a collection of scenes forced together to make a story. I imagine something like "oh i have scene A and scene C, let me fill in the blanks with scene B so I can keep both these other things". Im not mad at it necessarily, but did seem a little forced.

I felt like this didn’t rip off the Witcher like the last one did but definitely felt it just used a bunch of things from Harry Potter and other media.

Again, this series really struggles with plot structure. Which is to say: there isn’t one. I find Nox and Amaris to still have zero chemistry and their romance to be entirely one sided.

I don’t think “consensual breath play” is a good description for what happened here.

I don’t understand the anachronisms like “zoology”.

This book COULDVE easily been mashed in with book one and it would not have made a difference. These books are hundreds of pages long for no reason.

What does “her equilibrium floated” mean?

I don’t think it’s appropriate to have had a Black woman be a nameless surrogate for a gods white Jesus baby.

I have always been a fan of Piper, but each book in this series continues to get better and better.

+ Bisexual Representation
+ Friends to Lovers
+ High Fantasy
+ Multi-POV

The Sun and Its Shade is a fantastic queer fantasy with phenomenal worldbuilding and character progression. While the writing is beautiful, there are such tragic moments that left me unable to breathe as I turned to the next page. The multi-POV story gives the reader a view of different places in the world as characters are slowly coming together throughout the story.

Where The Night and Its Moon gave us the introduction to two of the main characters and the beginnings of their friendship and lives, the Sun and Its Shade gave us action and more main characters to fall in love with. The characters that we meet and have known are not perfect, but that is what makes them stand out. They are forced to confront their own beliefs and teachings and flaws with each new interaction and revelation.

Obviously, there is some spice, but it is written so beautifully and sneaks its way organically into the plot without being overbearing or too gratuitous. The bisexual character maintains her identity and isn't erased, which is the part that I love most. So often we see bisexual characters cast to one side or the other.

Thank you to Piper and Bloom for the ARC!

I can't in good faith read and review this book, the author is so incredibly rude, unprofessional and attacks reviewers. Not even touching all the blatant racism that she writes in her book. I did read about 16%, and that was enough to see that how harmful her content is.

If you've loved The Night and Its Moon, you'll love continuing the adventure! Nox and Amaris follow separate paths but continue to develop and grow. While a bit slow to begin with, the story is complex and the character arcs are worth it- as is the depth of the mythology being created. The cliffhanger left me looking for Book 3!

This book was an improvement on The Night and it's Moon. The sex scenes were spicy but not quite as erotic as I think they could have been. Maybe we'll build toward that in future books?

This book is more an exploration than a tightly paced book- things come a little bit too easily, and some of the scenes are very predictable.

The world-building continues to leave something to be desired and the racial undertones left me a bit uneasy, re: Amaris' background.

What I will say is that this book works very well as escapist fiction, with characters it's easy to insert yourself into. Just don't think too hard about anything.

This book is a beautifully written, emotionally intense story with elaborate world descriptions. It features amazing bi/pan queer representation and multiple storylines that weave together. The extensive world-building and numerous plot threads may be overwhelming for some readers, but it adds depth to the story. The book explores complex relationships and challenges societal norms. Overall, it's a compelling read that encourages self-discovery and authenticity.

I love this world that Piper is writing! Book 2 was such an improvement on book 1!

The cliffhanger really got me! I wish that she had not ended this story so abruptly, but excited for Gloom!

I love the description Piper writes and love the characters! Will be continuing the series

DNF. I did not like book one very much but thought I would give book 2 a chance. I thought since this series was picked up by a publisher that maybe the editing would be better. No. I won't be continuing the books.
*thank you to netgalley for an arc.

I'm always a bit torn asunder about how to rate CJ Pipers books and especially her series about Nox and Amaris. So I'll start with what this book and this series in particular has:

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞
❀ elaborate descriptions of the world
❀ emotional turmoil that isn't easy peasy asap resolved
❀ amazing bi/pan queer rep
❀ multiple storylines that create an intricate tapestry in the end
❀ heavily mythology inspired (incubi, fae etc)

Okay, now let's get to the juicy parts (long review incoming, see final thoughts & summary in the last paragraph).

One of the strengths (and for me a weakness) are the elaborate descriptions of the world. Beautifully written, they create an immersive picture to fall into. Unfortunately, for me, I have trouble keeping my mind straight when too much goes on, so when the description is finally over, I oftentimes found myself thinking "pretty, but what happened now again?" and jumping back. But this is a personal problem which I also experienced with Song of Ice and Fire and Tolkien's works.

On the note of "keeping my thoughts together" another thing which might be critical to some folks is that the book has lots (and oooh boy, I mean LOTS) of different story strings that sometimes happen at the same time. It can be confusing and disheartening if you can't keep your focus. I like to compare it to the first season of Game of Thrones when we had all these different little adventures going on that met at some point. Think of it like this. Can be good, can be bad, I liked it but it was challenging.

Next; the queer rep. And this is a definitive plus for me. Oftentimes, I see queer books that while having bi or pan characters, feature mostly (if not exclusively) gay relationships, and I get that. Especially for bi characters it is often about the sexual awakening to being bi or pan. But we shouldn't discredit straight bi/pan reelationships! And this is what Sun and its shade does right. Of course this is still a sapphic story because it is about Nox and Amaris, but love isn't that easy, is it? Especially the emotional portrayel of being a bisexual woman was excellent in Sun and its shade. As was the spice *smirk*.

Overall, this book felt similar to Night and its moon regarding the reading flow and storytelling, but with greater queer rep and emotionality, and good spice both ways. It called out racism, taught trust, and redefined love. The characters are flawed (but who's perfect anyway, this just makes it realistic), and authentic. Ultimately, this book and its characters call for the reader to question societal norms in lue of being authentic and true to themselves and their ideals.

For one thing, I absolutely love the cover. I was so excited to jump back into the world the Piper CJ has created and see where the story has gone. This is another hit for me, beautifully written with some lovely imagery. Can't wait for the rest to come.

Piper CJ is a brilliant, story telling goddess. Second in a series, this one continues to story of Nox and Amaris and their journey back to each other. While every word is magic, the moments we have between the two protagonists is absolutely electrifying. The series is on an absolutely unheard of rapid release schedule, so I cannot recommend enough to just pick up this one on the short wait for the next one. You won't be sorry!

'The Sun and Its Shade' is a book that unfortunately falls short of its potential. There have been some improvements on the first one, however my criticism of the first book remains the same. The ideas are interesting, and I feel that the premise of the novel has potential, but it is let down by an unstructured plot, poor character development, and not enough editing of the prose style.

The writing style is overwritten, with overuse of synonyms and ineffective repetition that detracts from the story. While there are some beautiful descriptions, they are often complicated by vocabulary choice and word order. There are many very long sentences describing a scene/feeling, and then this same idea is repeated sometimes up to three times in different ways in the following sentences. An author should be able to describe the same idea without ineffective repetition, and editing should work on combining these repeated ideas into a more powerful sentence. That being said, I, and I'm sure many other reviewers, enjoy sensory descriptions in prose, and the author has the potential to do this really effectively after a more rigorous editing process.

Although the novel continues soon after the end of the first book, a recap in the introduction would have been helpful for readers. The two main characters, Nox and Amaris, are separated and both learn more about their respective pasts before they met at the orphanage. Unfortunately, the conflict between them and other characters is weak and juvenile, making the tension between them ineffective. As in the previous book, it is frustrating that Amaris does not think about Nox often and is not shown to be desperate for to be reunited. It is unfortunate that this happens: it cheapens Nox's feelings for Amaris, makes Amaris seem cold, and doesn't fit the advertising that we are reading about a great love story. Without going into spoilers, Nox's backstory doesn't make sense - or at least fits into Millicent's actions in the previous novel.

I must commend the author for improving the engagement with folklore and mythology in the second novel. However, there is a patchwork application of these elements that fails to establish a cohesive understanding of the world's magic and religion. Having multiple systems mixed together raises a lot of questions that the narrative fails to answer, making it hard to understand the in-world religion. Ideally, these important structural elements of the world should have been established before the second half of the second book, giving the reader enough information to get a more cohesive understanding of the world's magic and religion. This would have made the revelation about Nox and Amaris' heritage more effective. Instead, the reader has to learn about the religion and origin story alongside Nox and Amaris' own stories.

In conclusion, while 'The Sun and Its Shade' has promise, it never quite seems to reach its full potential. The ideas are vague and could benefit from solid planning that would establish important parts of the world up front. The character motivation should be clearer, which would improve the development arcs and hopefully create more realistic conflict between characters. I was also disappointed in continued instances of poor behaviour from the author's fans harassing reviewers and the author's delayed response. I do feel that the author has the capability to write a great product, but it takes time and a rigorous editing process for any writer to hone their craft. I hope the author puts in the same time and work in the future.

I cannot believe this book. What a rollercoaster of emotions this was. Piper is an excellent writer in making you wish for things you actually don’t really want or need. But gosh, my heart got broken multiple times.
This book was everything I wanted the sequel to be - it was waaaaay better than book one, and I loved book one!!!!
There were a few minor point for me, but I love reading these epic fantasy tales. However much I love the smut sometimes, it’s very refreshing to read a story that’s about adventure rather than the intimacy. It was perfectly balanced.
The plot it amazing and the further along you get the better and more put together it becomes?!?! Like how? I thought I had my life figured out but I clearly didn’t. Someone please give me the sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy! It was a really fun story! The characters were amazing and it was enjoyable to read throughout!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of the sun and its shade by piper cj. this was the awesome sequel to the night and its moon which was fantastic. this was a must read, well the first as well. continued from the first so i wont post spoilers