I really enjoyed this book was completely hooked from the first page and couldn't put it down definitely recommend

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy of the shadow of theron. this was interesting for a general ficiton/sci fi

I tried so hard to read this book, and I'm not one to DNF something, but today was the day. Overall the characters fell flat, the perspective shifts confused me, and it felt like I was reading something from a fan fiction website instead of a fully published book. This had so much potential, so I requested it as an ARC, but unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to keep going with it.

2.5⭐️ rounded up to 3!

This book had a lot of potential. However, there were definitely parts that didn’t live up to that for me. The characters did not have as much development as I would have like and I also had a hard time connecting to the main characters. As a character driven reader, this always makes it hard for me to connect to a book. I did love the villain, which was probably my favorite part of the book. I also found the plot and magic system to be interesting, even if at times I found myself being a little fuzzy on the world-building as a whole.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kathryn Troy for this ARC. I am writing this review of my own volition.

This epic fantasy is fast paced, full of fun, engaging characters and a vivid, bright culture.

Short synopsis (no spoilers)
Lysandro, dashing bachelor Don by day, Zoro-esque hero for the oppressed by night, falls head over heels for the beautiful Seraphine at a time when the very foundation of their lives are shaken by the murderous Lothan and the mystery of the missing relics, imbued with a terrible and great power. They must navigate their growing feelings for each other while balancing their roles in society and Lysandro's secret role as the protector of the good and threat to the evil.

Full of engaging and fun side characters, The Shadow of Theron is an excellent book, full of solid writing, an engaging plot and a mostly HEA. There were points in the story where I got confused by the lore and religious foundation. I think it's probably very clear in Troy's mind, but perhaps it did not translate well to the page. I was also confused by the purpose of the relics and where they actually were. There were a few other places I was confused or a bit perplexed. Why the pages long description of the play? What did that have to do with the story? It didn't fit in anywhere else. The whole bit with Marek and the blood sword and his abilities later in the story were unclear. I didn't quite get his motivations; just power? Maybe, but that needed to be explored more. The whole subplot with Asha and Eugenie also needed more fleshing out. I loved those two as characters, but don't feel like they got the attention they deserved. Why did Lysandro fall in love so quickly and just ignore everything else in his life? I was a bit annoyed he only seemed to really focus on how hot Seraphine was; it made our hero seem a bit shallow. Their falling so fast was sweet and all, but even in a fantasy story, I had a hard time buying it. I also was really shocked by the abrupt a**ault scene later in the book; a trigger warning would have been helpful as it came out of left field and was a bit traumatic.

Ultimately, The Shadow of Theron is an engaging story with fun characters and a good writing style. Despite my comments above, I did thoroughly enjoy this story and look forward to an eventual sequel (I hope!).

The Shadow of Theron is the first in a new fantasy series and as many have said, it's very reminiscent of the legend of Zorro, with a masked hero.

I enjoyed the world building in this novel and found the mythology and legends of the past interesting and unique. I liked how that impacted on the religion of the present day in the novel. The plot was fairly interesting and this was an easy to read and follow novel.

In this novel there is never any question of who the hero and villain are. I found Lysandro, aka the Shadow, to be everything you expect in a hero; handsome, daring, brave, kind. Unfortunately, this made him rather flat and two dimensional and his insta -love was quite cringey too. I liked how the villain was a true villain, but he was also rather stupid and makes constant, eye rolling mistakes.

I enjoyed the ending and how that set up the next novel and would give this book 3 stars.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with an arc in return for an honest review.

@netgalley ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐲𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐲

𝕃𝕖𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 ℤ𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕠 𝕞𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕤 𝕃𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤?!? 👀

Yes! This author wrote a fast paced, fantasy novel where magic and romance flowed. The world building was very interesting to me, and I loved all of the different characters.

Sera was definitely my favorite! 💜 She is spunky, sassy, intelligent, brave, and follows her heart.

Lysandro was the hero of the story and while i did enjoy learning about his character, it was really Sera that spoke to me in this novel. Although I could have done without some of her damsel in distress moments 😅

I enjoyed that the beginning of their story was not a dump directly into world and character building. Over the course of roughly 200ish pages the reader slowly finds the different pieces and nuggets of info! I personally enjoyed the mystery of not knowing a bunch of the info at once!

#jayjaypjkwreads #thebookishcrew #netgalley #arcreader #comingsoon #theshadowoftheron #magicalreads #bookreview #bookishpost

This was so good! I stayed up late reading it because I couldn't put it down. This was a fantastic book and I loved the world building in it.
I just reviewed The Shadow of Theron by Kathryn Troy. #TheShadowofTheron #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

I really enjoyed this book. The world building and depth of the history was well thought out. It did give the impression of a retelling of ‘The legend of Zorro’ but I feel that helped me to enjoy it more.

My only issues with the book were how quickly Lysandro decides he is in love with Sera, proclaiming his love within the same week as meeting her for the first time and the ‘evil guy is obviously evil’ thing. I’m looking forward to reading the second book.

Wow! I went into this book with zero expectation, and may I just say… I was thoroughly impressed! If I had to describe this book, I would say it reminds me of The Mask of Zorro meets fantasy and magic and magical weapons/artifacts and destiny and romance and gods/goddesses. I read 80% of this book yesterday, because I simply could not put it down.

Lysandro and Sera had me swooning! I loved them together, and they were such a good match for one another. All of the side characters were so interesting, and I truly enjoyed every POV that was written. I think sometimes in books I get frustrated when the book moves to a POV that I feel is irrelevant, but I never felt that way while reading this. It was incredible.

Can’t wait for the second book in this duology!

'The Shadow of Theron' by Kathryn Troy.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It took me a little while to fully get into the book and there was a few times when it was flipping between two different parts of the story I was getting a little confused. That could of just been me though.
The last quarter of the book I read in 1 sitting. It was so fast paced and there was action and adventure on every page. I love the character of Sera, she's so beautifully written. I felt like there was strong hints of Princess Bride running through it...which I love.
I would recommend this book to others, especially for anyone who's fan of fantasy and adventure :)
Thankyou to NetGallery UK, the author and the publisher for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book really didn't work for me, and therefore I will share my opinions here but won't post about it elsewhere.

In the beginning, I enjoyed the book. I described it as a favorite snack; I devoured the first 1/3-1/2 of the book without even really thinking about it. There were fun characters, a budding romance, and some dark and sinister things going on in the background.

However, as I got further into the book the crunchy, salty snack started to crumble. The lack of depth or development in the first half of the book created a hectic and confusing second half of the book. I didn't care about anything that was going on in the book as the plot moved toward the climax. I found myself just waiting for the book to end.

There were a couple of reasons that I felt this way.

First, the characters were flat and two-dimensional. The main couple were a bit annoying and whiny, while the villain was so notoriously villanous that I was waiting for him to twirl a mustache or two (readers should also be aware that there is a heinously unnecessary depiction of sexual assault on screen late in the book). Characters would die, and I wouldn't care because I never felt close to them in any meaningful way.

The second major thing that felt flat for me was the worldbuilding. I never felt grounded in a sense of place. I got that the world they were in was reminiscent of the Renassiance Mediterranean, but this had more to do with the use of names and titles more than anything else. The world was just so generic, and there weren't any elements that made this world feel lived in or unique. It was the same old fantasy world that I have found myself reading many times over without anything to set it apart. I won't remember this world in a couple of days after I have finished the book.

The last thing that didn't work for me was that the greater fantasy plot elements (which at first seemed really cool with gods, goddesses, etc.) never really came together. The way these elements were introduced were cumbersome and confusing. I could never quite grasp how everything was related, nor how the characters got wrapped up in this (except for one predictable "chosen one" twist). The fantasy elements were also failed by the worldbuilding elements that I addressed above. The world felt hollow, and so it was unclear how the fantasy ideologies fit into this society. Why would a society that revered a goddess be so patriarchal (as just one example).

Overall, this book just didn't work for me, but other readers who enjoy a core romance element with light epic fantasy elements around it might be intrigued!

I loved this cover but unfortunately I just could not get into the book. The writing and characters felt like they were lacking and was just kind of meh.