Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

I have not read this author before but I saw the cover and found myself intrigued! After reading the discrimination I wouldn’t wait to get my hands on it! This story did not disappoint!

First of all let me start off by saying that the original copy put on Netgalley was difficult to get through. There were so many errors and the typeset was off. It just really took away from the book. I did, however, get a free copy through Kindle Unlimited after release and I was glad to see a lot of this fixed. I find the storyline interesting enough but missing something to make me care enough to see it the whole way through.

I'm going to be honest and admit that I retained very little of this book for a variety of reasons, so full disclosure: anything I say might be unintentionally wrong.

I really liked the concepts for Age of Shadows: girl sets out on a mission to reverse time and kill the evil emperor before he's even born while the emperor struggles to end the evil inside of him before it consumes him. I liked the vibes and I liked the concepts, but I didn't really like the execution.
As I said, I didn't retain a lot because of some life circumstances and also I just didn't connect to the characters initially, so I didn't get invested in the story until about 85%. There were parts of the plot that confused me greatly, but that might have been an issue on my end. The plot (for me at least) didn't really pick up until the 80% mark, so I actually did enjoy the ending and the implications for book two (plus some really cool time travel tropes), but I was bored for a lot of the rest of it. I also felt that every time I picked up the book I had to remind myself of what was happening and I struggled with re-immersing myself.
I did like some of the character designs. Kal got on my nerves a bit, and I didn't like Zale either. Kyros's design was super cool to me because he reminded me a lot of my favorite characters but he was also a simp for no reason whatsoever. Jairus was neat (I don't know what I liked about him, though) and I didn't hate Maya either.
I think Age of Shadows is one of those books with great potential to find the right audience and to really take off, but personally, I couldn't get into it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC!
2.5/5

I ended up DNF-ing this book early on because I wasn't quite vibing with the prose. I do think that the concept is very interesting and I'm hoping that I can come back to it at some point and revisit the story because it really is the kind of book that's right up my alley.

Thank you to F. J. Ali and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of the book in return for an honest review! I found this book through NetGalley, and the cover was so gorgeous I couldn't resist picking it up. It promised the story of a one-eyed orphan girl turned kick-ass gladiator, destined to learn how to warp time and kill the great emperor warlord before the demons are unleashed back into the world. That sounded too epic to resist. However, I DNF'd this book at 198 pages (33%), at the end of Part 1.

Age of Shadows is F. J. Ali's debut novel, a high fantasy epic that's two pages shy of 600 as a paperback. She is an indie POC writer, and I can respect that. With that said, the book has many glaring errors that made me put it down. It has so many spelling and punctuation mistakes that it can take a while to figure out what sentences mean, paragraphs often cover 2/3rds of a page, and the book spends more time telling world and character lore than it does telling the story.

On top of that, the book's cover is noticeably AI-generated, as is the character art provided on the author's website; more on that down below. There are good ideas in this novel - I saw them shining through the exposition. More rounds of serious editing and getting critique partners and beta readers for outside views would've helped do this story a lot more justice.

Age of Shadows by F. J. Ali follows the story of Kalyssa, an orphan girl born with only one eye who has turned to fighting as a gladiator in the pits to earn enough money to buy medicine for her terminally ill brother, Jairus. Until one day, they flee into the cursed ruins of an ancient city where they find a strange golden amulet that binds itself to Kalyssa and an oracle chained to a wall.

The oracle tells them that Jairus is the Chosen One, his blood capable of releasing the Shadow King, leader of demons -- the exact entity who has possessed the ruthless Emperor Kyros to free itself, unleashing itself and the Shadowfolk back into the world. Yet Kalyssa is part of this prophecy too. She is a timewarper, able to jump back and forth in time. She has to learn to control her powers and jump back in time to kill Kyros at birth, or else the world is doomed.

But Kyros has taken Kalyssa prisoner, under the impression she is the Chosen One. Yet as they grow ever closer, she begins to question if he is as evil as the stories make him out to be. Have they been fighting on the same side all along or will the forces of evil push them to fight one another for the sake of the world?

I genuinely believe this book had a lot of awesome concepts. Kyros slew all his kin except his brother, Zale, courtesy of him being a half-brother -- because any who share the blood of the Lyornmar line are at risk of being possessed by Bahmar, the Dark King. Then he went on a vicious campaign, subjugating more and more lands, ever-expanding his territory and his armies. Ruthless, efficient, unstoppable. And of course Kalyssa, who has only one eye, but has learned to stand her own to the point she can beat all the fighters the colosseum can offer her.

There's a vampire who hates what his kin are doing and is trying to take them down, there is an ancient siren who has become the captain of a ghost ship with sailors that turn into wooden gargoyles at dawn, there are lycanthropes and witches. Empires have fallen, kingdoms have risen, and famines and magical plagues ravish the world. There are so many cool things to get into. I genuinely believe that had the writer taken the time to get critique partners, gather more feedback, hire an editor, and rework her manuscript several times, this could've been an amazing story.

As it stands, the writing of the novel left a lot to be desired. It seemed as if the author was so excited to share the worldbuilding and backstory she'd made, she often forgot the most crucial part of the novel: the story itself. The book regularly paused to go on side tangents lasting anywhere from a paragraph to several pages about topics that never come up again, going into detail about the rumours about a side character's birth and species, the way a random maid that was only seen once was born on the steps of the now-dead king, or such detailed worldbuilding that the reader drowns in confusing information.

The characters are also regularly quite static, especially Kalyssa. When I started paying attention, I noticed that most of the time, she wasn't actually doing anything. When the seer is introduced, Kal and Jairus spend 22 pages talking to her in the cave where she's chained to the wall. Soon after, there's a scene where the emperor's troops descend on the town for a formal subjugation. Here, Kalyssa spends most of her time either standing at attention or kneeling, watching and listening as other characters interact with Kyros and his brother. Add in a lot more exposition in the form of rumours and backstory, and it makes for a frustrating read.

The story would benefit a lot if all this exposition was looked at critically by the writer to see if it can be cut. Because currently, the book is 598 pages, and it truly doesn't have to be. At 400 pages, with a third cut, I think the story would've been a lot tighter and easier to read. The process of cutting extraneous information seems to have been entirely missed, and it distracted me a lot from the story to the point I found it difficult to find where the story was at times. I even struggled to find out why Kalyssa would want to fight Emperor Kyros - why wouldn't she want to unleash all the demons to a world that has only ever abused her and taught her she's nothing but a beast?

And then there's the AI art. When searching for information for the review, I found the author's website. The map she uses for her world is clearly from Inkarnate - which, as a Dungeon Master, I think there's a certain charm to it. However, on the character guide page, I noticed something was off about the character art. All of it was AI-generated. This led me to take a good look at the cover as well, and unsurprisingly, it was riddled with the usual mistakes AI makes when generating images. The lack of money spent on cover art also confirms my suspicions that no money was spent on an editor since an editor is a far greater expense. I find this development very disappointing, as AI art is currently being trained on art from people without their consent and without credit or payment.

Some of the most obvious mistakes are in the gallery of images in my blog post. They include strange merged hands, hair coming from chokers, belts emerging from themselves, and strangely dead eyes.

All in all, I think this is the first book of a self-published writer who was very excited by the process and didn't go through all the steps to deliver a quality book. The ideas are there and this story has a lot of potential, but it first needs to go through several drafts and rewrites, preferably with the help and insight of an experienced author or editor. In its current form, it's difficult to read due to its many mistakes, there's constant head-hopping, there's more exposition than there is story, and I found the book so difficult to get through that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I hope the author keeps writing and republishes this story one day - with a cover by a human artist.

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Content warnings
Note: This is just the first 200 pages

Sexual violence
Sexual violence is rampant in this world. The main character has to physically fight her way out of unwanted advances, she's constantly leered at, and sex work is shown to be one of the main ways for the poor of the city Kal is from to earn money.

Torture and death
Multiple characters are tortured on-screen, some of which are killed on-screen and some off-screen. Many more characters are killed.

This book is illegible. The formatting, the punctuation, the spelling mistakes. This is a shame because from what I read, I would have really enjoyed this. I just could not separate all the frequent formatting etc. mistakes from the writing, which I think, is a fair reason not to read something.

Unfortunately I did not get to read this book before it expired on my NetGalley app but it sounded very interesting from the synopsis.

this was a unique concept in the fantasy novel, it had everything that was promised in the description. I enjoyed getting into this world and getting to know the character overall. I enjoyed the way this was written and hope there is more in this universe.

I quite enjoyed the story and characters. I did not like the writing style or how the pov would switch mid paragraph. I think with a bit more editing this could have been a favorite.

OH MY GOD. OH. MY. GOD. THIS BOOK!

First of all, I just want to thank Netgalley and the author for this copy! Thank you so much for the chance <3

Well, now talking about this book. Age of Shadows started as a type of book I always like to read, no matter when: high fantasy, with a lot of good rep and captivating characters. Nothing would go wrong. AND I WAS RIGHT! Age of Shadows is incredible!

I liked how we had some different povs alongside the story, not only Kal talking. It helps us to know more about the other characters and to understand the ending.

And OMG THE ENDING!! I never expected anything that happen there. HOW THE AUTHOR GIVES US THAT PLOT TWISTS AND GO TO SLEEP WELL? omg... I swear, I will think about this ending and this book for the rest of my life. Definitely one of my best reads of the year.

God please, allow Brazilian publishers to bring this book to us so I can make everyone read and go crazy with me. Don't let me live alone in this world where I experienced the biggest thread of plot twists!

I really don't have anything bad to say about the structure, the characters, or the plot. Really, it is SO GOOD. My only negative points are:

- The layout was a little bad for me. I think it is because I had the PDF version, but several words came out together and were difficult to read, and the file didn't come with separate chapters (which was particularly bad for me. I like seeing the chapters separated, but it is something personal).
- I found some parts confusing to understand. I am used to it read in English, so I don't think it is because of it. But as there were only a few parts, my reading experience continued to be incredible.

Well, I finish my review here. I loved sm this book and I want the next one! Definitely will read everything that F. J. Ali writes! For those who read my review, go read Age of Shadows and change your life!

This was such an amazing read! I really enjoyed this book and was immediately swept in by the first chapter. I liked how the author carried the story in a way that wasn't slow or boring. I will be recommending this book to all my friends and family.

When runaway gladiator Kalyssa procures a magical amulet, she steals the chance to escape the poverty-stricken desert kingdom of Bahmaris with her dying brother.

Great fantasy with excellent world-building and well-written characters. I am excited for further volumes.

"Age of Shadows" by F. J. Ali promises an epic and thrilling fantasy adventure that is sure to captivate fans of the genre. This description hints at a richly detailed world filled with magic, mythical creatures, and complex characters.

The story follows Kalyssa, a runaway gladiator, as she embarks on a perilous quest to save her dying brother and prevent an impending apocalypse. The introduction of a magical amulet and the prophecy of an ancient god's return add an element of mystery and urgency to the plot, immediately drawing readers into a world teetering on the brink of chaos.

The presence of the Shadowfolk and their transformation into flesh-eating creatures introduces a sense of impending doom, creating a compelling backdrop for the unfolding narrative. The alliances formed among hidden tribes of vampires, lycanthropes, and daemons hint at the intricate web of relationships and conflicts that will shape the story.

The dynamic between Kalyssa and Emperor Kyros, from initial rivalry to the potential realization that they might share a common goal, promises complex character development and intriguing interpersonal dynamics. This evolution adds depth and dimension to the plot, making it more than just a battle of good versus evil.

Overall, "Age of Shadows" appears to be a thrilling fantasy novel that combines elements of prophecy, magic, and impending catastrophe. With its well-crafted world-building and the promise of complex characters, this book holds the potential to be an engaging and immersive reading experience for fans of epic fantasy tales.