I love a good heist. The premise for this one seemed really fun, I love unusual magic systems and this one uses elements from colour science to differentiate between different magical classes .

But something didn't quite work for me and I did end up setting this story aside. The world building was engaging but at time overcomplicated and not delivered in the best ways, but I think my biggest issue was with the tone of the writing. I am an adult reader and this is a YA title so this should be considered with my review, but where I think it was aiming for playful it landed more in the realm of immaturity. I unfortunately find it very difficult to connect to characters if the prose is not working well for me, and that was an issue I had with Until We Shatter.

Not a good fit for me, but for readers who are less particular about their prose this one does have a creative premise and very relevant themes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and Hodderscape for this advanced copy. You can pick up Until We Shatter on October 17, 2024.

While I wanted to love this one and get swept away in a world full of color-magic and heists, I'm afraid this story didn't hit the mark. Right away, I was bombarded with info-dumping and over-the-top world-building that slowed the story and took me out of it completely at times. While the premise had potential, the execution of the various Shades and their capabilities was overcomplicated and difficult to keep track of. I felt little connection to Cemmy or her crew, and it felt like the plot forced itself along at times.

This book was just not my cup of tea, but others might get a kick out of it if they enjoy intense fantasy worlds and lots of banter.

This one is a little confusing for me. From the description this book should have been completely up my alley, but something fell a little short for me. I do want to start by saying that the authors actual writing is amazing. I am having issues with a summary because I found it a little difficult to understand the world in this book. A lot of the relationships (friendship or otherwise) I felt were majorly under developed. Focusing more of the world and the story itself would have been better than having a relationship sub plot between Cemmy and Chase in my opinion. That would have greatly helped the book get the point across. I don't think this is a bad book for a YA standalone but I understand that I may not have been the intended audience. I think many will love it however I just liked it.

In this world there are typics (us), Shades (super magic), and Hues (less magic, plus everyone wants you dead). Six Hue teenagers get Six of Crowed into stealing a Thing or there will be Consequences. Cemmy, our main character, has Bronze magic (yeah, this magic system is COMPLICATED), a martyr complex, and an on-again-off-again girlfriend, Novi. Enter stage right: Chase, a morally grey, silver-eyed magic stealer who Cemmy constantly muses is very beautiful. Chase tries to help Cemmy amp up her magic before the big day, but his method of teaching is like if you were learning to ride a bike, he’d tell you there was a lion coming up fast behind you. There’s also Eve and Ezzo, who are one of those couple that probably share a social media account, and Lyria, who accidentally gets caught up in other people’s drama. Oh, and Cemmy is haunted by the secret guilt that she ended up getting someone killed a while back. Oops.

This was an interesting concept of a story that I think got bogged down in the details.

The magic system is pretty interesting, but 50% of the way into the book it's still being explained and repeated because of how complicated it is. I think this definitely could have used a glossary to explain the magic/powers so people could look back and remember which color was associated with what much faster.

I'm not sure how I feel about Cemmy, our FMC, as a character. While I understand that this is her POV and her motivations are compelling, I was extremely over hearing about them after the first 50 pages. Her entire personality is rooted in wanting to help her mother and being terrified of "causing" someone else to shatter. That's it, that's really all Cemmy is. There are moments when she shines and grows, but then 20 minutes later she's withdrawn into herself and very much moaning about causing someone to shatter again. I understand the fear and the motivation, but I think the amount of times it was brought up (particularly when it didn't impact what was going on in the story) was overkill and really took me out of the moment.

The pacing of this felt incredibly slow for a) this being a heist story and b) being a YA fantasy book. I think a large part of this is the overly complicated magic system. It's incredibly cool and interesting, but for a standalone book, I think it was too big of an undertaking. The descriptions, the magic, and the visuals generated by both of those things would make this an extremely compelling movie, but told through Cemmy's POV, the actual plot gets lost in those details.

Being said, I DO love the found family aspect of the story, and was a big fan of the bisexual and deaf representation! Both aspects were necessary additions to the plot and woven in well--it didn't feel like we had a "token" deaf or LGBT characters, but the story also wasn't relying on those things to move it forward.

Overall this was an okay read. I enjoyed it enough the first go around, but probably won't pick it up again.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this book!

Until We Shatter follows Cemmy, a misfit thief at risk of persecution for being a “hue” by the Church. When she and her friends are forced to perform the heist of the Century with the mysterious Chase keeping an eye on them, it becomes the catalyst for events that will change the lives of Cemmy, her friends and everyone in her city which is now on the brink of civil war.

While the prose was quite dazzling, and the many plot twists kept you on the edge of your seat, the magic system was difficult to wrap my head around - making the first few quarters of the novel a confusing read.

Thank you to Net Galley and Hodderscape for the ARC. I am a fan of heists in general, but for me, I like heists best when I like the characters. Unfortunately I could not care about the characters and the beginning was really infodumpy. The world building felt clunky.

3.5 stars

This book is both a lot and not enough. The world and magic system is A LOT, but the character relationships were just not enough for me.

So the magic system....there are colors (shades) which have certain powers, but then if they mix with a "typic" then there are hues with different powers, but then there's a church which is anti-magic, and a council of the shades which hates the hues, and OMG are you overwhelmed yet? Oh, and there are rogue shades too. And both sides kind of want to destroy the other, and the hues (which make up our main cast of characters), have to hide from everyone. Now, let's add a complex heist! With characters not having full information to make decisions!

The main issue I had with the characters is all the secrets and lying. Cemmy is such a frustrating lead with everything she holds back, and then Chase is also withholding a ton of information. And no surprise, but secrets aren't great for good outcomes. And I just was left cold by their potential relationship. Honestly, I kind of wish Cemmy and Novi could have gotten back together.

So the good? There was bi rep and deaf rep with signing! And it was an engaging read.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the preview. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

RATING AND OVERALL THOUGHTS:

**“The problem with only being half a Shade is that you only have half the magic. And half the magic equals half the power. Which, by some cruel twist of luck, equals twice the problems.”**

5 stars! I was absolutely blown away by the concept of this novel and its execution! I absolutely loved it and even though its a standalone, I need more from this world and from this ragtag group of Hues. I was kept intrigued and on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book and will be thinking about all of it for a long time.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

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**“I am the violence the world made of me.”**

WHAT I LOVED:

- Queer and diversity rep as well as deaf and signing rep.
- Found family that *really* tests the strength of that bond. **“I forgot that love isn’t a blaze you feed by only kindling your strengths. It demands your insecurities, too. It demands faith.”**
- A unique magic system and world that I found myself drawn to wanting to know more about. The Grey gave me Shadowfell vibes and I felt like I was reading a D&D campaign which I absolutely love.
- A villian that I both loved and hated and was so calculating it was chilling.
- A fast paced and intense main heist with twists I predicted but unfolded in a way I did not expect until it happened taking me by surprise!
- Chapter 24 ripped my heart out.
- GIVE ME MORE KATE!

WHAT I DISLIKED:

- I have literally none other than I want/need this to have been longer. Any “complaints” I have are more of preferences or confusion of certain things that I will explain further in the next section.

WHAT I AM NOT SURE ABOUT/WANTED MORE OF:

- A magic guide either at the beginning or end of the book to be able to flip back to reference better. Without it I had to keep scrolling through my chapter by chapter notes to parse information together or to know which chapter to go back to. I think that would’ve helped to clear up some of my confusion as to what Shade/Hue and its variants did what a lot earlier.
- I do think instead of this happening in a week that it could’ve happened over a month instead and that would’ve made the romance a little more natural as well as the training of their powers and their growth with it. Savian (such a great villain) could’ve had them do other heists/lifts for things to aid them in the main one or just because Savian wanted it. He easily could’ve kept one of the “unneeded” members hostage for extra motivation.
- Speaking of Savian, I am a little confused with how powerful Savian was and how he was able to use a bunch of different Shade colours when he is a Green which only allows him to heal or kill? I suspect that maybe it is because he had the crystal embedded into Chase and was able to siphon from that but that is only a guess. It is entirely possible that I missed the explanation for this during another moment.
- Another thing that confused me was when Novi was referred to as ‘En’ at the end, that threw me for a loop. I get Cassiel wanted to go by Chase and I get there was Ezzo and Eve and they were referred to as the ‘E’s’ which made sense since they were together, but calling Novi ‘En’ just keep muddling up who was who. TBH I also think Cassiel/Chase or Cemmy/Cem could’ve also benefited from having a different name that didn’t start with any of the letters already in rotation.

Seriously this is such a fantastic novel I will be thinking about this for weeks!

"As a half shade, my very existence makes me illegal - on both sides of the magical divide"

I will say, the first 30-40% of the book I was very unsure about it and considered DNFing. The world and plot were a bit complex and difficult to understand, but once I got over the learning curve and started to understand the world and what was happening, I began to enjoy the book a lot more.

"It is easier to vilify the pleasure you cannot have than watch another man enjoy it"

This book is a story about four friends who are brought into a heist that they don't want to be involved in, but because of their varying abilities, they are threatened into working on the job. In this world there are normal people, typics, and people with magical ability, hues. But when the hues and typics have children together, they make shades, which are less understood. Typics of the church don't like shades or hues, because they feel threatened by their magic. And hues of the council don't like shades because they are less understood and feel like a threat to their magic. These group of four friends are all hues with different abilities that allow them to work together as a thieving team, allowing them to steal in order to make ends meet in a society where they're hated.

"When Eve smiles, Ezzo brightens, and when Ezzo's vigils in the Gray start bordering on obsessive, Eve's the one to pull him back from the edge"

This book is not only a story about a heist, but a story about love, trust and friendship. It's a story about learning how to understand yourself and how to trust others. I will say though, while I did feel for the characters, I never cried in this book, which makes the entire book feel weaker. There were lots of moments where I felt like I should feel more, and possibly cry, but I didn't.

"I am using you Cemilla, so use me back"

This book also reminded me a lot of the Scholomance Trilogy of Naomi Novik, not in the plot, characters or story but just in the overarching theme. They have similar feelings in their world and the message the stories are trying to tell. So if you enjoyed the Scholomance Trilogy, you might like this book.

Thank you netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to read this book as I love a heist story that's aided by magic but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations and was a bit of a slog to get through.

While I'm glad that I didn't DNF it as the end was great, it took me far too long to get into and to finish. I definitely felt a reading slump coming but managed to fight through it to see how it ended.

I think the biggest issue is that the magic system is just way too complex, especially for a pretty short book. I still didn't fully get to grips with it by the end and the explanations and info dumping around it slowed the pace down way too much and got in the way of me caring for the characters. The result was that while the stakes in the story were huge, I didn't care too much about them.

This book also falls into the realm of 'if I just talked to other characters then nothing bad would happen' and it got increasingly frustrating that people weren't communicating or learning from their very obvious mistakes.

While the premise was fun and the action - once we got some - was pretty tense, the story suffered from an overly complicated magic system. This also sapped away a lot of my enjoyment.

This was so fast paced and well thought out! The magic system was fortunately (or unfortunately) complicated, snd not just "black and white" (don't you love puns?), there were things to consider when using magic, plans to make, and our characters had to really use their brains, which is refreshing.
While our characters were smart, they were also flawed, but realistically so, which I appreciate as well.
This is really worth a read!

A magical heist…yes please!!
This was perfect for fans of six of crows and if you like things like Oceans 11 but want to add in a magical element then this is it.

The magic system is simple enough, however, it is feels a little over complicated due to the colours, hues and what each is capable of. There were probably too many variables for me to keep track of easily but for the heist itself I can see why they were needed. The ragtag team are young and desperate and of course there are secrets and the way Kate Dylan has woven their stories and keeps the story flowing with the drama and execution of the heist it is both enthralling and captivating. I enjoyed our main two characters and liked the way they were testing each other and supporting each other.

I received this book as an ARC through NetGalley and provide my honest opinion

Kate Dylan's Until We Shatter is an engaging and complex fantasy with a unique magical system and a strong found family theme.

When Cassie's mother falls ill she has no choice but to turn to thieving using her illegal magic, assisted by her small group of equally illegal friends. Caught between the Council and the Church - both who hate those who are half shades, they operate quite literally in an in-between world which has the power to shatter them to tiny pieces if something goes wrong. It's deadly and dangerous on all sides. When Cassie is snatched by a rogue full shade and his accomplice, they are all dragged into a scheme so elaborate it seems inconceivable - a heist that could save magic, but against impossible odds.

There are moments of high drama and emotion, and I powered through the chapters on the actual heist as that was quite exciting. However, the magic system, while not exactly complex, was convoluted and difficult to remember. Therefore there was quite a bit of time where things were a little unclear because I wasn't sure what skill each Hue had, especially in the early parts of the novel.

This is a young adult book which feels very appropriate. The romance is pretty light-touch and while the relationship between Cassie and Chase is central to the story, it's more about the trust built (or not) than about the romantic feelings, and physically nothing more than a bit of kissing happens. The friendships between the whole crew are a key focus, and Cassie's relationship with her mum is also of great importance.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Until We Shatter is a lovely standalone that I devoured in one sitting. I didn't know what to expect, to be honest, and I haven't read anything by this author yet, so I dived in with excitement. There's always something magical when you read a book by a new-to-you author. I enjoyed Until We Shatter a lot!!

We follow Cemy's perspective who is a girl lost inside her head, partly trapped by her mother's words and partly trapped by her own trauma. She fears the Grey, and she simply doesn't believe in herself at all. She really does her best in every situation, her best to survive, her best to deliver medicine to her mom, her best to her friends. It goes VERY WRONG at times, but at its core, Cemy always does her best, and it's a pity that she only sees herself as a failure to be avoided...

The love interest is Chase who has a myriad secrets and when you thought you knew the last one, poof, another came to light. He's determined and is willing to do anything to reach his goal, even do awful things. He's a ends justify the means sort of guy.

The worldbuilding is ambitious, especially for a standalone. It's a magic system based in colors, and I always wanted to read a book like this! It was, however, a lot to describe. We had a glossary at the beginning, but I forgot what it said even before the 20% mark. A lot of colors, a lot of powers, and then at some point, there was a dominant side and an atypical side, which I didn't understand much, I'm afraid. I like to have a better grasp on the worldbuilding, but in this case, I just went with the flow because my super-stressed brain couldn't retain the information.

The plot was twisty and always kept us up. I do see why others mention loopholes, but for me, it was the too-complicated plotlines and yet some too-easily-solved events that stick out because of the too-complicated plotline just before the resolution. But I did like the big plot twist!!!!! It was awesome!

I also appreciated the themes in the book and the LGBTQIA+ rep!

Overall, I think the story would benefit if this was a duology so that we had more breathing room to fully understand the worldbuilding. Otherwise, the story was fresh with morally grey characters who do their best to survive in a very cruel society that only hunts them down.

It is the monthly pick for a monthly box, so check my Instagram to see if I recommend to skip or not!

The prose and writing in this standalone fantasy was absolutely phenomenal, however, this I sadly the only aspect I enjoyed, I found the world-building extremely confusing and often had to go back and forth between pages to keep up with story, While reading fantasy I expect a lot of info dumping in the first 20% and when the story starts to come together is when you start to understand where the Author is going. I sadly didn’t find that with ‘Until We Shatter’, I was still very confused ant the 70% mark. Additionally, I found myself unattached to the characters even as the story came to the conclusion.

Until We Shatter is a brilliant standalone adult fantasy that is so beautifully written that it makes my mouth water.

Look, I'm a sucker for a found family trope, it's in all of my favourite novels and I think it always will be. I think the struggles with the guilt and loyalty were excellently portrayed and you felt the exact reason why she felt these things.

The magic system was unique enough that it didn't sound repetitive of any other books which is refreshing especially within a fantasy genre that has repeated tropes. The Hues and the Shades were a really interesting concept and definitely something that I wish for Kate Dylan to expand on.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodderscape for this eARC in return for an honest review!

Thank you so much for this ARC! This book has a few plot holes that need to be mended. The quitting is beautiful but the plot needs some work. Chase is flat, but over all a decent MMC.

To be fair, the beginning was difficult for me... there was too much information in the first few pages so I set myself the goal of reading one chapter a day because I didn't necessarily feel "in the story" (so to speak). A few times I really needed a notebook and a pen to be able to write down hues' powers in the first few chapters, and when I came across the comprehensive list with all the explanations of the powers and so on, I really started making diagrams that I can look at along the way. Basically, the whole concept of shades and hues combined with superpowers is a very complex one that made me turn back the pages several times to find explanations that I had a hard time remembering.

The universe itself is very well designed, Isitar is presented very well and I had no problems visualizing the places, but I would have liked more mentions about the other places, not just a few words from Chase (I understand that the action takes place exclusively in Isitar, but this is my subjective opinion).

In the construction of the characters I noticed some "injustices" if I can call them that. More precisely, I didn't feel that I could get close to any of them because I couldn't find out much about their beliefs, their traits, how they relate to different situations. The information we had was, for the most part, superficial. In principle, I am referring to Magdalena. I see her name in almost every chapter and yet everything I know about her is insufficient to make me empathize with her situation. The only two characters that are presented more clearly and in more detail are Cemmy and Chase. Cemmy is the ultimate pick me girl (I'm sorry but I can't help but see her that way) and many times I was so amused by her actions because I saw this pattern.

The love story didn't surprise me either, if it did not exist, it would have been the same for me. The fact that all this attraction develops in less than 7 days seems to me, to be honest, unrealistic and failed to put little hearts in my eyes when I got to the enemies to lovers part.

All in all, I really liked the concept and the whole universe that was woven with special mastery by the author. If it wasn't for this new idea around which the story was created, I probably would never have managed to finish the book.

3.5 stars!

This was such a good read! The magic system is just SO cool.

The characters are nicely written, and our main girl was specifically enjoyable to read about. The romance was just about enough, but I’d have liked a little more! While this felt like a well paced and sized read, if it was a little longer I think the info dumping at the beginning wouldn’t have been such a harsh learning curve, and the romance would have had a little more time to shine.

The writing was arguably one of my favourite parts of this book, incredibly easy to read but not simplistic in the slightest. The plot was gripping, a perfect execution of a heist! Well paced, easy milestones for us to follow along with and VERY cool plot twists (that I did not fully see coming!)

My only complaint is that it feels unfinished! There are SO many more things I’d have wanted to explore (especially after the heist was finished and we could explore other things that popped up during the book). I know theres going to be another book that connects to this one…but I just needed a little more!!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the eArc :’)