Thank you to the publisher for the earc!

I had high expectations for this book, and I hate to say that I was extremely disappointed. The premise sounds amazing, a world divided by the magic in your blood, a girl turned to thief to survive, an impossible heist and a bit of enemies to lovers.

The book is a little more than 300 pages, and it took me a week to read it. It was a struggle. I was waiting for something exciting to happen, but I was at 75% and still nothing?! I mean a lot of things happened, but it was quite boring. The actual heist takes place in the last few chapters of the book, up till that point, I’d say they are preparing for it, but that would be a lie.

The book starts with info-dumping, but I was still really confused about everything. The magic system was too confusing and overcomplicated (and based on a few reviews I’ve skimmed through I’m not the only one who felt this). I still have so many questions, and I know I’ll never get answers to them. We got too much information at once, so the relevant ones got buried under all the unnecessary stuff. Or they weren’t even written down.

There are so many lies and half truths in this book, it was a challenge to keep up with them. Cemmy and Chase constantly deceived each other, and then they were surprised why the other doesn’t trust them. Like, seriously?

Except Cemmy and Chase all the other characters felt like a plot device. They were only present because their magic was needed, and that’s all. We did get backstories, that’s true, but for me those weren't enough to feel anything for them. Also, Cemmy kept saying how familiar Chase was, but up until the revelation I didn’t realize why. Because I don’t remember getting a description of the other character.

The only good point was the deaf and sign language rep. I absolutely loved that.

Honestly, this book feels like the author wanted much more than they were capable of. Creating a whole new fantasy world with a proper magic system is challenging, and in this case it wasn’t done right.

Magically teenagers whose very existence is outlawed must band together to stop the Church from destroying all magic—including their lives—by completing an impossible heist.

I did not really understand the magic system in this book. I get the concept of different colors having different powers and each color being passed down to their children, and I also understood that each color when “diluted” with non-magical blood would create a half-magic baby called a hue. But I don’t really know what the grey is, how it is used, why it is constantly killing people, what phasing does, how the full shades powers differ from the hues, what happens if two hues of different color have a child (or is everyone practicing eugenics?), or even really the power structure between the council and the church. The villain was a comic book supervillain.

All of that would be fine because I don’t actually think a high-action heist novel needs to get too far in the weeds about the magic system. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel connected with a lot of the characters. Most of the found family characters fell flat for me because we don’t see when they first meet or when it is functioning as an actual found family; instead, it’s snippets of a family already deeply wounded by the shattering of one of their own and the secret (sort of, it wasn’t much of a revelation) that the FMC was keeping about it all along. I also didn’t really want the FMC and the MMC to end up together. If you enjoy the characters of this character-driven book, I think it’d be a fun read. Character age, themes, and content wise this felt YA appropriate.

I got the eARC from NetGalley so thank you to them!
I really love the unique magic system of this world! It was a bit confusing at times, but really cool! Although I had fun reading this, there was one major thing that stopped me from fully enjoying the book: the character relationships were really weak. The main group is supposed to be a found family but they barely even interacted with each other. <spoiler>When Eve died I barely felt anything</spoiler> and Ezzo never seemed to care about Novi or Cemilla. I heard the author is writing a companion novel in this world which is great because I wanted more of the magic and world to be explored and the story with these characters wrapped up perfectly

I don't have a lot of good to say about this book unfortunately. I found a lot of it rather contrived, the main character incredibly annoying, and also I called two of the big twists more than a hundred pages before each was revealed. I'm just glad to be done reading this.

I really struggled with the first half of this book, because it felt like a very basic fantasy YA book. The main character uses her powers to steal to take care of her sick mother and gets caught and forced to help out with a heist. As we go along some more is revealed such as abilities related to the different colors of magic, and also her previous relationship with a teammate and new feelings with Chase. There is a twist towards the end that I liked, but it's not one that you'll never see coming. Overall if you like books like six of crows and a tempest of tea, I'd recommend.

Thank you to Hodderscape and Netgalley for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I had to DNF at 50%.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, but I just couldn’t continue. This book was very fast paced, which made it difficult for me to keep up with what was going on. The magic system was interesting, but I wish it was a bit more explained. I think because it’s a relative small fantasy book, the magic system, characters and the worldbuilding weren’t as fleshed out as they should.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

One of the things I did loved reading in this book was the depth and complexity of the relationships between the characters. It got me on my feelings more than once, and I say that as the highest compliment, because lately it hasn’t been easy for a book to do so.
But, to be honest, the pacing of the book was not for me. It did grab my attention the last 20% of the story, and that is why I rated it 3 stars, but I didn’t enjoyed the magic system very much and the thinking process of the characters was too teenagery. Overall, I was underwhelmed and it was difficult for me to get through the book and not DNF it.

The story throws you right into the action. The female main character is about to break into the governors house to steal something so she can buy medicine for her dying mother. She really gives you the impression of being a loyal person who would do anything for the people she loves until she betrays her friends the moment she gets into a bad situation. But while it hits the fan we get info dump after info dump about colours and hues and magical powers connected to them and the only way to not be confused at any new detail is to just not think about it. I dnf’d after 50 pages because the book couldn’t manage to pull me in and didn’t spark any interest in the characters. This also seemed like a younger YA even though the mc is 19.

I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley. I am fully in the middle at 2.5 stars with how I feel about this book. I liked it but I didn’t at the same time. The plot is decent and had potential. There’s too many things that are confusing about the book for it to be good though. The magic system is interesting but extremely confusing. Magic users are called shades and are different colors based on their abilities. Their abilities aren’t clearly explained which got very confusing toward the end especially when people were using more than one color magic. To make it even more confusing there are Hues who are half shade half not and they have different yet similar abilities to the Shades. There are too many poorly explained colors to understand the magic system which makes a book where magic is a major part of it confusing.

I started out very interested in the concept of a color-based magic system, however, at the end of this book I felt like the overall premise felt too weak for my liking. This is correctly being marketed on Goodreads as "young adult" as it certainly reads like it. Heavy on the fantasy and action, almost nonexistent on the romance. Queer and Deaf representation.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC. I really enjoyed this book. The magic system based on colours was fascinating, although a little complicated at first, and the plot revolving around a heist was intriguing. The characters sometimes felt a little flat but that didn't afect the story too much cause I was already invested. I think that you should definitely give Until We Shatter a try.

This is a fun, action-packed YA fantasy. The worldbuilding is pretty immense at times, with a unique magic system, but Kate Dylan's prose keeps the reader engaged. Cemmy is an easy character to root for, and I liked the bi representation and that the friendship arc was developed as prominently as the romantic storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF. This book just really not for me unfortunately. I think it will end up being popular with people that love YA fantasy

Although this was one of the books i was most excited to read this year, i found it to be quite disappointing.
there was a lot of info dumping that made me feel like the author really wanted the readers to know she did her homework - which isnt bad necessarily i just think it wasnt well implemented. i wish it was sprinkled in whenever we needed the information as opposed to just paragraphs of information we dont even need for the particular scene. But the ideas were interesting which is what made me rate it 3 (enjoyment wise it would be probably 2.5). I think its also important to state that i was reading it at the same time as way of kings and i think it probably made me realise i liked it less than i would if i was reading it without comparing.

it it by no means a bad book, just didnt live up to what i feel like it set out to do.
I also followed and watched so many of the authors insta vid about this book and talking about how everyone she gave this book to is rating it high and talks about the emotional damage and i think it set up wrong expectations because i truly couldn't feel it? that being said, reading is extremely subjective and I am glad people have enjoyed the book so far!

I wouldn't mind continuing with the series but i think for me it would be only if some of my friends tell me its worth the time investment.

I love the concept in this book of the In-Between, along with the color coded magic system and the existence of a shadow reality.
Sadly I still struggled to get through this book, even though the writing style is really really good and a good heist always gets my attention.

I am all for throwing the reader in the middle of the action and trusting them to catch up with the concept and worldbuilding later. However, I need some kind of hook to reel me in - either intellectually or emotionally. And even though these hooks are there on paper (an unjust, oppressive world, personal tragedy, lives at stake, deadly secrets...), nothing has really reached me. Even the found family that is shown later felt somewhat detached (although I really appreciate the diversity and rep).

The world and magic system were super intriguing, though also somewhat too complicated for such short a book. There's orders and churches and colors and Shades and Half-Shades and typics, and I kinda lost my grip on it.

I wanted to love this book, but eventually I found myself rushing through it. I'm sure though that I will try more books by the author, because it's apparent she can write and plot like hell - just this book wasn't for me.

3/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @hodderbooks for the eARC!

#UntilWeShatter #Netgalley #Bookstagram #Heist

𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗪𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 • 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗗𝘆𝗹𝗮𝗻
★★★.𝟱

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁
- YA fantasy
- Heists
- Unique world building
- Bisexual MC
- Deaf side character
- Sign language rep
- Found family

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
This was such an interesting YA fantasy that worked towards an epic heist, one so epic that it’s capable of starting and winning a civil war. I liked the world building and the magic system though I think it could have been shown more straightforwardly and cohesively. From what I understand, there were typics who followed the Church, Shades with powers who follow the Council, and Hues, a byproduct of Typic/Shade procreation and one that is hunted.

The protagonist, Cemmy, is a Hue. And possibly the most emotionally angsty hue at that. I thought she was tenacious, but also really self-absorbed. She was unwilling to trust anybody, unwilling to listen to anybody, and entirely unwilling to see reason most of the time. If I had to pull off a heist with her I would genuinely double cross her because she is a liability 😂.

I liked the found family in this book however it did seem more monotone than vibrant. Cemmy hid so much from them all that I felt like the bonds were tenuous at the best of times. It’s not the first time a good book has been thwarted by a frustrating main character, and it surely won’t be the last for me. I’m glad I read it and I think many people will enjoy this.

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

This was unfortunately a DNF from me. I was so excited to read it but I just couldn’t continue. First of all, this is a very fast paced book. Everything was going so fast that it was difficult to keep up with everything that was going on. The magic system was complicated, I wish we had more time at the beginning of the book to learn and experience the magic with the characters. The world-building, magic system and characters all fell flat.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC.

I feel so bad but I'm going to dnf this at 35%.

I liked the synopsis of this book so much and I was overly excited to read it. I mean a magical world, a half shade who became a thief for her mother.

Why I ended up dnf'ing it:
- I found the MC lame. I expected a badass character. In the beginning as I found out how she kept an eye on her friends I was so impressed. She gave me the 'Would die for family and friends vibe'. Then I found out how she is the reason someone died, I felt sympathy towards her. But then I saw how easily she gave up the safety of her friends to save herself, that was already a huge RED flag for me. Also her friends were also lame, how can they handle a betrayal so easily, not even a little bit of anger towards the MC.

That is the main reason that I stopped. If I don't care about the character (s), if I despise the MC. I don't see the point to continue reading this.

Thank you so much netgalley and Hodder Publicity.

The worldbuilding was overwhelming and the characters weren't well developed but the writing was good

Thank you Hodder & Stouton, Kate Dylan and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely LOVED the entire magic system in this world, but having it be rushed in a 300 page book was overwhelming and confusing. This really could've benefit from being a longer novel or with the help of a glossary at the start of the book.

I already really liked Dylan's writing style, as I could not put this book down once I got over the info-dumping. There were high stakes but again, because the book was cut so short I didn't have enough time to really connect to all of the side characters and some events didn't get me as hard as was most likely intended. Still a really good adult fantasy debut and I'm curious to see what else the author will have in store for us in the future!

Definitly pick this up if you want an action-packed, standalone adult book about magical heists!