Title / Daughter of Shadow
Author / Tyler Sehn
Publication Date / 2015
Page no. / 534 (kindle)
Star Rating / ★★★
Goodreads synopsis: Born with one foot in light and one in darkness, she is torn between both. Melea is the greatest warrior in the world. In service to the Lord of Light, she uses her abilities to kill for his divine vision. Shadows grow larger as the Light spreads—the world and the forces that define it are changing and Melea is caught in the center. Melea denies being a villain, refuses to be a hero, and would rather slash with the razors edge than walk along it. Fate spins, or so it is said, and Melea is cursed with the luck of the dead.
I first read this a similar time last year but decided on a whim to reread it in September. I initially gave it a 2.5 star rating but I bumped it up to 3.5. I will say from the start that this book isn’t perfect but I thought it had a lot of potential. The first thing I want to talk about is the plot. I personally found it to be quite compelling, although there are definitely parts of the story that do drag and are perhaps unnecessary. It is also a little confusing at times. Due to this it was quite a slow read for me and I consider myself a relatively fast reader. However I never felt bored so it didn’t bother me too much. The relative frequent changes in perspectives wasn’t my favourite thing but I managed to keep track of what was going on with each character. If that is something that you don’t like though, it is probably something to be aware of going in. The writing is easy to get into and although the book is long it is not too dense. I think the action scenes were written well. The world is an interesting one too and I thought overall the world building was well done. There are few instances where I wanted a bit more explanation but perhaps that would come in the sequel. I would love to know more about this world. The first chapter definitely opens this book really well and I was intrigued from the start.
While the characters are generally well written, I think they were lacking some depth, especially Melea. I think she had so much potential to be an amazing character but in practice she just doesn’t quite live up to that potential. I think the main issue I had was that she’s frequently referred to as one of the best fighters and a ‘child of death’ but I wanted more proof of this. Yes it is clear she is a good fighter but I don’t think it’s clear that she’s supposed to be one of the best. I wanted more depth to her character. There were a few moments where I did get a little frustrated with her. Having said that I did still really enjoy her character and I would say she is probably one of my favourite things about this book. I really like that she is not a hero but she’s also not a villain – it’s not black or white with her character. There are a few other quite intriguing characters too. I found each perspective to be engaging, although I definitely preferred Melea chapters.
Overall I thought this was a good start to this fantasy series, although I don’t know when or if the second book is going to be released. I would continue on with this series, however since there is no sign of a sequel I may lose interest. Hopefully it will be released soon. It’s still worth checking out if it sounds interesting to you. Sorry this is quite a short review. Have you read this book? I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I will see you next time.
Pippa
thelittlebookowl 