Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Shadow of What Was Lost

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington

7 reviews

mari_is_here's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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1_800_fuck_off's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

in all its glory, this book should be a five-star read for me. the world-building, the story-telling, the plot, the writing style—all of it! amazing! i’d love to continue the series, and i will as soon as i find the time to go pick the rest of the books up, but i can’t shake off the feeling that there was something missing.

i think it had to do with the connections the characters shared with one another. something was lacking. i would read how they would feel, but i wasn’t able to connect with it. it didn't feel genuine, though i’m not sure why. perhaps because it appeared that a character would place less importance on a long-standing close friendship than on a recent romantic possibility? i have no idea. i still thought the characters were fantastic, though. they were all so charming in their own unique ways, and they all had such endearing traits.

the fact that the book's major plot twist was actually rather obvious toward the end of the book was another element that i felt was a little bit lacking. i'm not sure if that was the author's intention, but when it became clear that

caeden was tal'kamar

, i wasn't shocked, surprised, or even flabbergasted hehe.

additionally, even though the book kept me entertained as i read it, it never really enthralled me, and i'm not sure why. this book fulfills every mark i enjoy in a high fantasy book featuring cisgender, heterosexual protagonists. nonetheless, i’m eager to get into the next two novels in the series.

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nerdkitten's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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donatio's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I did love the heavy world-building, that there was not as much romance as in many other books and I agree with all the people who say that the females were better-crafted than the male ones.
Yet this book felt quite slow to me and as if nothing much happens. The time skips seemed to skip over important parts and it all seems quite "easy" as in the prota could always find a solution right away and there were many points when they could just TELL that someone was trustworthy, too often in my opinion. Furthermore I have not been able to really bond with the characters, their grief for example did not affect me.
You can tell that it is a debut and not up there with Samantha Shannon or V. E. Schwab but I am intrigued enough to read the next books.

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