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A review by serru
Shadow Magic by Danielle Bennett, Jaida Jones
1.0
Really bland book. Feels like not much truly happened despite all the fancy prose. And as in Havemercy, the real plot doesn't kick in until maybe the last 80 pages or so. And it's still bland and boring.
It's also quite obvious that both authors are huge fans of Japanese culture-- Ke-han is basically feudal Japan, though oddly enough, their naming scheme also uses names from other East Asian cultures (a few characters had Chinese- and Korean-sounding names while others had Japanese ones). All four main characters resemble anime cliches: Mamoru and Kouje are like a typical master-servant couple found in a lot of yaoi manga (except without the romantic relationship), and Caius and Alcibiades bicker like an old married couple. Unfortunately, this means that the characters are very two-dimensional. Their interactions were predictable and not at all interesting.
I also get the sense that the authors really love their characters, which explains why so much of the book is spent on detailing their every thought and action in all sorts of unnecessary, filler-like scenes. It was like the authors thought it'd be funny to see this character in this or that situation, regardless of its relevance to the plot.
It's also quite obvious that both authors are huge fans of Japanese culture-- Ke-han is basically feudal Japan, though oddly enough, their naming scheme also uses names from other East Asian cultures (a few characters had Chinese- and Korean-sounding names while others had Japanese ones). All four main characters resemble anime cliches: Mamoru and Kouje are like a typical master-servant couple found in a lot of yaoi manga (except without the romantic relationship), and Caius and Alcibiades bicker like an old married couple. Unfortunately, this means that the characters are very two-dimensional. Their interactions were predictable and not at all interesting.
I also get the sense that the authors really love their characters, which explains why so much of the book is spent on detailing their every thought and action in all sorts of unnecessary, filler-like scenes. It was like the authors thought it'd be funny to see this character in this or that situation, regardless of its relevance to the plot.