Never Lower Your Eyes In The Face Of Death

I recently finished reading To Kill A Shadow by Katherine Quinn. This is book #1 in the Mistlands series.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

  Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"Jude Maddox knows nothing of love or even light. He knows only his grim duty as the Hand of Death, to lead the Knights of the Eternal Star into a land filled with nightmares and certain demise. It’s only when he sees her―a young woman with wild, amber eyes who’s as fierce, defiant, and swift as the shadow beasts themselves―that he feels the warmth of life in his blood…

The other Knights may fear their lethal commander, with his hard, merciless demeanor. Outcast Kiara Frey sees only a leader, a man who knows how to survive. Someone like her. But wanting him is as treacherous as the shadows themselves…and just as seductive.

With a kingdom on the verge of collapse, the Knights must now venture into the darkest heart of the land and uncover the secrets of the misted shadows, where evil will prey upon their minds and feast on their flesh.

It will betray their senses. It will surpass their nightmares. Most of them will die.

But they have no other choice. Because the only way to fight the darkness…is to become it."

This book is mostly vibes with a small sprinkle of a fantasy plotline. I had heard many great things about this book but I had a hard time connecting with the writing. I felt that the author spent a lot of time establishing the dark and sinister atmosphere but not enough time building the world. Additionally, I didn’t feel like the two main characters had good chemistry and their relationship felt a little predictable. 

This story follows Kiara and Jude as they are sent on a mission to try to break the curse of mist on their kingdom. Kiara is stubborn and fierce while Jude is cold and aloof. The first half of the book felt very slow and was hard to get through as it didn’t feel like the plot was really moving. The book starts to pick up in the second half but a lot of the plot twists felt a little predictable. 

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy dark fantasy vibes with forbidden romance and prefer a more atmospheric book, where the ending makes the book. I would not recommend this to anyone who needs more world-building and doesn’t enjoy a predictable book.

Check out To Kill A Shadow, and find out if it's possible or not to actually kill a shadow.

Happy Reading :)