TITLE: Of Silver and Shadow
AUTHOR: Jennifer Gruenke
RELEASED: February 16, 2020
PUBLISHER: Flux
FORMAT: eBook [Thanks for the eARC!]
GENRE: YA Fantasy
GOODREADS RATING: 4.15
TRIGGERS: Torture, mental abuse
REPS: POC, LGBTQIA+ side characters
SYNOPSIS
Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.
Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title.
But time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out.
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It’s been a while since I read this, and I left writing my review for way too late but.. well.. Let’s just dive into this, haha!
I really enjoyed the writing in this one. The book being the size it is – a whopping 480 (?) pages – it’s a huge bonus if you feel like it reads as smoothly as it possible can and that was the case. I could barely stop reading.
These people had stories on their tongues and spirit in their hearts. Imagine what this pllace could be, imagine how it could thrive, if only the king would let it.
Of course, that also has a lot to do with the plot and all the events occuring. The moment there’s even a chance of losing interest, something happens that grabs a hold of you again and draws you in. Not to mention some of the twists! Usually I see certain things coming, but at least one twist had me baffled and.. I enjoyed that feeling. After a while it’s not as easy to baffle someone with a plot twist when that someone devours books like no tomorrow – amiright?
The story is told from different POV’s and, while I enjoyed the main character’s POV, my favorite was definitely Adley’s – one of the King’s Children. She has to maintain a rough exterior, a cold-hearted, cold-blooded one, but there’s so much more to her. I’m actually sorry I didn’t get to know her better! On top of that, she’s queer. So, yay to that!
Ren herself is a joy to read as well. She’s complicated – wanting to be tough, having a “hells-may-care”-attitude, with the occassional heart coming through. I loved seeing that and the way it was done.
Then there’s Kellen and Darek, two male characters I really enjoyed as well! This means I enjoyed all the POV’s we got – wow! I’m honestly curious about what their futures hold, especially Kellen’s. That I want a story about – pretty please?
The big thing with this book, though, looking back at it.. Is the politics that are constantly playing a huge part of the story. They’re all either working to overthrow the king or to stop the rebels from doing so and that makes for intriguing moments and easily had me invested in everything going on in Erdis.
The way it all turned out? I think I am very, very ready to read the sequel, even though there was one thing I didn’t completely agreed with.
She was terrible and rusted. She was the kind of thing that gave you an infection if you were unlucky enough to scratch yourself on its edges.
That one thing I didn’t enjoy was the love-thing playing between Ren and another character. It didn’t feel genuine to me, too focused on the physical at the start. It could’ve been a slow, slow romance but instead it felt a bit forced and like “it should be there” for the story to work. Such a pity, because if that had been well done, this book would’ve been bloody brilliant. Not to mention some.. thoughts said male character had that felt wrong to me.
Overall, I’d say this definitely is a book worth reading if you want a diverse cast with different goals. A cast that is, unknown to them, all tied up together. A story that grabs you and has you invested in a country that deserves better.
How do you feel about politics in books?
What’s your favorite book with royalty in it?
Books & Munches 
Sounds good but I’m really not into books where I’m supposed to feel sorry for someone who tortures people. Just hope.
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