Book review: Court of Shadows by C.N. Crawford

Title: Court of Shadows

Author: C.N. Crawford

Also by this Author: Court of Darkness

Series: The Shadow Fae series, book 1

Age Category: Adult

Published by: 22 August 2018, self-published

Pages: 224 p.

Genre: romantasy with an urban setting

About Court of Shadows

Arianna is living her life in freedom, having escaped life as a gladiator, until one night, her past comes back to make demands.

Enter the Shadow Fae Institute and compete in the trials, or you will never see your friend again.

On a night out, Arianna runs into some trouble, two shadow fae appear in the bar she works at and are out to get her. Ruadan one of the shadow fae, lets her live on one condition: complete the trials and become part of the Shadow fae Institute.

Along the way, Arianna has to decide to save her friend and deal with her past or betray her mentor Ruadan.

My thoughts on Court of Shadows

I am so glad that this was the conclusion of last month's poll, if you want to know more about this you can find the full article about it here. I am cleaning out my kindle, it feels good, and I think reading wise I am doing a great job this year. I am right on schedule. Completed four books up until now.

Let's dive into this story, this book was short with only 224 pages however, it packs a punch. The story is fast-paced right from the start, with lots of fighting. Arianna's backstory becomes a little bit clearer along the way, although we do not find out in this book, what Arianna is exactly. Regarding what Arianna is, there is not a lot we find out about her past, the author tried to build up for the reveal, which hopefully we will find in the next book. At this point, it was a little bit too obvious that C.N. Crawford was setting up the story for the rest of the series. I noticed it, but I don't mind that much, it did not hurt the story in any way. Could it be done more subtly? Yes, I think it could have, but that would have meant the book would need to be longer, and there is the risk that the pacing would be a bit slower.

This is the only criticism I have of this book, as I have enjoyed it immensely. Ruadan is just the kind of love interest I enjoy, I like my bad boys to be brooding. This was right up my alley, there is a lot of sexual tension being built however, it does not get spicy. I wanted more, and that is why I am continuing to the second book, which I have already started as I am writing this review. Point to the author for setting up the story in a way that you want to continue to the next book right away, that is such a powerful writing strength to have, especially as a self-published author.

The characters in this book are all likable or appropriately evil. The side characters, Melusine and Aengus, were real standouts, I hope they will last for the rest of the series. This story needs some sweet characters to balance out the ruthlessness of Ruadan and the Institute.

Let me tell you a little bit about the world-building, the story is set in post-apocalyptic London where almost all magical creatures have been sent to their magical worlds. The ones that are still roaming the streets are being caught by the Shadow fae, who are the enforcers in this world. They need to keep the balance and need to keep all magical creatures out of this world. In this first book, we also travel to other magical worlds, however not much is said about it. I am hoping that as the series continues, the world becomes clearer too.

This world can be very large, it leaves lots of room for exploring, as this series is 7 books long, I can imagine that we will see much more of it. Arianne as a character reminds me a little bit of Celeana/Aelin from Throne of Glass, they share some of the same motives. This is not a comparison, as that would not be fair, ranking traditionally published against self-published. Not that there is anything wrong with self-published books, I am a big fan, though they are a little less polished. That is why I enjoy them so much, I could get into the whole trend of self-published authors being picked up by traditional publishing, but that is an article on its own.

My conclusions of Court of Shadows

This is a good start to a series, it is very addictive, so much so that while writing this review I got distracted by the second book in the series. I spent a good hour reading while I should be writing this review. That could not be interpreted in another way than it is a huge complement to the author.

This book is fast-paced, full of action scenes, and there is also a lot of sexual tension building between Ruadan and Arianne. There is a lot that is left unresolved, but it also has a proper ending to this part of the story.

Arianne seems very relatable, although I think her character could be a little bit more traumatized. That sounds awful, I am struggling with how to explain this properly. There could have been a little bit more depth to her character, in the sense of acting like the traumatized fae she is. It would make the reader feel even more invested, and the betrayals will hurt a lot more. It will make the story a bit heavier, I would not have minded if it got a little darker. On the other hand, I can understand that this approach might satisfy a lot more readers.

All I want at this moment is more, more of the relation, more of the world, and of course more Ruadan. As this read was such an addictive little pleasure, this gets four cats from me.