Shadow Kin (The Half-Light City #1)
by M.J. Scott
What is it about:
Welcome to the Half-Light City.
Imagine a city divided. On one side, the Night World, ruled by the Blood Lords and the Beast Kind. On the other, the elusive Fae and the humans, protected by their steadfast mages. A city held together by nothing more than a treaty-and even then, just barely...
I was born of a Fae mother, but I had no place amongst her kind. They called me "soulless." An abomination. Perhaps they're right...I'm a wraith, a shadow who slips between worlds. I was given into the service of a Blood Lord who raised me to be his most feared assassin. Still, I'm nothing more than a slave to my master, and to the need that only he can fulfill...
Then he orders me to kill Simon DuCaine, a powerful sunmage. In the blaze of his magic, my own disappears. Instead of seeking revenge, Simon shows me mercy. He wants to free me. But that's one thing my master and his kind will never allow.
And even if I thought I could trust Simon, stepping from the shadow into the light isn't as simple as it sounds...
What did I think of it:
This was an enjoyable read.
I will confess I was a bit thrown off when I discovered this story was written from both Lily and Simon's point of view. I had expected the book to be entirely from Lily's point of view and because the first switch was only indicated by a sun symbol I was pulled out of the story brutally by this unexpected switch in narrative.
After that I had no trouble with the switching point of views except that I didn't really like Simon's narrative. I really liked Lily, but Simon was too much of a Beta hero in my opinion. For a so called powerful sunmage he was naive and gullible. I liked his older brother Guy a lot more and thought Lily would have been better off with him than with Simon.
That point of critique aside I enjoyed the story. It was suspenseful, full of action, intrigue and betrayal. The world building was also pretty cool, a mix of Fantasy and Steampunk.
All in all I liked this story and might give the next book in this series a try.
Why should you read it:
It's an enjoyable Fantasy read.
2 comments:
That blurb is really good and tempting. But if you can't like a character, the book is kind of spoiled already.
I agree with you I was more interested in Lily than Simon. I think you had the same problem and good points than me. It's nice but not something really great. The second is quite the same. But as we know what we'll have it's easier. Well as the second is about Guy, it could be interesting for you to try it.
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