Shadows of the Dark Realm was an enjoyable YA fantasy novel about an unlikely group of heroes bound together by their quest across the realms. All wanting to wish on the darkstone for different reasons , united by the common goal of retrieving it from the dragon realm and the elder dragon Darka Mors.
The good:
- A lot of the characters were great! I enjoyed how different they all were and how it led to a ton of banter and disagreements about basically everything. It helped the reader get to know them each better throughout the book.
- I liked the addition of characters as we went on in the story, they blended into the group and the story really well. Each character was added with purpose and reason, and they added to the plot each in their own way. It never felt like someone was added for fluff, each person had a role to play.
- Celeste. I put this in the ‘good’ category because I hated her with a passion and I wanted to rate the book 1 star just because I hated how whiny and annoying she was, and then I hated her for being a wretch the rest of the book. Clearly that means it was a well written character.
- I liked the different realms and different types of power – it was interesting to see how they interacted during fights and during the voyage.
- I liked the story overall! It was interesting and full of great twists, dangers, adventures, and more.
The meh:
- I struggled to get to know the characters at the beginning – it felt like their moods changed on a whim, and their emotions/mannerisms were not consistent. It got better as we went along, but I think a little more character development or backstory at the beginning would have been helpful.
- I personally didn’t like the replacing cuss words with random words; I know lots of books do it, but the characters spoke well enough that it didn’t make a ton of sense to me. I would have preferred ass, damn, shit, fuck, etc.
- It could have used another round of grammar/copy edits.
- I felt like the ending was a bit quickly wrapped up, and I felt a little underwhelmed. I do think the story leaned heavily on the journey versus the ending, which I really enjoyed, but it did wrap up choppy and quickly.
Overall, Shadows of the Dark Realm by Tyler Edwards was an enjoyable read! I liked it, it kept me intrigued and interested, and I am glad I read it.
*this story was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review. all thoughts are my own.*
