MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.5/5
Format: Kindle Review Copy
BOOK DESCRIPTION
Opening the shadow gate is the only way Fenn’s memories can be restored—and with them, his life and family.
It could also destroy the world.
Guided by dragon spirit Hassen and manipulated by the Myr, Fenn fights the corruption spreading through Tassar—and himself—in an attempt to find his family. Separated from his allies and unable to trust even his own mind, the arduous journey takes its toll.
Far from home and reunited with her sister, Calidra battles to keep her loved ones safe. But when the fickle loyalties of dragon spirits shifts, and darkness lurks around every corner, running from her fears is no longer an option.
And in the far south, consequences of the past catch up with those fighting for their freedom.
MY REVIEW
🚨 I was given a copy of this by the author as a review request, to which, that did not affect my opinion in any way. 🚨
The Shadow Gate is the sequel to the SPFBO-7 finalist, The Iron Crown, and MacRae did not disappoint in going in on deeper character development, more action, more dragons, and more griffins. I have to say, this thankfully didn’t suffer from that dreaded second book syndrome and had a satisfying ending that leads to what may be an incredible finish to the series! MacRae has shown a lot of growth in just a single book and I firmly believe that this is even better than it’s predecessor, so I can’t wait to see what she has in store and the growth she has to book 3, The Broken Sword.
One thing that I absolutely love when authors do, is leave a summary of the previous book(s) to help the reader refresh their memory, so I’m very thankful she took the time to do that. One of the things that I did actually miss was RJ Bayley’s narration from book 1, because he did such a fantastic job that it was hard for me at first to not hear him, especially with Fenn who sounded like a young Ewan McGregor, so I’ll definitely have to give this a re-listen once that is available. With that said, I loved the characters and the way that MacRae was able to draw me in to each one of their story lines and to see their struggles as the story progressed. I do have to mention that if you love dragon battles as much as I love dragon battles, then you’ll be happy to know that there is a truly epic one awaiting you!
“Apollo had always found the deepest, most ground-breaking thoughts came to him whilst emptying his bowels. After all, there was nothing to do but sit, think, and wait for nature to take its course.”
This was a dark, adventurous and emotional ride, with moments that had a great amount of tension and mysteriousness to keep me immersed wanting to find out what would happen next. As I said above, I loved how I was drawn into each one of the characters, Fenn, Torsten, Calidra, Jisyel and many others. I think Torsten’s journey may have been my favorite of all the characters, I looked forward to every moment I got with him. Calidra was definitely a close second in that, there were a lot of personal struggles that she had to deal with and MacRae did an excellent job of making sure we felt that immensely.
MacRae also continued to do such a fantastic job with her world building skills, I mentioned in my review of the prequel novella, The Citrine Key, that I got a lot of Skyrim vibes from the story, but all that is gone. She even confirmed to me that she actually has never played Elder Scrolls, so it was just in my head. Back to the world-building, MacRae’s ability to make the world feel like it’s something I’ve seen or been apart of is magical, and truly just a phenomenal job at what she does.
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