A quick to read, but enjoyable YA fantasy debut.
There is quite a bit of POV jumping, and I enjoyed reading some characters more than others, but the flow of the story was good!
I like that the author wasn’t adverse to touching on the grittier side of a rebellion (TW: there are a number of mentions of torture/blood/gore in this book), as it made the rebellion seem more real and visceral as I read it.
I do wish there had been a touch more world-building and fleshing out of some characters, but assuming this may only be book one, there’s time to build on that.

Overall, It definitely kept me turning pages, and rooting for both Ren and Adley as the two of them traversed their world.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc.
#indigoemployee

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Of Silver and Shadow. Ren is our main character and at the start of the book we see her cheating in a card game, then stealing a new coat. I loved that Ren isn't your typical Heroine of a story. She is sarcastic, angry, and a badass with a deadpan humor that is just what i wanted. Ren has been living on the streets for 9 years ever since her parents were ordered to be killed by the king. Ren cheats, cheats, is a pit fighter really she does whatever she has to do to survive and makes no apologies.

Ren has magic, she can wield Silver, which no one outside of the Royal family is allowed to have. A couple generations ago anyone outside of the royals that had the magic was killed. and this was the reason her and her family were targeted by the king.. Someone snitched.

So this is the story of Ren reluctantly joining the Rebellion to overthrow the King, and meeting some people along the way. People that will become important to her even though she tries her hardest for that not to happen. Along the way she has to fight, use her magic, and she gets to blow some shit up..

I did think the ending seemed kind of rushed. At the almost very end of the book everything happens all at once, when i saw how much of the book was left I thought it must end on a cliff hanger but it didn't.
I would like to read more from this author, and hopefully more about Ren, Derek and Kellen in this world.


also when it published I will leave a review on my instagram
www.instagram.com/danielovestoread

WOW. What an incredible debut novel!!

After reading the blurb I just knew that I had to request an ARC from Netgalley. I’m a big fan of fantasy books, especially where magic has been banned and a rebellion is brewing…

I was a tad worried that this book might be similar to other books I’ve read in the past. Thankfully Of Silver and Shadow was an exciting breath of fresh air.

What I liked…

I loved the main character, Ren. She is an angry, sarcastic badass who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. I wouldn’t say she is a “likeable” character, given her past and everything which has happened to her. The way she is portrayed makes her a whole lot more interesting. She’s got a lot of bloody fight in her and never backs down. I liked that her character was consisted throughout the story – it made Ren more interesting.

I was nervous at first about having multiple POV’s, sometimes I find you can get a bit lost in them. BUT I LOVED THEM ALL. Behind Ren, I really loved reading Prince Kellen. He is such a fun and lovable character; so it was hard not to like him.

The flow of the book worked really well. It went straight into the action while building the world around it at a steady pace. Jennifer is an incredible writer and was able to make this world come to life for me.

I am a big lover of the enemies-to-lovers trope. If you are too, THEN YOU BETTER READ THIS. It was developed really well and at times I wasn’t sure if it was actually going to happen. So it leaves you wanting more!!

What I didn’t like…

There isn’t much I didn’t like about this book (which is good!) but the ending felt weirdly rushed for me. I mean, it was good and there was a twist at the end but I wanted it to tell me a bit more. Other than that I REALLY liked this book!!

Currently, this book is just a standalone *cries*. The author has mentioned on Goodreads that there could be more books in the future!!! Which I would absolutely love. I think there is great potential for this to turn into an amazing and exciting series.

Erdis is ruled by a tyrant king. Ren Kolins is an orphan on her own. Only members of the ruling family are supposed to have magic, called silver, but somehow Ren has it. Ren lives in fear of being found out. She knows if found, she will die. Darek, a rich boy, somehow finds out and convinces her, through promises of money, to join a revolution to overthrow the king. Along the way, Ren meets a pit lord who isn’t who he seems, a bakers daughter who she’s not sure if her motives and one of the kings children who she’s sure she cannot trust. Armed with only one friend on her side, Ren embarks on this dangerous task of helping a revolt that she doesn’t believe in.
By far, this book is the best book of the year. I will be adding Ms. Gruenke to my list of favorite authors. She is skilled at weaving the webs in the story that I’m convinced she’s part spider. There are so many important main characters that you wonder how they will all meet and come into play for the climax of the book. I had roughly one more hour of this book to read and had to go out. I stood in checkout lines and read because this book had me so captivated that I couldn’t not read. I really hope there is another book in the making. The story ended so that another could be written or it could have been completed. I truly want to know what happens next. Well done Ms. Gruenke, well done!

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC!!!
I have to say I was incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Plot wasn’t ALL that unique but genuinely a good fantasy rebel uprising trying to tear down a tyrannical king.
I think the characters really shined in this book. Multiple povs between a couple men and women. A petty thief hiding illegal and rare magic. A wlw King’s guard hiding her forbidden love and willing to do anything to be free. A playboy prince. A broody rich boy. I really liked all of the characters and their varied personalities and drives. It made me more invested in the story than I would have been otherwise.
It was a quick, enjoyable read and I definitely will recommend people read this.

Thank you NetGalley for the free arc.!

I really enjoyed this book. For me, it was a slow start. I didn’t really get into it until 20-25%. I even thought about dnfing it. Thank goodness I didn’t. It picked up around that point and kept going from there. The pacing was fast and escalating. I wish there were more details about some characters, more contact between others, and a more in-depth look at the magic. Overall, the book was very enjoyable though. I loved the characters, except Heath. But I cared enough to hate him. The plot was good, even though it could’ve been a little more complex. The ending was cute, so 4.25 stars altogether from me. A great standalone.

This review was published to my Goodreads account on December 12th 2019.

Gruenke has written a very fast-paced and a times quite interesting story. It's divided into four parts with part 1 begin like a sort of introducing bit, part 2 is building up to some action (this was the more boring part of the story, in my opinion), part 3 being the most interesting, world-building and action filled part and part 4 being resolutions and putting the story together as a whole.

We have several main characters with their own POV-chapters: Ren, Derek, Adley and Kellen. They all have their own backstory and I did find them pretty engaging - which I haven't felt like in stories such like this in quite some time. There wasn't anything ground braking as such, but these main characters still had something that kept their histories interesting and engaging throughout the book.

The story takes place in a kingdom where magic (called silver in the book) is not allowed. 100 years previous the then-king purged the magic from the kingdom, but of course our girl Ren has silver! She gets, more or less, kidnapped by a rebellion group looking to change the country. There she meets with stoic Derek who's been in this rebellion group for a while. We also follow storylines based around the royal organisation of the King's Children who are hunting the rebellion. These characters, mostly Adley and Lesa, are both portrayed as being ruthless, skilled killers but they are also shown to be kind and human. They are allowed to be people and not just the big bad - and this is refreshing storytelling! The last main character is the young prince Kellan (probably the least interesting character, in my opinion).

I enjoyed this story in a way I haven't been enjoying similar types of stories lately which felt good. There are some romance in there (which I generally don't like), but I didn't mind it here really as much as I have in other YA fantasy stories I've read recently, so thank you Jennifer Gruenke for that!

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Oh man. I enjoyed this book alot! I loved all of the characters and how each chapter follow a different one. If there are anymore scheduled to be written then I will definitely be reading them.

I really wanted to like this book. Kings, princes, orphans, magic--what else do you need. And, when I read a review that lovers of the Jodi Meadows The Orphan Queen series would like it, I was hooked. All that being said, I was just so so on this book. The magic was interesting, but not that novel. The characters were not well developed, the world not well built, and the story secondary to the not well developed romance. There was a bit more language and detailed romance than I prefer in a YA book. And, there was a fair amount of death and destruction.

I am sorry to not have liked this book more, but thanks Netgalley and the publishers for a free e-arc. I am sure that the book will appeal to some readers, just not me.

<I>*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review *</i > 
<b> 4.5 stars (rounded up) </b>

<i>"If you think I'm annoying now, wait until you're stuck with me in the afterlife!"</i>

Ren is a Silver Wielder, which means she has magic and is hunted in her kingdom of Erdis. She is wanted dead by the King and is  unwittingly recruited/bribed into a plot to overthrow the throne.

Of Silver and shadow follows the alternating points of view of four main characters, Ren, Adley (a 'King's child', part of the KIng's elite corps), Darek (the resistance leader who recruited Ren) and the younger prince, Kellen.
  
The writing is witty (and very sarcastic which I always enjoy) , the plot is clever (albeit a bit cliché at times). The characters are engaging and well-developed. However, I wish there had been a bit more development of the relationships between the characters, as well as more world-building.

I'm aware that this is supposed to be a standalone, but I feel like there is so much more to be explored in this world.

P.S. I LOVE KELLEN

I received a copy of this through Net Galley.

Of Silver and Shadow was exciting, action-packed, and fast-paced! The story is told through multiple perspectives. Sometime, I find that having an ensemble cast of characters can be confusing, but this was not the case here. I thought that the author was able to present clear portraits of the different individuals. The characters were likable and I was drawn to their personalities and different struggles.

I will say that this was full of tropes typical of today's YA selections - magic, evil ruling monarch, rebellion... But the story was well-written, and so exciting and enthralling that I honestly did not care. I was completely sucked into this world and the romance(s)!

I am hoping for a sequel!! (The ending seemed like the author was setting it up as such.)

*THANK YOU to North Star Editions and Flux, Netgalley for graciously providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review*


Full 5 stars for the amazing journey that book is! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No fillers no runaround, pure action from chapter one,right until the last one!
The story is told from several points of view and the timing to switch between them is so perfect and fluid, that is pure pleasure to read and complements the story, instead of distracting you and make you say "I wish i saw that momemt from that character's view".
A kingdom that is ruled by a tyrant King Mattheus and his two sons - Kellen and Heath.
Long ago the Lyandors were threatened by other Silver(magic) wielders and king Tallis Lyandor sent his armies across Erdis, burning villages of wielders, hanging magical families, beheading anyone caught fleeing. The Silver Purge was the reason the only magic left in the kingdom belonged to the crown, why the only silver wielders in the past 100 years had been Lyandorswielder .
Now the rebellion with Darek for a leader, have plan to take the Lyandor family from the throne and the only hope is a girl - Underground pit fighter and a thief...but also a hidden Silver wielder,beside the royal family.
The developing story is seen trough the eyes of :
Ren - orphaned at young age,now a thief and a pit fighter to provide for herself
Darek - rebel leader with a younger brother Markus
Kellen - the younger son of King Mattheus
Adley - a ferocious warrior of the famous King’s Children army
I love how we see all the back story for the characters- all the events and emotions,that made them what they are today, and at the same time it's not cramped up and it's easy to read.
I really hope we'll see the characters again!
And definitely can't wait to read another book by this author!

This was a pretty good story but I didn’t find anything really new here. Maybe I’ve read too many fantasies that it’s hard to discover a true gem. I did really like the characters and their development throughout the story!

More for the younger end of YA but this was fast paced and fun. Personally I’d have preferred more detailed world building and magic systems but perhaps that’s a sign that I’m drifting from YA fantasy a bit. Still an enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and North Star Editions for the free advance.

This book was a fast yet fun read. Definitely more of a 'young' than 'adult' but still a good experience for the latter! The cover is gorg, and Ren is a spunky underdog of a protagonist. I enjoyed the world it was set in, with the politics of the kingdom and the rich vs poor districts.

Sadly, I did have a few issues with the book - I felt as if it was an odd combination of time periods. With fantasy you can often get away with a lot, as it's all about worlds you couldn't even imagine, but for the first couple of chapters, I had been imagining that it was set in a more urban world. It may have been the language that was used, but when you read about a leather-clad girl gambling, followed by her breaking into a shop and stealing a jacket off a mannequin, you picture a more modern society like ours. When a King was mentioned, it completely shattered the idea I had of the world.

I also have to say that I felt like I didn't really get to know Ren. Yes, she has this deep shame and covers it up with a hard edged exterior, but at times her reactions felt forced and unatural. I didn't get a sense of her as a whole, only those two aspects, and how men seem to react to her. In fact, I felt as though I knew Prince Kellen more than Ren. It may be because there were so many characters that there wasn't enough time to really focus on her.

I also thought the magic mechanics were meh. 'I never learned to use it, I just know somehow, like it's a limb.' She just flicks her hands around and knows how to use it? There was a small mention that if she doesn't use it regularly it becomes wild and out of control. Would have loved that to be expanded upon, maybe with her discovering how her magic actually works. She can do all these crazy tricks with no real education behind it. It doesn't seem logically possible - we all have hands but we don't automatically know how to write without someone teaching us.

ANYWAY I may have gone too in-depth about this. However, on a lighter note, I did really enjoy the story as a whole, I thought the rebellion was an interesting idea and there were a few unexpected twists, so if you're on the look out for a light fun fantasy read, give this a go.

3 stars.

I was super excited to receive this book! It kept me engaged, it was well written and had fully fleshed out characters and a great plot! It really held its own against the books in my favorites :)

I was so excited about this book! This plot is right up my alley and i loved this book. I read this book in a day because it was so good! I will be recommending this book to everyone!!

I really liked everything about this dark fantasy book.
The magic was really great in it with a cool. The descriptions of the world is very detailed witten. The authors writing is very incredibly and it's like watching a movie. The characters were also different and great described.

This review will also be posted on my Goodreads account, which is provided in the link. Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me give a honest review.

“But Markus was their mother’s son. Rebellion swam in his blood”

Wow! That’s all I can say for a moment... Ok I’m back haha.

I actually stayed up late to keep reading this! This book was amazing. I love how the story dives into action from the very beginning and the world descriptions were beautiful! I thought the concept of “The King’s Children” was creative and very interesting. The magic was amazing, the characters were phenomenal and I enjoyed each POV - Darek gave me serious Rowan Whitethorn vibes when we first met him haha

If you read my reviews you know how much I love slowburns, forbidden romances and the enemy-to-lover scenarios which this book tackled beautifully haha. I love when I can

Actually enjoy the main character(s) without wanting to strangle them. Ren was probably my favorite. she was awesome!

This book also made me laugh. I love banter and this story had plenty of it. That made me smile in the way that The Gilded Wolves did.

This book is amazing and I beg everyone to read it in May!

5/5 🌟’s

This book was received as an ARC from North Star Editions - Flux in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book reminded me a lot of the Red Queen series in the ways of the Rebels fighting for their lives and with their gifts of magic being frowned upon in the culture, they have no choice but to form an alliance and start a rebellion. This time it's Ren with her gift of being a silver wielder and joining the Rebel leader without seeing a single coin until they defeat the King. Then come the pack called The King's Children as they compete to earn their spot as the King's Fang. With Ren and the Rebel leader on the loose, they will stop at nothing to destroy them and earn their spot as their King's right hand. Political tensions arise and time is running out and Ren and the rebels will stop at nothing to take the throne from the King. The action, the drama, and the suspense was jaw dropping that it took you on a thrill ride you will never forget.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.