An odd mix of fantasy elements, this is a book with decent bones but that comes off a bit confused about what it wan to be.

There’s a lot of solid high fantasy elements to the world building here, though that manifests better plot-wise than in terms of atmosphere and setting directly. I liked the concept of the palace intrigue/magical spy elements in theory, but in practice they were clumsily executed.

The book is also a sort of fantasy romance, with a lot of porn-lite elements that made me roll my eyes. It felt like a cringey throw in meant to appeal to a completely different audience.

The magical system gets a overly convoluted at times, but on the whole it was fine. And the characters work fine for this type of story, even if they’re not especially unique or memorable.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had an amazing plot, but I felt the characters were a bit hard to connect to.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

Really enjoyed this.
Took me a while to get going due to other non book related factors but once I did I was all in.
I’ve read some interesting reviews which don’t seem to enjoy it but I think that’s a lot to do with the description.
It wasn’t quite the book I expected but I was drawn into the world of Shine and her extended family. The politics intrigued me and I definitely need to read the next book before deciding firmly on what might happen and the complicated relationships.
Thanks to netgalley for the ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

Such a great book! I enjoyed reading this one so much! I highly recommend this book. Side note: the cover!!!!

A fun YA fantasy which paints an interesting, magical world and has a terrific protagonist, and then bog sthe whole thing down somewhat by eventually being a bit of a family mystery story. Our lead, Bright, is a mundane magic free daughter of the ruling magical family, and the power structure that exists in a world with very powerful magic users underpin the story. There is a hierarchy where light skinned people (who are foreign) are shunned - and the book is interesting about shade policing, but also I think once the racism issue is raised, the casual use of the slur for white people (ghost) goes somewhat examined in a - cheers for race swopping but not considering the context way. I rather enjoyed not having any idea where it was going, and it feels like with missing parents and missing kids and an entire map of political intrigue to explore that more or less staying in the house was a mistake (I assume these are threads for further books - though that doesn't seem that clear). Oh and did I mention the telepathic cat.

I was drawn to this book by its cover art, with its Art Nouveau arabesques and stretching cat, but it was a disappointment full of incest, rape, and seemingly pointless intrigue. I don't know why fantasy books that market themselves as matriarchal all have to have so much rape and incest, but I share the titular Shadow's dismay at the attitudes and actions of the people in this book.

For what I took to be a first effort, it's not as bad as it could have been, but that doesn't make it good. Knowing that it isn't Routley's first publication just tells me that Routley is not an author I'll pick up again because this is what a polished piece from her looks like. I don't know who I would recommend this to.

I really wanted to love this book – the matriarchal family set-up is intriguing and the main characters, Shine and Shadow are engaging – but there is just so much going on, with not enough explanation or direction.

I left the story with no idea who many of the (many) characters were or how they were related, and I couldn’t fathom how the magic system worked, or what the main focus of the plot was meant to be.

The story follows Shine, as a first-person narrator, as she struggles with her place in a magical, bloodline-obsessed family when Shine has ‘failed’ at both magic and breeding, and is generally disdained by all around her. When the whole family descends on the plantation she feels trapped into running, for a huge festival celebration, she has to deal with all the inner power politics, whilst attempting to hide foreign (spy?) Shadow from those who might hurt him.

There is a lot of repetition involved, as Shine spends large chunks of the plot searching for a letter and moving Shadow from one hiding place to another; some of the sex scenes felt unnecessary and gratuitous; and I really wasn’t keen on the way everyone – including Shine – dismisses non-family members as ‘peasants. No names, identities or distinguishing features at all. They are all simply ‘the peasants’, ‘a peasant’, ‘one of the peasants’ throughout.

All of that said, there was a lot of potential here in the main characters, the actual action that occurred and the general set-up of the world. It just needed a tighter focus on the plot and character development, and a little more explanation of how the whole world works, then this would have been a great fantasy family-drama.

Shadow in the Empire of Light showed much promise but ultimately failed in every aspect.

Poor Characterization
Honestly, I had a rough time getting into this novel, mainly because of the characterization. After the first three chapters, I contemplated putting the book down and adding it to my DNF pile. However, I had an audible credit, so I decided to give it another shot.

Big mistake.

Shine, our main protagonist, lacks any personality, and her narrative is at times confusing. Before listening to this novel, I thought she was a young girl, a teenager. It was not until I was listening to the audible book that I discovered she is an older woman; in her twenties, I would say.

That shows an inconsistency in the voice of the character. Shine’s voice stays the same throughout the novel. Sure, she faces challenges, but nothing about her makes the reader care about her. Shine has no growth whatsoever. An orphan who wants to discover what happened to her mother, neglected by most of her family for not only not being a mage but also being an interracial child, one would think they have some reason to care. However, that is not what happened.

The only character worth reading about is Katti, the telepathic cat who cares for her. So really, Katti is the only good thing about the novel.

Poor Storytelling
God, this story was not my cup of tea. I expected so much more while reading and was left so unsatisfied while I was reading it.

The bulk of the story takes place during the Fertility Festival. So basically, while Shine is hiding Shadow to avoid an international incident because he is an immigrant, everyone is trying to have sex with one another.

It was like Shadow of the Empire of Light was just one sex scene after another without any depth. I was expecting a story here, but it felt like nothing at all was happening. After reading this on the back cover, “Shine is plunged into dark intrigue; stolen letters, a fugitive spy, and family drama mix with murder, sex, and secrets,” I was expecting more.

Shine’s biggest dream is to travel, discover what happened to her mother, and escape the estate that keeps her trapped. Except nothing happens. Instead, it feels like nothing happened and that there was no resolution to the ending.

Final Thoughts
Shadow in the Empire of Light felt like a complete waste of my time. I expected and wanted so much more than what was delivered.

An interesting premise that doesn't quite deliver.
I loved the sound of this book - spies, drama, and telepathic cats, what's not to love? - but it just didn't live up to my expectations. The writing flowed nicely and was pleasant to read, but the story seemed to fluctuate rapidly between nothing happening and everything happening at once.
The first half of the book is mostly setting the scene, and not a lot of action. The ending felt rushed and still somehow like not a massive amount happened?
It was an easy afternoon read, but not a world I'll be hurrying back to.

Thank you NetGalley and Rebellion/Solaris for this arc.

I'm not going to say a lot about this book, at least not about the story it self. I did not know anything about it when I started reading and it was such a fabulous surprise, I want other readers to experience that.
That said, there are some things that need to be addressed so that the buyer can make an informed decision.

Do not let the cover fool you! This is not a cozy crime fantasy or cozy anything for that matter also, not a YA title.
This is not the authors first book she is an award winning Australian author. Fist time published in the US and the UK. I am going to find every book she has written and read it.

I highly enjoyed this book, the world is extremly well crafted, we start on a farm and by the end we have a comrehensive picture of the isolationist country our heroine grew up in, with glimpses of the wider world and promise of more to come.
It has a light tone and is funny in parts, but oh so dark undercurrents, and showcases the frivolity of the upper classes and complete lack of understanding or caring for the lower classes. There are complex gender and sexuality issues tackled. As well as political systems explored.
The characters are great, Shine the well rounded and lovable and there is a large cast of complex side characters.
Go read it, I dare you!

A really vibrant well-defined world. The characters were so engaging and I easily became invested in Shine's story. Additionally I loved not only the matriarchal society but also the nonchalance about sex and nudity, it was different and fun. Cannot wait for the sequel.

I received this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for a fair review..

I wanted to love this story, but after trying more than once, I found it's not for me.
I couldn't connect to the characters and the story fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

An interesting read though I felt the plot dragged at times and I wish the characters had a little more detail

This book falls into the "it's not you, it's me" category.

I was reading, it was going well, interesting world, magic and great potential. Then as we start really getting into it, I found I wasn't interested. For some reason it didn't hold my attention.

This was more than likely a me problem, not the book problem, but when you are almost halfway through and your forgetting who characters are and not wanting to pick it up anymore, it's definitely time to move on.

Sadly I couldn’t get into this story at all. I felt there were too many different characters and sub plots to keep track of, and that spoiled the enjoyment of reading for me.

I’m sure it will appeal to many different readers but not me.

This book never really seemed to have a discernable point – there were many infodumps with not much background and a large host of characters to keep in mind. It made my reading experience choppy and a little lost. It didn’t really seem to fit into what I usually experience with first books in a series or a standalone fantasy book – too many characters at once, a lot of information but without in-depth background worldbuilding. That isn’t to say that the world itself wasn’t interesting – it was, I would appreciate more background information than what the book contained. I did enjoy the female-dominated hierarchy with female mages far more powerful than their male counterparts. The mages enjoy their royal status but those who do not have a single drop of magical power are always less than – even those descended from royal bloodlines like Shine. The Empire of Light draws some similarities in my mind of Great Britain while Ghostland reminds me of the United States. I wasn’t a huge fan of the political aspects and posturing of the royal family in this book, it made things even harder to keep straight. At times I felt like this book had so much going on but it wasn’t really meaningful which made it difficult to keep going.

I loved Katti, the wildcat that has claimed Shine as her own. That she and Shine could understand one another to communicate – in a fashion. The old gods worshipped by the peasants in the book were far more interesting to me than the Lady of Light was. Shine I liked, for the most part, she could be a simpering female at times but what won me over was the pride that she had for being the first to make the estate run in the black. I would have loved to learn more about Shadow and if this becomes a series we could possibly see more about him and his homeland. Shadow was nearly normal in comparison to the mages that rule the Empire of Light, it made him a far more likable character. We could also learn more about the mystery surrounding Shine’s orphan status if the author decides to write a second book – that story arc I would be interested in.

I would possibly recommend this book to older readers of YA who enjoy fantasy, LGTBQ+ elements, political intrigue, murder mysteries, and loads of family drama. Fair warning that this book contains some steamy sections (the Empire of Light is very open about sex in their desire to gain more female mages) and familial relations of a sexual nature that are to put it nicely – cringeworthy. Those relationships reminded me very much of how royal families had a tendency to operate in medieval times. I would like to thank Solaris, Jane Routley, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a gifted copy of Shadow in the Empire of Light – all opinions are my own.

Shadow in the Empire of Light
Author: Jane Routley
Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Solaris
Page count: 350pp
Release date: 21 Jan. 2021


Shine, a 23 year old female, is likely to remain on the farm of Willow-in-the-Mist Estate, with no magic powers, no nobility, no inheritance and no children, until the day she dies. She works the land for her foster mother Eff, makes it profit but won’t see any of that money, because she is not a mage so it goes to her higher level family, because her mom left for the Ghostlands to never return. Unfortunately her mom hadn’t left instructions to give her any money or education. 
Katti is Shine’s only real companion; a very large wildcat, who talks in Shine’s head, and is a typically arrogant, smug creature.
Magic is an accepted thing in this post-regency/19th century universe and Shine (referred to as ghostie-girl by her mage cousin Bright due to her mixed parentage) and half-breed ghost by the nastier family members, is full of anger at her family, as she awaits their arrival for this year’s Blessing party’. The whole religion and society of the Empire of Light is based on fertility and is matriarchal.
Shine is talking to her cousin Bright, who has snuck back to the estate, as the bunch of trumped up magic-wielding nobility arrive in a floating phaeton parade of splendour and ridiculous pomp.  The estate is where Shine, Bright -his valet Stefan Graceson - and his brother Daneel Graceson were raised.
Adult Bright has now been disinherited because of his love for Stefan, so they turned to a Military life. And as he says, it’s certainly more freeing than “life at Elayison. Hanging about smoking dreamsmoke and ranting on about nothing ...”
Bright and Stefan have returned to the estate with Shadow, an unregistered ghost, who is investigating Crystal smuggling - the crystals used by mages.
The couple are helping Shadow return to his home in exchange for his help finding Shine’s mother, who Bright believes is still alive.
The history of turmoil between the ‘Pale Outlanders’ or ghosts started when they came from the Bone Mountains to the Empire of Light. When they do come down for trade or other needs, they are watched carefully, treated with fear. It’s clear there is animosity, bias and discrimination at work between the races. In this world, those with lighter skin are the ones facing prejudice. Don’t worry, this is not a ‘swap the colour of skin’ for simple metaphor book. There’s lots to get to grips with and enjoy here, particularly the complexity of the characters.
It sounds a bit confusing, but it only takes a few pages to grasp the world build. It’s done succinctly and with skill.
Most of the action takes place over the course of a week, in the midst of the ‘Blessing’ party, a kind of four day fertility festival where the gods are celebrated and well... everyone is “getting it on”.  Amidst it all, there’s political intrigue, spying by Hagen Stellason - ‘secretary’ Impi who is consort of Lady Splendance (queen of the festival), sexual harassment and attempted murder. Nice, normal family then.
In fact Lucient, a family member Shine actually gets on with, is abused by one of the elite females trying to use him to birth mages for power, and she uses ‘Rampant’ , essentially a form of viagra, to force him into sex. It reminded me very much of the elements in Bridgerton the series, based on books by Julia Quinn.
With the religion - excluding the matriarchal society - the promiscuity, decadence and elitism, the Empire is exactly what it sounds like; basically a metaphor of the British Empire mingled with USA history, the Roman Empire and the worst qualities of all of these, redolent with indentured slaves and bigotry. Oh, and the taking of land. We have the Licensing of ‘ghosts’ or ‘immigrants’ that feels very much like the early stages of the ‘80s series V.
Ghostland, where the ghosts live, reads as a kind of refugee camp, or perhaps the land behind a wall? Hmmm
Wry social commentary, banter between characters, and jokes aimed at current civilisation such as Lord Igniate’s floating chair, all combine to make this a fun, intelligent but very relevant and fast-paced read.
Sly remarks such as magekind bringing the “civilising influence of the Lady of Light” to the ghosts also screams colonialism. It’s cleverly done from Shine’s point of view, so we experience her view of the world, which is kind of naive, whilst we, the wizened reader, see the grime hidden under the light.
Interestingly enough, Shine is of a lower class than her cousins who have magic, is mixed race and does not own her property so is low on a hierarchy scale, yet she is very privileged despite all of this, because her family is just a little to the left of the Empress. And she is still considered better than ‘ghosts’.
When she meets the ghost Shadow, she screams, and as their relationship continues, she is at first ignorant and patronising. “Think of him like some child we have to care for.”
Yet she is still a likeable person, is trying to do the right thing and is soon correcting her cousin Klea about her behaviour towards Shadow. Almost as though she is learning to be more empathic and is overcoming the ignorance she has, mostly due to her upbringing. Lots of horrific things come as a surprise to her, but as she learns, she becomes a better person.
This is a real hero; a character with heart and flaws.
As for figures like Blazeann and Toy, well they’re pretty despicable in truth, and Scinty, the man she admires, is not quite the man she thought.
This is an amazing first book in a future series that I’m sure will offer more shenanigans and character growth.
After all, with ghosts like Shadow saying “Love is love,” and the ‘Light’ Empire disowning Bright for his love, who is really the better person?
I can’t wait to see Shine discover more about the world and herself.

The Shadow in Empire of Light by Jane Routley is like nothing I have ever read before and I am intrigued to see what other readers will make of this story.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The fantasy elements are strong and come coupled with elements of drama and a strong thread of political endeavour. Shine is a magic-less mundane in a family of magic and she finds herself caught in the middle of this world and a murder with only a telepathic cat and a less than sane auntie for support. Despite the eccentricities of this novel, which believe me there are many, it is a great story about belonging and finding one’s place and family in a world where you’re not seen or valued as you should be.

This book has hooked me so much that I will be reading all future novels that Jane Routley has to offer with excitement and a wary eye for the bizarre and wonderful worlds she creates.

One of the shining moments in fantasy to me HAS to be world building and unfortunately, there is almost no worldbuilding in the book, so I didn't have any idea why the world was set up the way it was. There were a few allusions to a war between mundanes and mages that resulted in a pact between the two that offered protection for the mundanes, but no specifics were given. There was also no full explanation as to how the mages got their power, or what powers they had other than being able to fly and move people around. Shine's character was developed a little bit and I liked her, but she didn't have much of an arc throughout the book. There was almost no character development of any of the minor characters, although several of them were fun to read. Most of them were very one-note and the usual stereotypes.

The book was fun and interesting to read, but it seemed to meander and didn't really have much of a point.

This was an interesting story. It took a bit for me to get into it. I really liked the world building and how the society was matriarchal and the most powerful magic users were women. It reversed our gender norms, putting things into an interesting perspective. As we go along, following Shine, we uncover old family secrets. Shine seems to grow and become more self aware and shifts from a teen into an adult. I’m curious as to what happens to Shadow and Shine after the story ends. Most of the loose ends are wrapped up but enough are left to leave you hoping for more. My only complaint is that the sex scenes seemed to be tossed in unnecessarily. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good sex scene, it just didn’t fit in with the storyline that well. All in all a good story that picked up pace as it went along.