In Paul Williams' debut, "The Shadow of Hades", we learn about a world in which magic, albeit possible, is deemed dangerous or even evil. We follow the stories of five people: Aella, who wants to find out where a missing girl went; Pam, a rockstar witch who keeps getting visions about a stranger who's been following her; Blake, who looks like a little boy but is actually a fusion of a number of souls; and twins Carlos and Daniel, who are new in town and curious about magic. Although at first it may look like they have nothing in common, their paths will soon cross in unexpected ways.

Although the pace was slow, it wasn't dragging, and I really appreciated the time Williams took to carefully build, and expand, the world of TSoA. It demanded attention, sure, but the reward of an excellent worldbuilding was well worth it. Something that really helped me get into the story was Williams' writing, since it was quite skilled, powerful, and immersive. The different characters' plots, although left with one or two loose ends, were interesting enough to keep me turning the pages, and I was delighted to see how different creatures and entities that are well-known to the general public by now, such as the Fae, were given a new twist.

Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for adult contemporary fantasy, and a rich prose.

Amazing book, amazing author and amazing publisher!

I had the most amazing time organizing a giveaway with the author and publisher for this book!

I had difficulty getting into this book, and kept having to start over. Although interesting, I never fully got invested. I wanted to like it and was so intrigued by the premise, but I had to push myself to keep reading. It's a little difficult to rate though, because I still enjoyed it enough to finish. The About the Author at the end mentioned that Williams is only 20 - so young! - and I'll be curious to check out his future works.

Thanks Netgalley for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange of my honest review.
This was something that I liked in its way, it's dark and have some things that are so scary for me, it also was intriguing and I have some little misunderstandings with parts of the story but this is good

This story felt awkward to me and a little forced. Four stories coinciding is a bit weird when there funny seen to connect at all. I had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately it didn't reach my expectations.

I’m not sure how to put my feelings about this book. I wanted to like it and I tried really hard, because it had an interesting premise and did not lack in originality. However, I just couldn’t muster enough emotion to actually care about the story.

The Shadow of Hades takes its reader to a city in a world where witchcraft exists. This particular city is walled off from the rest of the world by a magic forest called the Fae and in it, unlike the rest of the world, magic is outlawed.

We have four main stories:

– Aella: a young woman married to a rich old man for his money.
– Pam: a singer who’s hiding her witch identity.
– Blake: a boy who is made up of the souls of several people.
– Carlos and Daniel: twins who are very different from each other.

It seems like those four stories have nothing to do with each other, and for about 60% of the book each character has their own thing going on, and… that was extremely slow, and not in the way I enjoy. I don’t mind a book where nothing much is happening for some time. I keep reading Outlander, even though 80% of each book is walking around the woods, cooking and chatting about chores – but it’s cozy. The Shadow of Hades is not cozy. Each character is very flawed, often unpleasant and for the majority of the time, up until the very end of the book, it remains a complete mystery why they are who they are and why they do what they do. It seems implied that “something” in their lives lead to this, but I wouldn’t say that anything mentioned would have been enough to make any of their actions make sense. This especially applies to Aella and Pam, both of who to me were very unpleasant characters and not for any particular reason, but for their entire attitude. I basically only liked Blake.

On the other hand, the last 40% of the book were not all that bad either. I’m a sucker for that part in a book where everything comes together, so if it’s done in a fun way, it can sway my opinion for the better pretty quickly. That’s how this book earner itself another star, for example. The first 60% were not beyond 2 stars by a long shot, for me.

Considering that this is the author’s second book, though, and that the they are younger than me, I’d say that while the flaws in the story are something that can be fixed, the writing was surprisingly good for such a young person, so I expect good things in the future.

Thank you Netgally for letting me read this in advance.

Talking about “The shadow of Hades” is a little complicated. Let’s go by parts. In this book we have four different stories. First Aella, a widow and practicant of magic who wants to resolve the mystery of a missing girl; Aside there is Pam, a witch and member of a rock band, she has had some strange visions about a gray man that has been following her everywhere; Also there is Blake, I may say he is the most complex character, Blake is the fusion of a bunch of souls that took the appearance of a boy; And finally we have the twins, Carlos and Daniel the two new kids in town with particular curiosity about magic.

Four stories, nobody knows each other, but eventually their paths are going to cross. That is the plot.

First of all I have to say this book is really, but really slow, don’t get me wrong, that is not bad. It has high writing quality and use of the literary resources. And that is always the best you can find. That is the reason why this narrative feels slow. This is one of those stories that you can’t read fast and it demands a lot of attention from the reader.

There was something for me that was very confusing. And the thing here is that there are a lot of questions that didn’t have answers as to the mystery of the nieves, what happened to the kids and the lost girl. Those were my unanswered questions. Also the style of the document was just off, but I think by now that is already resolved.

The characters are really great, each one of them well constructed in different aspects and with complex stories. it makes you want to know more of their lives. And the letters at the end made my heart ache a little bit.

To finish, this book is not for everybody, as I say before this story demands a lot from the reader and for some it can be a little boring. The writing quality is definitely the best, but the fluency is slow. 3/5 stars. I would like to give it more but I have some troubles with the sequence of the events.

***************

Hablar de the shadow of Hades es un poco complicado. Vamos por partes, en este libro tenemos cuatro historias diferentes. Aella, una mujer viuda y practicante de magia que quiere resolver el misterio de la desaparición de una niña; también tenemos a Pam, una bruja e integrante de una banda de rock. que ha estado teniendo unas visiones extrañas de un hombre gris que la sigue a todos lados; también está Blake, quien puedo decir es el más complejo de todos. Blake es el conjunto de una serie de almas y formaron su cuerpo. Despertó en un cementerio sin saber a donde ir o qué es, Y ya por último tenemos a los gemelos Carlos y Daniel, un par de chicos que se mudaron a un pueblo y que tienen un particular interés por las prácticas mágicas.

Cuatro historias donde nadie se conoce o tiene relación directa, pero eventualmente sus caminos se van a cruzar. Esta es la trama en pocas palabras.

Lo primero que tengo que decir es que este es un libro muuuuy, pero muy lento, no por eso es malo, la verdad tiene una gran calidad en cuanto a escritura y recursos literarios y eso se aprecia, por lo mismo hace que el ritmo sea bastante lento. Este es de ese tipo de historias con las que no puedes ir rápido y exige mucho del lector.

Lo que sí me causó mucha confusión, fueron algunos aspectos que nunca se resolvieron. El misterio de los cuchillos, que sucede con Blake, cuál es el destino de todos los demás, la niña perdida. Fueron algunas interrogantes que me quedaron después de terminar. Y también algo del estilo del documento, pero supongo que eso ya estará arreglado.

Los personajes son muy buenos, cada uno profundo en un aspecto diferente y con unas historias complejas que te dan ganas de saber más. Las cartas del final le dieron un vuelco a mi corazón.

Ya para terminar, este libro no es para todos, como dije anteriormente exige mucho del lector y para algunos puede tornarse aburrido. La calidad de la escritura es muy buena, pero el ritmo es lento. 3/5 estrellas, me hubiera gustado darle más pero si tiene algunos problemas en cuanto a secuencia.

This book initially intrigued me after reading the synopsis. When I started this book it felt like it had a slow start. Each story needed to build and I think that those journeys made it a slow build. Once each point of view started building then the overall story came together well. I enjoyed how each story intertwined and came together. I enjoyed Blake’s journey and his role in the book the most. I would read more from this author.

The book is promising with the plots weaving, but it felt messy and not executed well. If some more time had been spent editing, I believe it would have been a better read.

The Shadow of Hades was well-written book. I never would have finished it if it was terrible, and I really wanted to like this book more. It is just off. The characters and the settings were really great, but the stories did not blend well together. There are four seperate stories happening and it did not flow well for me. The author obviously has talent and I did enjoy parts of it, but I really wish it came together better.

This had great prose and imagery, and an interesting depiction of grief and death.
I found myself less invested in some of the storylines, and felt like it was slow to get into, but overall enjoyable.


I was given a copy of this ARC by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book and I started out okay. Then we began to have some issues. But to be honest, I am glad I stuck to the book, because it turns into one of the most beautiful and thoughtful books. I love the concept of the four seperate stories which eventually emerge into one. My favourite story part was Blake's, who is also my favourite character, along with Grim. Oliver and Olive also deserve an honourable mention. The concept of the story was lovingly unique and I enjoyed reading it a great deal.
However, I would advise giving this book over to an editor once more. I had complete chaos in the chapter titles, a mixture of capitalised and non-capitalised letters. The pictures also completely disrupted the pages and sometimes they didn't even load.
I received an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

i really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were great and this was a great premise. I enjoyed the use of Greek mythology.

I tried reading but it felt dated. There was no plot from what I had read, which honestly wasn’t much. Great prose but I couldn’t connect with two of the three characters and it’s being told in an alternating POV. DNFing early in the process.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of the book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It was good. Well written. Easy to get into and follow.

The shadow of Hades was a great book. The scenes were so descriptive that they felt alive, and the story was quite deep. Williams is really a wizard with words. However, the transitions from chapter to chapter weren't great. But overall, this is a must read!