Hmmmmmm.... I really wanted to love this. I enjoyed the characters, this is the first dark fantasy book I’ve read so I was excited to see where this would go. The overall story was good, I enjoyed the characters and there wasn’t any missing holes.

Thank you to Fox Pointe Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC copy of Shadowspeak.

I'm at a loss for what to say about Shadowspeak. Rather than classifying it as dark fantasy, I'd probably go to the point of calling it psychological fantasy. There is something cathartic about this story, but it's hard to put my finger on what. It's deep and should make you feel if you listen. I liked Rune and sympathized with her and her journey. However, I was not expecting this to take me on the ride it did.

The story is good and complex, and the characters are well imagined. When you sit down with this book, prepare yourself to give the story the appropriate time and attention. If you do not sink into the voice and read carefully, readers, you will not enjoy this read. It doesn't fit with so many of today's fantasy reads where you can just sail through it and get the high points. In order to understand this book, you need to be able to absorb and think before you judge. The words on the page within one scene are easy enough to read, but overall, this book is hard to read for other reasons.

First, the subject matter is trauma. Everyone experiences trauma in their own way. I've never had PTSD, so it was initially hard for me to align myself with the randomness of Rune's narrative. I can respect it, but I cannot empathize. As a reader, it was difficult to put the snippets of memory together cohesively. I think a second read would do the trick.

Second, the perspective is so close to the main character that I felt inside her head for the entire book. At times, I felt like I couldn't breathe I was so close to Rune. Given the darkness and the subject matter, that's not an easy spot to be.

The author did an excellent job of immersion. I recommend to those who enjoy delving into the human psyche and trying to figure out what's going on with that person.

Plot was too confusing Dnf. A lot of triggering situations that are beyond cruel. The characters were not my favorite.

I gave this story a chance, but it simply did not grip me. I did not finish. Perhaps I will pick it up again someday as some books are better when revisited. However, at this point in time it was not for me.

DNF 67%

This is a seriously dark read. The cover of this book doesn’t really reflect the content inside. It makes the book seem like it would appeal to a younger audience and in no way possible should this be for audiences under 18 years.

The author provides content warnings for sexual, emotion, physical, and verbal abuse of children and adults, incest, animal cruelty and drug use, plus a plethora of other pretty heavy topics.

Then there’s the book itself. I really struggled with how often this book jumped between the two time periods of Rune’s flashbacks and the present story. There’s no real guidance between these and as a whole, I was left very confused.

I wanted to read Shadowspeak because the desciption really intrigued me and sounded promising. While I do like the plot idea and think that this book has quite some potential, I unfortunately felt like I was reading a rough draft. I felt confused several times throughout the book and the story line is a bit hazy at best. There were to many plot gaps and left-out information for me to properly understand what was going on half of the time.

I really hope to see another version of Shadowspeak in the future, because it is a really promising plot and overall idea. However, the book needs a bit more work for it to reach its potential.

Umm... DNF

Based on the content warnings at the beginning of the book and also the other reviews I think I need to skip this one.

~ Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title ~

DNF at 20%

This book is so confusing! We have no details about the world-building or the gods they believe in. There are mentions of rituals and ceremonies, but no explanation whatsoever. It is hard to keep track of what’s happening and to get invested in this book. There are many flashbacks dispersed through the chapters, but it makes it even harder to understand what is happening or why it is happening.

Almost half of the chapters consist of flashbacks, but we don’t know when they happened or why they are relevant to the story. Rune also has a rare ability, she is able to see and talk to shadows, but we don’t know why she has this ability, and half of the time I was not sure if she was seeing a shadow or someone real or how exactly she interacted with the shadows. Again, the back and forth between the present and the memories added even more confusion to the story-line.

From what I understood, Rune has been sold by her father when she was about 11 years old. We jump 5 years later, where she seems to be a kind of prostitute/courtesan? Her mistress beats her and forces her to take part in a ceremony where hunters (no idea who they are exactly) can bid at a silent auction to buy the people? Insert a weird almost-incest scene, and a not-so-clear escape through the woods with her lover (again, it is all quite confusing). Add a few vague and unrelated memories in the middle of the action, and then we jump again three years later, and Rune is a barmaid, trying to run away from her dark past. Honestly, I stopped after that because I was too confused, and after reading 20% of the book, I still had no idea where this story was going, and I didn’t have the motivation to keep reading.

Honestly, I don’t care at all about Rune, she has no personality, and there is not enough interaction for me to know and care about the other characters. There is also a hint of mystery about the masks that people are wearing, sometimes it seems almost as if the masks were sentient, but then again, we had no more details, so it just remained a weird mystery.

ARC from NetGalley

DNF @ 71%

For starters, that cover is an atrocity, and it makes the book seem so much younger than it is. This is a dark read. It seems Norse in influence. We follow Rune through confusing flashbacks throughout. Half the fucking book is in italics as we are living through Rune's memories with no guidance, no fucking clue what we are reading about, when or why. Things are slowly revealed later, but as you're reading it, it's really blood confusing. I mean, even later it's fucking confusing.

I don't really even know Rune's personality after having read 71% of this book. I don't give a single shit about any character. I have no idea what was going on or why. I spent the entirety of my reading it frowning like.. dafuq am I reading? The plot is meandering, there is no character growth, no real reason to give a shit about anyone, no reason to keep reading honestly. I have no fucking idea what I just read. I want my time back.

I will be honest, the description is what caught my interest not the cover but boy was it a good read. You will read about the harsh, confusing past and present life of Rune the girl who talks to shadows. She's abused, traded to Wraith, a city of the worst type of revelry and debauchery, escapes with her love only to return to pay a debt(s) that does not belong to her; all while having small bits of visions from the shadows to make sense of her past. This book had me feeling the angst, love and betrayal; I was totally invested. I fully felt like I was trying to solve the past and glimpses Rune was given right along with her.

I loved the atypical relations between characters because they are living in a harsh world, I could not predict how the relationship would unfold.

However, I was left a little unsatisfied for how the plot was resolved. I don't want to give any spoilers so you'll just have to find out for yourself because it really was a fantastic read.