A fantasy fiction novel, that starts out petty fast, getting us to the heart of the action. It's an intriguing tale of loss and tragedy.

This is an interesting read.

The characters are engaging and the story is wonderfully written with you being drawn into world full of magic.

The story is fairly violent in places although it also made me chuckle.

This was such a good read I loved it and was completely hooked from the first page. Definitely recommend

This was an unexpected read. I wasn't expecting the humor in this book... That being said I loved it. Hermit is a great character and I can't wait to read the next novel and see how this story goes.

This is a well thought out world with some really interesting characters I feel like you had somewhat of a problem with the pacing but it mostly was up to my standards has a lot of the normal tropes if that matters to you but in the long run it was a pretty good story with a cool magic system

1/5 stars, there's potential but that's where it ends

Thank you to BooksGoSocial for the arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

This book sounded amazing after reading the synopsis so I was very excited to read the arc, especially hearing about three people coming together to grow their power. The synopsis talks about a lightning mage, light, and shadow mage who come together so that N'ahlia (the lightning mage) can become the greatest fighter in the Dome. But, this just wasn't very good.

First of all, the writing style really just wasn't for me, especially how people talked to each other through dialogue. It was supposed to be "funny" in an adult-like humor way but it really felt like it was trying too hard. Nothing was funny that it was emphasized because it felt really out of place whenever there was a "humor" moment. The writing style was also very disjointed and the pacing was way off, with time skips but also lots of attention on little moments. As well, it switched from people's perspectives way too fast, and in the same chapter, so there was never a consistent POV.

None of the characters were very memorable either, the only two I really remember were the Hermit and N'Halia, but neither were super interesting. N'Halia fell under the trope of an apprentice who learns way too fast and has way too much skill for someone of her level. The Hermit was also just kind of weird, I didn't totally love him.

I do think my favorite part was the potential for the world, as people used their powers for their everyday jobs. This was really interesting to see how people were able to use their powers to their advantage, but other than that the world really didn't have any substance to it. I think this is one of the series that I really don't think I'll be continuing for sure.

[TW: physical violence and harassment, sexual themes mentioned, death of parents and caregivers, fighting rings, burn scars, blood]

This might be one of the best books I've read in a while. All of the characters are loveable in their own way and Hermit might just be my favorite character.

I felt myself getting very excited at times and I just HAD to know how it ended. I just couldn't stop reading! I can't wait to see what happens next in book 2!

I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good coming-of-age story with political intrigue and magic.

A bit formulaic, but well-written enough I'll call it classic. Great characters make up for a lot of what I like in stories, so I'm in love with Kao's writing.

'The Shadow Spinner' will be a treat for fans of action-packed fantasy with fun magic, quippy dialogue, and found family. The grumpy-sunshine dynamic between characters is often enjoyable for readers within the genre.

There are a lot of action scenes: depending on the reader, this will either suit them or distance them from the story. The fast pacing keeps the plot moving, however it would have been enjoyable to have more restful scenes between the action. That would vary the pace and give the reader more time with the character development, which would make the emotional moments more hard-hitting.

I enjoyed the main characters and found them interesting overall. The dynamic between them was fun, although sometimes it took away from the emotional impact of a scene. I particularly enjoyed N'Halia's back story and growing confidence.

If you're a fantasy reader who is looking for a book in line with a game, this could be ideal: a fun magic system in line with 80s high fantasy, character banter and found family, and a lot of action.

In a nutshell, the book had a great beginning, fantastic ending, but the middle seemed a little drawn out.

The best part was a character named Hermit, the shadow spinner. Someone who can control shadows, like a more visual version of a bard. On his travels, Hermit meets N’Halia who is our young female protagonist, basically the sh*t hits the fan only leaving these two standing. Hermit takes N’Halia under his wing training her to use the power she never knew she had. This is where the middle seemed to be drawn out longer than it needed to be.

Looking forward to see if book to increases the pace of the story or drags on. An enjoyable read that could probably have benefited from a bit of cutting in the middle, but not a terrible read over all.

The cover of this book is what drove me to it. The words inside are what kept me driving through it. The ending makes me wants to revisit that drive.

Uhm…
sad to say, but it wasn‘t for me.
buuuut it does not mean, that it was bad.
not at all!

i do like it, but there is something i missed and i cannot tell what.

i guess i just don‘t like the genre?!

A big thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A refreshing take on the archetype of a character being able to control darkness. Bardugo's Darkling is surely shaking in their boots.

The Shadow Spinner by Eric Kao is a fantasy novel that follows the many tall tales and (mostly mundane at this point) travels of Hermit. Until he stumbles upon N'Halia, a girl who didn't know she had lighting powers until she burns down the very Inn her and foster father own. Thus starting an epic adventure, where grumpy Hermit must teach N'Halia the ways of her magic, without getting zapped of course.

I loved this book, as it gave a new take on the whole 'dark/brooding/morally gray' character by giving them the chance to be the mentor and (mostly sometimes) narrator of the story. Hermit stilled to be sarcastic and snarky, with a band of misfits that might not be the perfect ones to save the world.
Though I will say, there were a bit too many POVs, and I often got lost trying to figure out who was who. But I would still happily recommend this book to anyone looking to start reading fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadow Spinner by Eric Kao takes places in a world in which magic is bestowed upon most people - and they make use of it in very practical ways. I really loved the way this played out. It made the world fun, engaging, and I couldn't get enough of it. I also appreciated the representation of the various amount of magic each person was granted.

My primary difficulty with this was that I got whiplash from the inconsistent uses of tone. One protagonist is grumpy and serious, the other is whimsical and sarcastic. While this works in many, many fantasy books, the use of dialogue felt like they did not exist within the same world. This inconsistency made each of them somewhat annoying.

There is a major emotional moment in chapter 3 that felt unbelievably rushed through. Such an emotional moment had almost no effect on the protagonist and it was difficult to stay engaged afterwards.

A formatting issue that I had was that the use of page or line breaks would be really, really beneficial. The time/scene changes are confusing without them.

I give this a 2.5, and that says a TON about the author's ability to build a intriguing world. I will be following to see what Kao does next.

Genre: NA, Fantasy, Action (sci-fi?? 👀 I don’t usually read it)

Third Person omniscient pov (the best…like the side comments were just it!)

Violence: Lots of fighting scenes….

This book is about….. Saving the world basically but the thing is…the leader is goofy, very unserious, and nonchalant. Everywhere he goes he’s always causing trouble and people who know him most of the time…are not really happy to have him back. He’s just a goofball. But he’s also kind of skilled and a “god”(kind of) so that (does not even out) makes it okay. It also closely follows the life of N’Halia (Hermit’s champion) who is slowly becoming as goofy and nonchalant as her leader - like the master-like pupil. And then there’s a whole bunch of other important characters.

This is a very conversational, laugh-out-loud book and I’m so grateful that I got this from Netgalley. I have never read a book like this one and it was just funny and captivating. I like N’Halia and Araina and..all of them…I love their progress. They all started out as average and mediocre and then they started improving and getting so much better. With practice. LESSON: practice freaking makes perfect. I love this book and I can’t wait for the second one.

What didn’t I like? First I don’t know what is wrong with my app but it kept on skipping pages and it was weird so that took me a long time to read because of that. I was super annoyed lmty. And second reason, I read this book like it was a standalone, and book 2 is not even out yet I almost cried when I got to the end. Like we were getting to D-day come on now!

Regardless, I recommend you read this book (if you haven’t) or check it out and make sure to add it to your tbr for that someday you’ll read it! ♥️

DNF @ 29%

The Shadow Spinner is a fantasy adventure filled with humor, an interesting world, and really cool powers. The magic system was very interesting, though not particularly explained. Still, I thought it was interesting, and I enjoyed seeing all the different kinds of powers.

The plot moves along fairly quickly, sometimes to the story's detriment. It didn't feel slow at any point, but it also didn't always feel like there was a solid connection between point A and point B. For example, in the very beginning of the book, the main character loses their family . . . and they just kind of move on. There's no real exploration of the loss or anything. There's also quite a bit of point of view switching and head hopping, which was sometimes hard to follow.

The characters in this were a delight, though! It's probably no surprise that I loved Hermit: the very snarky, mysterious stranger who is somehow stronger than he has any right to be. The interactions between characters had me laughing out loud in several spots. Traveling with the characters was a lot of fun!

Ultimately, I ended up putting this one on the "Did Not Finish" list because it felt more like a training montage, and that's not something I'm interested in at this moment. Even though I enjoyed the characters, the plot felt a lot like just one training exercise to another and that's about it. I know several readers who would really enjoy this type of story, but it's just not for me. It just didn't hold my interest.

Synopsis:

Tales speak of a formidable sorcerer whose Thunder could Tear the sky apart, but they neglect to mention the part where the Storm wiped tables for nearly two decades.

Minstrels sing of a powerful fighter whose Strikes could fracture the earth, yet they typically skip the verse about the Sign of Doom being a loving grandmother.

Story tellers whisper of an intelligent ruler whose Brilliance could Illuminate the planet, but they frequently forget to acknowledge that the Secret Sun is a swindler and a thief.

When N’Halia’s house burns down, a wandering Shadow Spinner named Hermit rescues her from the flames without seeming to be affected by them. N’Halia joins Hermit on his enigmatic voyage to learn how to fight and unleash her true Potential, with the aim of becoming the most formidable mage in all of Dome.

Thoughts:

First of all my sincere thanks to Eric Kao for providing me this advanced reader copy even after its official publication date.

The Shadow Spinner by Eric Kao was a good start to a great series with a lot of potential. While the central concept may not be entirely original, the story’s many intriguing ideas provide a wealth of material to explore in future installments. One aspect of the story that particularly captivated me was the concept of The Created, inhabiting The Peaks, and their contrasting counterparts, The Twisted, dwelling in The Pits. While there is always room for growth and refinement, it is no doubt that Eric Kao possesses a gift for writing. The story was action packed and flowed well and I was introduced to a lot of new interesting characters as the story progressed.

However, despite having great promise The Shadow Spinner has it’s fair share of weaknesses as well. The world building was extremely poor. I found myself unable to conjure up any mental images of the cities or characters described in the book, and I felt that the fascinating backstory could have been better integrated and elaborated upon in the narrative. The magic system in the book was not adequately clarified, and I was left feeling perplexed about certain magical terminology used in the story, such as Influence, Enlightenment, and Approximation Event (although I could roughly guess), until I consulted the Index at the end of the book. Furthermore, I couldn’t help but wonder if there is such a thing as an excessive amount of action. The first two-thirds of the book were dominated by an unending succession of combat scenes, ceaseless training sessions between characters, and battles fought for monetary or reputation gain. Perhaps the most significant drawback for me personally was the constant shifts in perspective that occurred every few sentences in certain chapters. This frequent alteration of viewpoint ultimately left me feeling drained and exhausted.

All in all, The Shadow Spinner is a decent start to what could potentially be an engaging series. However, I feel the author needs to take the necessary time to refine the narrative, introduce more pauses between the action-packed sequences, and focus on deepening the character arcs as the series progresses. If these issues are addressed, the series has the potential to become a truly compelling work of High Fantasy genre.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy of the shadow spinner by Eric kao. The way the author uses descriptors is not great, I didn’t get a feel for the characters and it felt very forced and flat to me. For a sci-fi book this really isn’t it

The Shadow Spinner had a very interest perspective, I don't see books written in third person omniscient very often! The witty banter was very classic and refreshing. I ended up not being able to finish this book after several attempts to get back into it. That does not mean it isn't a bad book! It just wasn't for me. There was a lot of action, so readers drawn to combat will surely enjoy this. The combat was well written out and had humor twisted into it in a tasteful way. As far as the story went, I really wished there was an explanation. Early on when they left the inn, it could very easily been a great place to start explaining the motive of the characters. If they had an end destination or goal to achieve, I feel the flow of the story would have been more fleshed out. I only got half way in the book so many later on this is covered, but I feel it should be covered within the first chapter. That is what pulls the readers into wanting to continue reading the book. The tension and intrigue is really missing in this book for me.

Hermit might have had the best humor and morally grey mystery about him, but Arol was the one with the most fleshed out back story. (Again I didn't finish the story so maybe we learn more about Hermit later on.) I just find it odd. I also would have preferred to have known what Hermit looked like at the same level of detail that was put into N'Halia and the others. I never knew if he was bald or what color his eyes were. Anytime I had to picture him in my mind his place was taken up by a swirl of confused mist under a cape with his staff.

The way the magic element was written into the book was done really well and fascinating. Being shown, not told how it worked through N'Halia's journey of learning to control her lighting was incredible. I also marveled at Hermit's shadows. The description of them and how they worked was perfect. I too could see the stories he wove through the smoky shadow creatures.

There was some moments of this book that made me laugh while waiting to grab my dinner take out or chilling in a coffee shop. The Shadow Spinner is perfect for on the go people looking for a light read that can be bookmarked and picked back up easily. I could see this being a really good audiobook as well.

I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The storyline was extremely unique. It's always refreshing when you come across books that are different. Sometimes stories can feel like you have read them before. Great start to the series