Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye – ARC Review

 

My Rating ~ Four and a half stars

RELEASE DATE: 22 January 2019

Publisher: Harper Collins Australia

Format: Paperback

Pages: 454

 

Blurb

Sora can move as silently as a ghost and hurl throwing stars with lethal accuracy. Her gemina, Daemon, can win any physical fight blindfolded and with an arm tied around his back. They are apprentice warriors of the Society of Taigas—marked by the gods to be trained in magic and the fighting arts to protect the kingdom of Kichona.

As their graduation approaches, Sora and Daemon look forward to proving themselves worthy of belonging in the elite group—but in a kingdom free of violence since the Blood Rift Rebellion many years ago, it’s been difficult to make their mark.

So when Sora and Daemon encounter a strange camp of mysterious soldiers while on a standard scouting mission, they decide the only thing to do to help their kingdom is to infiltrate the group. Taking this risk will change Sora’s life forever—and lead her on a mission of deception that may fool everyone she’s ever loved.

Love, spies, and adventure abound as Sora and Daemon unravel a complex web of magic and secrets that might tear them—and the entire kingdom—apart forever.

 

Review

Thank you to Harper Collins for providing me with a copy of Circle of Shadows in exchange for an honest review.

Work hard. Mischief Harder.

Sora and Daemon are apprentice Taigas, bonded together as ‘Geminas’, which means they share a mental bond they can use to send feelings to each other.  Taigas are warriors trained to protect the emperor, but Sora and Daemon love to cause mischief and have fun.  So much so that their teachers tend think they’re not serious enough for the most important missions.  Assigned to a boring and tame mission, they accidentally come across a camp where they witness warriors using magic they’ve never seen before.  After watching closely they realise they have stumbled upon a great threat to the kingdom.  In their bid to convince their teachers of what they have seen, they decide they may have to take matters into their own hands to save their beloved empress and kingdom.

Although they have been living in peaceful times for ten years, a terrible war where Sora suffered a heartbreaking loss is still fresh in her mind.  She would do anything to take that day back and will do anything to protect her family and friends from this looming threat, even if it means putting herself directly in the path of danger.

Circle of Shadows was a fast paced read with fantastic world building and exciting characters.  The magic systems were quite unique and I loved reading about them.  The beautiful friendships in this story were also a real highlight and there were some surprising twists I didn’t see coming.

There were a couple of things that happened right at the end of the book that had me scratching my head a little, but all in all I’m really looking forward to the next book!

 

Photo via my Instagram account – Bookbookowl

 

 

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