Goodreads: Between the Shade and the Shadow

Author: Coleman Alexander

Published: 21st June 2018 (The Realmless, LLC)

Source: Copy from Author

Rating: 4/5 (I really liked it)

Official Summary: “In the deep heart of the forest, there are places where no light ever shines, where darkness is folded by pale hands and jewel-bright eyes, where the world is ruled by the wicked and kept by the wraiths. This is where the Sprites of the Sihl live.
But Sprites are not born, they are made. On the path to Spritehood, spritelings must first become shades. They do so by binding a shadow: a woodland creature, who guides them through their training. Together, they keep from the light and learn to enchant living things, to bind them, and, eventually, to kill them.
Yet, not all spritelings are born with malice—they must earn it or they are condemned. What happens then to the spriteling who finds a shadow where she shouldn’t? What happens if that particular spriteling wasn’t born with malice at all?
Ahraia was that spriteling. She ran too close to the light and bound herself to a wolf, a more powerful shadow than any that came before it. Now a shade, her shadow marks her for greatness. But a test is coming, and the further they wander out of the darkness, the deeper they wander into danger. Ahraia’s time is coming and what awaits her at the end of her test will either make her or kill her . . .” – Goodreads

Review: It was so different and unique which made it so interesting. The world they live in is made evil by the way they live their lives. It just normal to them, it who they are as a species. Their way of existing has been always been their way. Yet she questions it, she fights against the system because it not who she is as a shade. She just wants to live with her shadow, but people won’t let her. She tainted by all their schemes and lies.

I liked how she had to fight to figure out who she really wanted to be. She tried to follow the rules but in the end, just couldn’t. There was no good or bad it was just all grey. Yes, you had your bad guys but in their own way, they were doing it to protect their way of lives. To protect their very existence.

Don’t let the size of the book put you off, very little if anything could have been cut out. The Author was very thorough in the amount of world building and culture building. You had to have it there in order to try and understand them. Which again made it so interesting.

(Disclaimer: I received a copy from the Author. Does not affect my review)