Shadow & Flame
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4.4 • 110 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From acclaimed author Mindee Arnett comes the thrilling conclusion of the stunningly epic, action-packed fantasy adventure that’s been called “a page-turning blend of monsters, magic, and romance” by Susan Dennard, the New York Times bestselling author of Truthwitch.
They call her the Wilder Queen. It’s a title given to Kate Brighton for her role in the war between the wilder rebellion and the Rimish empire. It’s a title that was hard earned: Kate may have saved her people, but many were lost in the conflict, immortalized in the tattoos of fire that grace her arms.
And it’s a title that Kate never wanted. The rebellion may have made a home for themselves in a country that wants to cast them out, but the peace will never be safe while Edwin, the illegitimate king of Rime, sits upon its throne. And for that, the Wilder Queen must keep hers.
Now war is brewing once again. Kate and her allies receive word of a threat to their ambassador in the Rimish capital; meanwhile, across the channel in Seva, an army is being assembled to conquer Rime—and a prisoner slave named Clash may hold the key to ending the conflict once and for all.
As enemies close in on Kate and Clash from all sides, they must choose where their loyalties lie—with their people, with their loved ones, or with themselves.
The epic story that began with Onyx & Ivory comes to a stunning conclusion as acclaimed author Mindee Arnett throws readers into a beautiful, terrifying world poised on a razor’s edge in its struggle for survival.
Customer Reviews
A slog through too much misery
I realize that things may have come too easily (and offstage) in the first book, but this was thousands of pages of helplessness, hopelessness, and torture akin to rape. You don’t have to beat your readers nearly senseless before a hopeful ending matters to them. You could have edited out perhaps half the book for better pacing... honestly, I got so tired of being brutalized that I stopped caring about the main characters, frustrated by the helplessness you inflicted on them — and by extension, your readers. I’m glad the story wrapped up, and is concluded, and I can put it to bed, but the lightness, fun, growth and discovery present in the first book was utterly missing in this one. I never want to go through anything like it again.
Torture, Torture, and, oh, More Torture
A truly brutal read. The first book was fun and full of promise for a rollicking sequel. I have no idea what made Arnett turn against the characters she so lovingly brought to life, but she wasn’t satisfied until every last one had been tortured, tortured some more, tortured again, or just killed. Plucky Kate has morphed into a humorless narcissistic pill. Corwin is just a big dumb slab of man flesh, having been robbed of his winning personality by the aforementioned torture. For a single chapter, his name is - wait for it - “Clash.” CLASH! Insert multiple laugh emojis here. The bad guys are literally carbon copies of one another, and the final battle for Rime (did the author ever look up that word in the dictionary?) is decided by the WORST Deus Ex Machina ever. If you enjoyed the first book, you will be disappointed. Shadow & Flame is a joyless ride to nowhere. The cool characters either die, are maimed, or turned into sour dough by losing their magic. Arnett couldn’t even be bothered to describe Kate’s wedding gown. She failed to stick this jump. NEXT!