Reign of Shadows (Reign of Shadows, #1)

by Sophie Jordan

Phoebe Strole (Narrator) and James Fouhey (Narrator)

Destiny and darkness collide in this romantic, sweeping new fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan. Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok's lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna's survival depends on the world believing she is dead. But that doesn't stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized. With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.

• ISBN10: 0062465104
• ISBN13: 9780062465108
• Publish Date: 9 February 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 8 hours and 21 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

Reign of Shadows has just about every element that I love in a story - it's a retelling with a badass protagonist and a star-crossed romance. Although I've never read another Rapunzel retelling, she is one of my favorite princesses (I love them all if we're being honest). Basically, I had every reason to expect that I would love this book. When I first picked this up months and months ago, I read one chapter and put it down when it didn't catch my attention as quickly as I'd hoped. But when a friend insisted I would enjoy it, I decided to give the audio a try. In the end, I probably should've trusted my instincts on this one.

Luna is the Rapunzel of this retelling. Her parents were murdered when she was a baby and she has lived her entire life locked in a tower with two caretakers for protection from the darkness. The plan is to live out her life in the tower, safe from harm and believed dead. Luna wants desperately wants to go outside, but is only allowed brief trips to work on her survival skills at midlight, a brief period of light in the middle of each day.

Luna is also blind, which I never would have known if it wasn't expressly stated. Why? Because absolutely nothing about her points to this except for her saying it's so. Luna can "see" everything from bats flying around, to the sizes of the rooms she's in, to where furniture is in an unfamiliar house, based on the way the air moves. She is able to navigate unfamiliar forest terrain and roam about in a treetop village with zero effort. Her disability is a non-disability and I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's cool to have a blind MC who is able to do everything a seeing person can do. On the other hand, why is she blind other than as a plot device? But I digress.

Everything changes for Luna when Fowler enters her life, purely by chance. He is on the run from his former life and, although he doesn't want to be responsible for anyone's well-being, he unwittingly gets roped into taking Luna along on his journey to find safety. Fowler was the saving grace of this story for me. I loved his backstory and growth and I mostly loved the romance between him and Luna, although it did have its issues. I felt like the relationship between Fowler and Luna was sweet and realistic, especially given the circumstances surrounding them.

The world building was one area I definitely thought Reign of Shadows should have excelled in, and it mostly did. I love the idea of a world covered by an eclipse for decades! The atmosphere was unsettling and I really did enjoy it. However, there were glaring issues that I couldn't overlook. The first is that plant life and even entire forests still seem to be thriving in this world with next to no light. But the most blatant is the Dwellers - humanoid monsters that have seemingly appeared with the eclipse but with no explanation. There are multiple descriptions of Dwellers and how terrifying they are, but WHAT are they? Where did they come from? Did they poof down out of the moon?

While Reign of Shadows wasn't absolutely horrible, it just wasn't for me. There were some good twists and the romance was pretty good, but overall I just couldn't make myself enjoy this. I usually love every retelling I read, so I'm sad I can't add this one to my list of favorites. As it stands, there are much better retellings out there.

[Leah]

Reign of Shadows is one of those books that grabs you and doesn’t let you go until you reach the very end – I was absolutely captivated from start to finish, and that ending left me absolutely reeling. So much so that I was alarmingly pleased to discover I already have the sequel on my Kindle (thank you, HarperTeen – you are lifesavers!). I wasn’t at all sure what kind of read I was getting myself in for – I haven’t read a lot of fantasy, I’m still a newbie, but this was an incredible read, I devoured it in one sitting, and it left me open-mouthed with shock.

It seemed to be a Rapunzel re-telling, at least a little bit, with the tower where no one can find it, and the girl locked there for her own safety, but that’s kind of where the comparisons end because Luna is nothing like Rapunzel (or maybe she is? I can’t really remember except for the tower and the long hair…). I absolutely adored Luna – her want to go out and explore, despite the dangers posed to her in the Black Forest, by the dwellers (kinda like zombies? But with weird faces and antennae? And stinky. So stinky). Her blindness also amazed me, in the way she handled it. Because it was such a non-issue. Is that how it’s really like? I HAVE NO IDEA, but if it is, KUDOS. I can barely live being sighted (partially sighted since I wear glasses but you get my drift), never mind blind. And I LOVED Fowler. He’s such an anti-hero to start (obvs) – he’s trying to survive, everyone he loves has died, he doesn’t want to get too close to Luna, but I mean COME ON. They have SUCH good chemistry and I liked how Luna kinda wore him down bit by bit. *Happy dance*

I genuinely loved this book. TRUE, not a lot happens. It’s mostly trying to get to safety, but that’s OK, because it allowed Luna and Fowler time to get close, to feel each other out, to escape dwellers, and bad people, and I feel like it’s all going to come together in the sequel, which I’m going to start reading RIGHT NOW. I loved it all – even though I knew who Fowler’s father was (it was blatantly obvious) and I’m so excited to pick up right where we left off, at that jaw-dropping WTF ending. Sequel, I AM COMING FOR YOU.

Review originally posted at Simply Adrift.

Reign of Shadows blew me away. I highly enjoyed this book! It was such an interesting concept, the main character being blind in a world full of danger. It was thrilling and exciting.

The Concept

When I went into Reign of Shadows I had no idea how Jordan was going to pull off a character as blind. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this story because I couldn't yet understand how the reader would be able to see the world if the main character couldn't actually see it herself. I was really going to need to rely on the author's writing ability for this one. And then on top of that, this story is a fantasy set in a world where daylight is sparse, and monsters rule the darkness. It sounded so intriguing.

Luna & her blindness

The way Jordan writes the world as how Luna sees was interesting, how Luna could hear far away and could tell what the sound was whether it was a person walking through the woods, or the dark dwellers rising from the ground. I thought that was so cool, a little unbelievable, but I decided to let me suspense of belief stretch that far.

Luna can fight, she can defend herself, even though she can't see. She uses her hearing and also the feel of air pressure. As of course when something moves the air around it also moves. I loved this idea and understood how Luna could see so much without actually seeing. The way Jordan described the world filled my mind with images I could understand, I loved that, although there were moments when I would think 'How can Luna describe something like that when she hasn't seen it before?'.

Luna was able to walk the terrain with no problem. Now this would have been fine if Luna had actually been outside of her tower more often. But Luna was confined to her tower  for most of her life with only a few times having left it. Personally, I found this unbelievable that she was then able to walk the terrain fine with Fowler. Even if she could hear him in front of her and hear the way he moved, it felt a little impossible for her to perfectly be able to do that.

Her sense's were heightened because of her blindness, but at times I felt like I had to really stretch my suspense of belief to believe her sense were just that good. It was as if she had superpower sense's, and who knows, maybe that's exactly what she has. Maybe when she was born she was given the gift of super sense and her sight was taken away.

The Romance

Fowler is a moody, bad boy character. He has a sad past and refuses to let anyone in. The way he treats Luna at the beginning is really frustrating, Luna tries to befriend him by talking non-stop since he refuses to answer her questions. Luna starts to like Fowler a little too early for my liking, it felt a bit like she fell for him simply because he was the first person she had met other than her family. The connection was Luna's pure wanting to have interaction with other people and he was the first one.

By the end though I was shipping it, I was enjoying their scenes together.

The Inconsistencies

I did notice throughout the book that I felt like there were a few inconsistencies. Luna would be intelligent and strong and brave at the start but then during the middle she was acting like a terrified little girl. I remember wondering where had the strong woman from the beginning of the book gone? She suddenly forgot how to fight and so all she did was flee. It was rather jarring.

Overall

Overall, I actually really, really enjoyed Reign of Shadows. I did have to stretch my suspense of belief rather far at points, and there were moments that annoyed me with how Luna was acting or her personality had changed. And there were small things that I didn't like. But overall, I really fell in love with the story as it was. A story about a journey and survival.

The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger so I really want to know what happens next!

Always,
Jordon

This review was originally posted on Simply Adrift

[Kait ✨]

yikes, what. a. slog. i wanted to love this book but it is just SO BAD. the premise sounded so great but i found the dialogue uncomfortably stilted, the plotting unevenly paced (it's slow slow slow until 45-50% in and then there's a mad rush to the end), the world-building is lacklustre and I really have no clue what's happening with this world, and the romance is literally laughable. the insta-love is gag-worthy and there is no basis for their "connection" whatsoever. it's also too small of a story—it's very clear that sophie jordan planned for this to be a series (it ends on a ginormous cliffhanger) and the story does not feel complete.

jordan is most well-known for her historical romances and while this type of behaviour/pacing might be OK with that genre (and i think i have enjoyed some of her romances before), it is so out of place in fantasy. it felt to me like jordan needed to do a lot more research on the fantasy genre before writing this book. this is a huge pass—DO NOT ENTER HERE—and i will definitely not be continuing on with this series. (which is kinda saying something, considering that big cliffhanger.)

[tweetybugshouse]

Fairy tale retelling are very popular right now and i enjoyed everyone i read so far. This one is a Rapunzel retelling with a dystopian twist to it where the world has pretty much be decimated and their are these strange dweller like creatures. At the heart of the story you have Luna who ya find out in visually impaired and the long lost heir to the throne. She sets off on this whirl wind adventure with Fowler. The excitement, the intense relationship between these to kept me enthralled and wanting to know more and more. The gut wrenching climatic cliff hanger had me gasping and saying no no that can not be where you end it. This is a book one so i should of expected it.

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
3.5

Reign of Shadows is a dark book- literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, the whole world is dark, due to some kind of crazy perma-eclipse. Can you even imagine how awful it would be to never have sunlight? Well, welcome to this hellish world! Obviously, things aren't going great. Which brings me to the figurative sense. The world is brutal. I guess people must have turned into real assholes when they weren't able to sunbathe, or maybe they'd invested too much money in Ray-Bans, I don't actually know, but they'd kill you just as soon as look at you. As such, Luna ends up having to escape the only place she's ever known, because people want to kill her, even more than they want to kill everyone else, because she is a princess they thought was dead, after all. So off she goes into the dark woods with Fowler to try and be not murdered.

So the story boils down to survival and a very interesting dynamic between Fowler and Luna. Fowler wants to love exactly zero people. And Luna, she just wants a chance to live after being cooped up in a tower for most of her life. The loathing-turned-romance was very slow and believable, and I like it. I like it a lot. I cannot wait for more of it, frankly, and I am SO excited that we get more of it. Luna and Fowler both undergo great development as characters too, and it's really sweet to see their personalities unfold during the story.

The atmosphere of the book was on point too. I absolutely sensed the darkness, the fear, the unsettling creepiness that permeated this whole world. The only actual problem I had with the world was that while I felt the misery and discomfort, I didn't really understand what led it to be that way. Yes, the eclipse, but I had a lot of questions, which I will just go ahead and assume, for now, will be answered in the sequel.

My other issue was that I don't completely understand the world. I don't understand who (or what?) the "Dwellers" were (can't even explain them because I don't get them- just some kind of... non-human entity? Former human? Seriously, no idea.) or how this world was set up. There was the tower, and then a bagillion miles of woods, and then a city in the trees.... and I guess the kingdom from which Luna came from. That all probably sounded confusing, but that's just because I am a little confused, clearly.

And then the plot really picks up. And one page into that, the book ends. So, this is the definition of cliffhanger. The cliffhangiest of all the cliffhangers. So do with that what you will.

Bottom Line: Loved Luna and Fowler and their development. Loved the atmosphere and suspense. Loved the questions that remain to be answered. Didn't so much love my confusion. Overall, definitely worth it for me, especially because hopefully the second book can answer my burning questions! (And more Luna and Fowler, please and thank you!)

*Copy provided by publisher for review