Shades of Darkness by A.R. Kahler

Shades of Darkness (Ravenborn, #1)

by A.R. Kahler

American Gods meets The Secret History in this "eerie, wistful" (Karsten Knight, author of the Wildefire series) start to a fantasy trilogy about Kaira Winters, the murders that keep happening at her artsy boarding school, and the lengths she must go to in order to protect the people she loves.

When Kaira Winters decided to go to Islington-a boarding school deep in the woods of Michigan-she thought she could finally get away from everything she has tried so hard to forget, including some things from her past that she refuses to believe ever actually happened.

Everything seemed great until the bodies of murdered students started appearing all over campus. The victims seem to have been killed in some sort of ritual sacrifice. And even worse, Kaira's dreams are giving her clues to the killer's identity.

Though she tries to resist, Kaira quickly realizes that she is the only one who can stop the violence, but to do so she must come to terms with her past. She's going to have to listen to the voice that is buried deep within her...the one that claims to have unimaginable power...the one that claims to be an actual goddess.

But even if Kaira can harness the power within her, will it be enough to stop the darkness that has fallen over her school? And if it is strong enough, then what's to stop the goddess from wreaking her own havoc once she's released?

Filled with murder, mystery, and a little bit of magic, this fresh genre-bending novel is a thrilling page-turner you won't be able to put down until the very last page.

Reviewed by anastasia on

4 of 5 stars

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Full Review on my blog!

Though this novel does begin a little slow, and drags a bit in the beginning, it ends with one hell of a surprise and bang. The characters are amazing and seem all to real.

Kaira sends herself to an art academy due to some supernatural events that happened during her freshman year of high school. Kaira is about to graduate and all the seniors are finishing up their art thesis'. The night before the first two thesis' are due a student commits suicide. Kaira and her friends are shocked by the student's death and Kaira realizes there's more to what happened. A battle between the gods has started and several of the students are instrumental to the gods war.

This book will keep you flipping pages long into the night and the big reveal does not disappoint! You'll never look at crows the same way again. I can't wait to read book two! 

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 29 June, 2018: Finished reading
  • 29 June, 2018: Reviewed