The Shadows (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #13)

by J. R. Ward

[Angie]

In The Shadows we finally get to learn more about the mysterious shadow twins, Trez and iAm. Of course, Trez's storyline focuses on him and Selena and the issue of him being betrothed to the shadow's princess against his will. And iAm also gets a romance which starts in the most unexpected place. Then there's all kinds of other side plots, which mostly don't go anywhere, as always.

The Shadows continues to jump across a million POVs. The important ones are Trez, iAm, Selena, and the newly introduced maichen (no capitalization). Xcor and Layla still have a significant amount of page time, and things are just getting weird on that front. Like, I'm interested, but I'm also kind over them since nothing new happened. Assail is still around with his drugs, and I still don't care, but luckily he only has a few pages. Then we get to meet Paradise, one of the aristocratic daughters who wants to join the training program at the Brotherhood Compound. While I don't think her POV added anything at all, I did enjoy her. I absolutely think the high born young women should learn to fight! Girl power!

As for the romances, those did not turn out how I was expecting at all. Trez and Selena have a lot of sex, but they also go on dates! Cute dates! Did any of the other couples go on dates? I don't think so. I thought that was all really sweet, but I was dreading the conclusion. I assumed the author was going to recycle one of her twists that she's used a couple of times prior, but nope. Something totally new and unexpected happens. I almost cried! I wasn't quite as into iAm and maichen though. It felt super sudden and underdeveloped. I definitely enjoyed their set up, and figured out one of the twists, but I do wish they had gotten more page time to really explore their feelings.

The Shadows was a good addition to this series. It's certainly not a favorite, but I enjoyed it. It's a shame that the main story was shoved into the last 20%, with bits and pieces scattered through the beginning. I don't mind these many POVs too much, except that there's a lot going on, but not much happening. None of these plot-threads are going anywhere since they barely get any page time in each book. I'm really hoping the author starts pulling this all together soon.

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