Peace and Turmoil (Dark Shores, #1)

by Elliot Brooks

First of, the characters. I am not sure how many people we follow, but Elliot has done a remarkable job of keeping the storylines separate enough to be unique but intertwined enough to stay relevant to each other. Since this is the first book in a series, I had not expected the characters to come together so quickly. I enjoyed it, but I wonder how the following books will progress when all our main characters are already in one place. Having everyone in one place and then separating again can often feel like 'the plot must be kept going!' if not done properly.
X'odia and Gwenivere were by far my favorite characters. Almost every character in this book is morally grey, and I can probably say that Gwenivere is one of the characters that we have seen a lot but still don't really know all that well. All characters are well developed, have a unique personality and different traits, and are not as bland as I often see in books.

Following all these characters that are woven in together very nicely felt natural and not overwhelming at all (after the first few chapters, but that is only natural). There was a lot of political intrigue, manipulation, and betrayal, which I really enjoyed. When the characters were traveling around it was often not that clear to me how long they actually had to travel to get to their destination. For example when Dietrich seeks out the dragons since he would be too late otherwise, he still spends days, if not weeks, searching for them and caring for them. I was a little confused if it was actually faster, or more of a messy 'we need to introduce him to the dragons'.

Next, the magic system. I have not yet read magic systems like this yet. It was unique, properly explained, had clear limitations, and everyone could use magic! I haven't seen that often, most of the time only part of the population is able to use magic.

Overall, I would say that there are not many plot twists since a lot of it is told beforehand and we mostly focus on the characters getting there and other characters figuring out what's going on.