Ben Alderson - Cloaked in Shadow

Ben Alderson - Cloaked in Shadow

2017, Oftomes Publishing

If it wasn’t for Mam’s worried mutterings that echoed through my mind, I might have risked using it. It might even help pass the time. But as my mind toyed with the idea, I could almost feel her like a ghost leaning into my ear, Keep it hidden, Zacriah; don’t let it out. (The Dragori Series Book 1, Kindle Locations 126). 

This is going to be my first blog post in English so I'm sorry if there is typos and stuff like that. I also wrote it in Finnish and you can find that review in here. 

So, this week I was finally able to purchase Ben Alderson's book Cloaked in Shadow. As a little background information, I have been following Alderson on Youtube and Instagram for many years now. He has been talking about this book for a long time and I was so angry about the fact that for some reason Kindle didn't work on my computer and I wasn't able to read it right away.

Luckily, I finally got a chance to buy the book and read it. This was actually really fast read because it just captured me in the moment and I just couldn't stop reading. The plot was well put together and I loved how each character had their own past and temper. Now, let's talk about the plot and the lovely main character Zacriah!

It all starts when Zacriah is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced to be a part of King Dalior's legion of shapeshifters. He sleeps in a dorm with Petrer, a boy who once broke his heart. 

As the plot starts to form, the book takes the reader into the world of elementals, shapeshifters and their enemies. Zacriah faces a big obstacle during the very first day of the shapeshifter training. It all leads to Zacriah meeting the prince of Thessolina, the golden-eyed young man named Hadrian. 

Cloaked in Shadow is a story which contains a little bit of everything, just in right amounts. There is fighting, betrayal, lying, friendship and of course romance. One reason why I liked the book so much was that there wasn't too much anything. This was a young adult book and I didn't have my hopes up for it because of that. In many ya books the author plays too much with romance or the main characters feelings which at some points can really annoy me. Mainly, because I'm more of a detective story person and I hate excessive drama over everything. 

I think many of you know what I mean. There can be relationship problems, crush issues, breakups and things like that and it makes the plot more interesting, but too much is always too much. However, Alderson did a great job avoiding this kind of storytelling. He included some of Zacriah's love life issues and didn't make his personal life easy. But what he didn't do was taking it too far, he knew when to stop. For me, that made the character more alive, if that makes any sense at all.

The book was really good and I totally recommend it to everyone! Especially for you who love fantasy! Of course, this would be a nice way for a detective story addict, like me, to experience some other genres ones in a while.