V. K. Dixon’s Sword & Shadow (Warriors & Mages #2)
Description
When the world shatters you, how do you pick up the pieces and go on?
Contrary to society’s expectations for young women, Evylin practiced swordplay and longed for adventure. To help her escape a small town fate, her beloved uncle Hewitt organized her marriage to a man she’d just met, Captain Deckard.
But Evylin, Deckard, Hewitt, and a small group of soldiers soon found themselves thrown into the secret heart of Ephria’s centennial war with Wauld. While searching for hidden relics of immense magical power – each one magically protected and sought after by Waulden mages – Hewitt was killed in battle. Without him, Evylin lost more than her closest family and constant confidant, she lost her direction.
Now, both Evylin and Deckard struggle to recover after Hewitt’s death. Evylin drowns in her emotions and doubts, questioning every decision that led her to this point. Deckard flounders in how to help her, and questions if he can salvage the love that had begun to grow in their marriage.
All the while, they still race to acquire the relics that could spell victory for whichever nation wields them.
Disclosure
I received this ARC for free from the author, my reviewing it was encouraged but not required. This does not affect my opinion of the book, or the content of my review; the following review is unbiased and all opinions are my own.
Note: this review is based on my reading of an Advance Reader Copy (ARC), therefore some content of the book may change between my reading it and its publication. Any quotes taken from an ARC may not match publication.
Review – Spoiler Free
I read V. K. Dixon’s Sword & Shadow after thoroughly enjoying the first book in the Warriors & Mages trilogy, Fire & Night (read my review here). I do not read many books marketed as romance, so I was hesitant to start the series, but Dixon’s descriptions of the series as a whole, especially her explaining it as “Jane Austen meets Skyrim”, convinced me to pick it up. And I’m glad I did.
Fire & Night was such a fun read, the characters were wonderful, the world well fleshed out, and the plot interesting. And just as the story started becoming too much romance and relationship drama for me, Dixon shifted the story more into its fantasy side with magic and creatures and battles all at a fast pace that I love.
Sword & Shadow had many of the same great characters, worldbuilding, and expanding magic system, but with the plot and action slowed down. While there were still good battles and the occurrences of magic increased, other parts focused heavily on the relationships – romantic and otherwise – established in Fire & Night. This naturally came about because the core focus of Sword & Shadow is the female main character, Evylin, struggling through some deep seated emotional trauma that shaped her life since childhood and came to a head at the end of Fire & Night.
This slower pace and internal-conflict-heavy plot doesn’t interest me as much as fast paced action does. There were times where I found Evylin’s emotionally driven actions annoying, and my personal “push through it and press on” mentality got irritated. But, that’s the deal with emotional trauma, while the solutions seem simple to an observer, they can be so hard to see for the one struggling.
I think Dixon did a great job of showing Evylin’s emotional struggles. Evylin’s point of view (POV) chapters showed her going through differing stages of grief and how her trauma bled into many of her decisions. Mean while, POV chapters from other characters showed how Evylin’s struggle effected the group’s dynamic as well as their relic quest. Dixon even gave in-book voices to my impatience with Evylin when other characters called her out with tough love.
One more important thing to note is the level of romance (read about Fire & Night’s in my review here). The romantic tension takes on a different feel in Sword & Shadow, moving more toward emotional tension that leans into the miscommunication trope. Yet, while there are less physically romantic scenes than there were in Fire & Night, the scenes that Sword & Shadow has go further. Romantic scenes go beyond just kissing, are clearly described, and some have an intensity to them before an interruption or a fade to black ending. So while romance readers who are used to spice would describe it as low-spice, the no-spice readers would rate it pretty high.
Overall, I really liked V. K. Dixon’s Sword & Shadow, and I am excited to move onto book 3 in the trilogy, Relics & Thrones. I would recommend Sword & Shadow to those who have already read book 1, Fire & Night, since this book relies heavily on the story and characters developed there. I would recommend the series to readers who enjoy epic fantasy with a slower pace, a character-focused storyline, or a slow burn romance. I would not recommend it to those who wouldn’t like the slower pace that naturally comes about with the story being more emotionally focused, or to those who read strictly no spice romance.
Quote
Who could begin to understand the pain that lived in her body, tearing every inch of her heart to pieces? How could she describe the devastation that remained in the wake of her loss? Who would she trust with such vulnerability?
Sword & Shadow, V. K. Dixon
Ratings
- Quality of Writing – 5
- Plot – 3
- World Building – 5
- Characters – 4
- Ease of Reading – 5
- Overall Enjoyment – 4
- Final Rating – 4.5 (Actual: 4.3) – Really Liked It / It Was Amazing
Want to learn more about the numbers I use for rating, and the qualities I’m thinking about when writing a book review? Check out my post How I Rate and Review.