Circle of Shadows audiobook

official blurb TK. i loved this!

Circle of Shadows was an exceptional read. I loved every moment.

If you like anime, you should give this book a shot!

You can also read my review here: https://devouringbooks2017.wordpress....http://www.efictionindia.in/2019/01/2...Circle of Shadows is a book that I thought sounded interesting, but not like anything too special. Oh, was I wrong. This fantasy tale was far more captivating than I had imagined. The world building, plot and characters were all done really well, which is rare. I found this to be a pretty fun read, although a bit slow paced.Circle of Shadows followed a group of 4 friends as they tried to protect the Empress Aki and their home Kichona from a magical attack stronger than anything they knew to exist. I loved the way it was written. A third person omniscient narrator worked really well for this novel. While the point of view switched between the main characters, sometimes it would include a POV from someone else, like Empress Aki, which helped give a rounded view of the entire story. We got to know each character, but it also kept me reading as I kept wanting to return to certain character’s chapters.The fantasy world built was done well. The way magic was used in the story was fascinating. There were parts of it that were horrifying, like a ball of insects used to attack people, and other parts that were much more fun, like invisibility or characters chanting a mantra to have their senses heightened like a certain animal’s. As the traditional magic of the taigas came against the much more powerful and new magic of the ryuu, it seemed like an impossible task to defend Empress Aki and Kichona.The characters were a lot of fun to read about. I loved how the band of four friends acted. They were a bit rebellious, but it was all in good fun. They would pull off elaborate pranks and were not super uptight heroes. They were unlikely characters for the center of a story, but that is what made them so great to read about. They were not super deep, multi-layered characters, but it worked because this story was more plot driven. The interesting relationships between the characters made for an interesting sub-plot, and the way the book ended there is clearly going to be more in the next book about their relationships.Overall, Circle of Shadows was a surprisingly good fantasy read. I did not expect much from this for some reason, but I was happily surprised. The characters, plot and fantasy world were all good. The writing was good and everything was described so well that I could easily visualize the entire story. I want to continue with this series, but the author has other books that I really want to check out. After reading this book I can’t wait to check out Evelyn Skye’s other fantasy series The Crown’s Game. This was my introduction to Evelyn Skye’s work and I am very impressed.

. : ☾⋆ — 4 ★ READ THIS REVIEW ON MY BLOG!!!https://bit.ly/2LoOOduARC provided from the publisher via Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review (thank you Balzer + Bray and HarperCollins!!)Evelyn Skye can do no wrong in my eyes. bold statement, but I am here for anything and everything she has ever and will ever write, and I’m not gonna lie, I’ve felt BEYOND giddy since the day I got approved for this ARC, and I’m so thrilled and thoroughly relieved that I can happily approve and endorse this book to absolutely everyone that ever asks for fantasy recommendations, let’s go!!!!! I couldn’t stop thinking about The Grisha Trilogy and An Ember in the Ashes while reading this book, and I say this in the best way possible. everything good about these two series, you can find in this book. in Circle of Shadows, Evelyn Skye builds a rich and gorgeous world full of magic and mythology and science, all in one of my favorite trope settings of all time: warrior academies. you’ve got tenacious characters, you’ve got age-old family feuds, you’ve got characters trying to stop a rebellion instead of starting one (!!!), you’ve got lively mythology and world building skills I would honestly DIE for, etc, etc. I feel like I could go on forever about all the good stuff in this book, like, honestly? Evelyn Skye is a treasure. however my one and only complaint, and the reason why I’m giving this book four stars instead of five, might be the constant switching of POVs? I found no issue related to switching POVs when I read The Crown’s Game, but for some reason Circle of Shadows doesn’t work as efficiently as The Crown’s Game did, and (other than Sora and Daemon) I had a hard time connecting to some of the characters because we got to know so little of them, and their chapters were so few and far between. constantly switching POVs meant that some characters only got a moment in the spotlight before immediately switching to the next character’s POV, and then the same thing would happen again with the next character, and the next. I would LOVE to know more about Hana and Prince Gin’s story, I love me some good villains and they have COPIOUS amounts of potential. also Fairy and Broomstick!! this is not by any means a completely bad thing because I very obviously loved the characters still, I just wish I could’ve gotten to know them a little bit better. perhaps all shall be fixed once book 2 rolls around.all in all, though, Circle of Shadows is an absolute gem. it’s enjoyable and fun and beautifully crafted—and I say this wholeheartedly, I can’t wait to get my hands on a finished copy. thanks again to Edelweiss+, Balzer + Bray and HarperCollins!!

This book really surprised me.  I knew it sounded good, but I'm shocked at how much I loved it.  The pacing was great and I read it way faster than most fantasies. The characters were what stood out most.  Sora (spirit) had so much strength.  She never gave up and wanted to be the best person she could be.  Her gemina, Daemon (Wolf) was so supportive of Sora.  His strength was fighting, but he wasn't very good at magic.  Daemon didn't know who his family was and he definitely made Sora and the others family.  Fairy was my favorite.  She's Sora's roommate and is good with poisons/potions.  Broomstick is Fairy's gemina and he was good with fire.  This friendship was so strong and I adored each of them."Work hard.  Mischief Harder."The Taigas are warriors that use magic and fighting to protect the Empress and the Imperial City.  Ten years ago, The Empress Aki had to fight and kill her twin brother, Prince Gin.  He let power get to his head and would have destroyed everything.  However, Prince Gin isn't really dead.  He has been teaching others a new type of magic and creating Ryuus.  They can see particles in the air and manipulate them for their magic.  It makes them more deadly than the taiga.  Prince Gin can also hypnotize others to do his will.  He is planning on killing his sister and taking over the palace.The old ways won't stop the ryuu and Prince Gin.  Sora and Daemon decide that they need to do something, even if it gets them killed.  They decide to follow Prince Gin and sneak onto his boat.  Things don't go well and Sora is under the prince's spell.  But for some reason, it doesn't affect Daemon.  He's able to get word back to the Empress, but they are unprepared for how bad this battle will be.The book has myths and wonderful storytelling.  I enjoyed the writing and the fast pace.  There is a focus on friendship and family along with all the fighting and magic.  I cannot wait for book two.I gave this book 5 stars.  I won an arc from Evelyn and I can't thank her enough for my beautiful personalized copy (with letter and swag).   I also have a finished copy ordered and can't wait to get it.  This cover is gorgeous! Review will be up on my blog 1/26.

Guys, this book was really good. I enjoyed it very much. It was very different and at least for me, I got introduced to a world I've never heard of. Circle of Shadows follows the story of the Kingdom of Kichona (I still don't know how to pronounce that). The book is written in the third person narrative and it follows a lot of characters throughout the book, which was very nice and appreciated because if you are going to write in the third person, I want to know about every character, not just one. So, it is not just a story about the main characters, which are Daemon and Sora aka Spirit and Wolf. It is the story of a whole country and its battle against itself.A quick rundown of the story, Aki is the empress who defeated her evil brother who wanted to take the kingdom for himself and do some sort of bloody sacrifice to this weird bloodthirsty god.  Aki and her Taigas (which are the soldiers of the kingdom) beat her brother and he flew out of the kingdom heavily wounded never to be seen again. During the upcoming years, Kichona grew to prosper and rich. Now there are new Taigas graduating the training school and in this category is where Sora and Daemon come in.Sora and Daemon are geminas. Geminas share a special connection through an invisible bond that only the pair can feel. They were assigned to be geminas when they were very young and since then, they've been inseparable. Same for Fairy and Broomstick. Every Taiga has a Gemina. The evil prince somehow survived and now, ten years later he's come back to take the kingdom that belongs to him and he'll do anything to take it. Now the characters were very well developed and Skye can write. Her world-building is on point and I enjoyed reading this book through and through. Sora and Deamon are compliments to each other. Where Deamon is strong in physical combat, Sora is good with magic, and so on and so forth. The Demon Prince has come back stronger than ever and now it's up to them to fight him with everything they've got, no matter how fair it is. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes Throne of Glass series, Truthwitch series, Girls of Paper and Fire, Flame in the Mist. If you are 13 years old and older you can read this book. Thank you guys once again for taking the time to read my review.Now tell me, have you read this book yet? Will you read it now? What do you think about it?

The worldbuilding in this book is excellent. It was fascinating to dive into, and usually well-displayed. The characters were all well-developed and I liked them a lot (Empress Aki and Daemon were particularly awesome). The writing did seem to lean more toward the "telling" side of "show vs. tell," which was rather disappointing. :/ Also, my ship was brutally attacked and I'm not happy about it. Daemon's emotions didn't seem adequately resolved, so it left a bitter taste in my mouth even though my ship was never actually official. Anyway, other than those couple of qualms I really enjoyed this book, and I'm excited to read the sequel once I've had some time to get over how those relationships worked out.

"I always knew you and your friends had the potential for greatness. I was just waiting for you to believe in it yourselves." This was fun and different. And the perfect example of why we need half star ratings, because this isn't an average 3 star books, but it just wasn't quite up to a 4-star rating. It was fun and enjoyable, but I didn't love it. But if a few things were slightly different, it'd be a book I could really love.This story follows mainly a group of four friends, Spirit (Sora), Wolf (Daemon), Fairy, and Broomstick. They're all Taigas a part of their Society trained to fight and defend their Kingdom of Kichona. They also can wield magic, but with limitations. And then a family feud between the Empress and her brother is revealed, and he's creating an army with a whole new method of magic unknown to the Taigas. The old, traditional ways of magic are no longer enough to fight back. So this book is a story of friendship, family feuds, magic, and fighting for what's right. I enjoyed the world created within this book, and overall it was well done. There are gaps here and there, but nothing that impaired my enjoyment of the story. The main thing that made this an enjoyable fantasy was its cast of characters. I loved the main two, Sora and Daemon, and we got to spend a good deal of time with them as they develop throughout the story. I did like what I saw from Fairy and Broomstick, but we didn't get as much time with them. I would've loved to see these characters developed more.The switching of POVs was sometimes confusing, because for the most part we were with just Sora and Daemon, but then it'd switch to another character for an important scene, then we wouldn't hear from them again for a while. So I saw enough of characters to get to know them a bit more, but not as much as I'd like. Either I'd have wanted this to switch POVs more and even it up between the characters, or to not have switched to theirs at all and kept it more consistent. It felt like just a tease of getting these snippets from other characters, but not quite getting to know them well. The plot for a bit in the beginning was a bit slow, but the second half had perfect pacing, and the ending didn't feel rushed. It was a powerful ending and sets us up for the next book and leaves you wanting more.Review can also be found on my blog!*ARC provided by the publisher for an honest review*

First book I read since coming back to the book word. I loved it. Rich in mythology and magic - interesting politics and burning friendship. LOVE LOVE LOVE. Can I read the next one please?

Actual rating 4.5 starsThank you to Harper Collins for providing me with a copy of Circle of Shadows in exchange for an honest review.Work hard. Mischief Harder.Sora and Daemon are apprentice Taigas, bonded together as 'Geminas', which means they share a mental bond they can use to send feelings to each other.  Taigas are warriors trained to protect the emperor, but Sora and Daemon love to cause mischief and have fun.  So much so that their teachers tend think they're not serious enough for the most important missions.  Assigned to a boring and tame mission, they accidentally come across a camp where they witness warriors using magic they've never seen before.  After watching closely they realise they have stumbled upon a great threat to the kingdom.  In their bid to convince their teachers of what they have seen, they decide they may have to take matters into their own hands to save their beloved empress and kingdom.Although they have been living in peaceful times for ten years, a terrible war where Sora suffered a heartbreaking loss is still fresh in her mind.  She would do anything to take that day back and will do anything to protect her family and friends from this looming threat, even if it means putting herself directly in the path of danger.Circle of Shadows was a fast paced read with fantastic world building and exciting characters.  The magic systems were quite unique and I loved reading about them.  The beautiful friendships in this story were also a real highlight and there were some surprising twists I didn't see coming.  There were a couple of things that happened right at the end of the book that had me scratching my head a little, but all in all I'm really looking forward to the next book!MY BLOG ~ INSTAGRAM

Okay first of all this cover is stunning. And I mean it is bloody stunning. I love it and it would have to be my favourite cover of 2019! Seriously even if this book is not something that you would normally read, you should just buy this book because of how amazing this cover will look on your bookcase. No pressure or anything but you should buy this book.Circle of Shadows is centred on Sora and Daemon who are apprentice Taigas, and they are bonded to each other with a mental bond and are able to send feelings to each other. Taigas are trained warriors that protect the emperor. Sora and Daemon are not taken very seriously due to the amount of mischief they cause, which is highly amusing. Their teachers don’t assign them to important missions and tend to assign them to missions that really aren’t that hard nor important at all. However while on a said boring mission they witness something out of the ordinary, something they haven’t seen before, something that is a huge threat to the kingdom.The friendship between Sora and Daemon was lively and beautiful. They relied on one another, wouldn’t leave the other person behind and would protect them at all costs. It was refreshing and a highlight of this book for me. I loved their banter and found that individually they were strong but together they have unlimited faith and strength in one another.Circle of the Shadow was fast paced and brilliant, for such a massive book I found that nothing really lagged behind nor was there any over explaining dialogue to fill in the pages. The world in which it was set really added value to the story and the characters. There really wasn’t a part of this book I didn’t enjoy.