The Sharpest Blade by Sandy Williams

Release Date: 31st December, 2013

Publisher: Ace

Pages: 320pgs

The Story

Torn between two worlds.

Torn between two lives.

McKenzie Lewis’s ability to read the shadows has put her—and …those she loves—in harm’s way again and again. The violence must end, but will the cost of peace be more devastating than anyone ever imagined?

After ten years of turmoil, the life McKenzie has always longed for may finally be within her grasp. No one is swinging a sword at her head or asking her to track the fae, and she finally has a regular—albeit boring—job. But when a ruthless enemy strikes against her friends, McKenzie abandons her attempt at normalcy and rushes back to the Realm.

With the fae she loves and the fae she’s tied to pulling her in different directions, McKenzie must uncover the truth behind the war and accept the painful sacrifices that must be made to end it. Armed with dangerous secrets and with powerful allies at her side, her actions will either rip the Realm apart—or save it.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book!

THE SHARPEST BLADE was a delightful end to this adult fantasy trilogy and while it wasn't exactly my favourite instalment in the series, but I was still pretty happy with how everything was concluded in the end. It was nice and clean. Straight to the point too.

Now for the majority of this series, I've always had this fondness for our main character, McKenzie, and let me tell you she was a very tough heroine throughout the series, especially in this third and final book. She was very kick-ass, in fact. Now despite her romantic troubles between two very powerful guys (which is solved by the end of this book thankfully), but when it comes to fighting against the fae and their other creatures, McKenzie never allowed anyone - not even once - to push her around and so . . . she definitely holds her own in any situation that she faces, which - I guess - is one of the many qualities that I've always came to admire about her. Another thing too, McKenzie, at least what I found, had already made her decision with who she wanted to be with between her two love interests from   the end of book one and she never regretted her choice with this particular 'love' of hers, which is a nice change to read about considering love triangles don't always end well for the heroine, so yeah that was nice.

Overall, THE SHARPEST BLADE contained so many elements that I love in the fantasy genre and I would definitely recommend this series for sure! It's such a fun, quick read.

The Rating

4/5 stars

The Shattered Dark by Sandy Williams

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Ace

Pages: 304pgs

The Story

McKenzie Lewis has a gift. 

It allows her access to a world few have seen, 

and even fewer can comprehend. It’s her secret. 

And it exists in the shadows . . .

McKenzie was a normal college student, save for one little twist: she’s a shadow reader, someone who can both see the fae and track their movements between our world and the Realm. It’s a gift for which she has been called insane, one for which she has risked family and friends—and one that has now plunged her into a brutal civil war between the fae.

With the reign of the king and his vicious general at an end, McKenzie hoped to live a more normal life while exploring her new relationship with Aren, the rebel fae who has captured her heart. But when her best friend, Paige, disappears McKenzie knows her wish is, for now, just a dream. McKenzie is the only one who can rescue her friend, but if she’s not careful, her decisions could cost the lives of everyone she’s tried so hard to save.

The Review

After defeating the King and his Fae in the first book, The Shadow Reader, McKenzie still can't seem to catch a break from pretty much . . . well . . . anything paranormal. Since switching sides with the Rebels in a war between them and those of the Fae, McKenzie is not only falling in love with the Rebel leader, Aren, and also having complicated and contradicting feelings for her past love, Kyol, but she is also attempting to fight off Remnants coming after her and her rebel followers, the type of Fae who are still very loyal to their dead king and would rather kill his replacement. But with many other matters on higher stakes, with a possible Rebel traitor among them all and with McKenzie's human best friend, Paige, abducted by those deadly Remnants . . . McKenzie must do everything within her power to hold the Fae kingdom together before everything is destroyed in the end.

I really enjoyed Sandy William's debut, The Shadow Reader. It was a very fun and addictive urban fantasy read, and I thought its sequel THE SHATTERED DARK was clearly no exception as well. I loved it! It may not have been as strong as the first book in terms of some uninteresting sections of the book, but regardless of that I still loved the main plot and how it mostly focused on the rebel faes which I wanted to know more about so I was all for it really. And, as for the romance side of things, while it did - at times - fall into the pitfalls of love triangles (even if it's not really a love triangle per se but just some resolved feelings for another person), however I'm really glad one of the  love interests was straightforward in his affections rather than hiding them for the main character and really . . . I love having high tension in anything romance-wise so I was pretty happy about that in this book!

Overall, THE SHATTERED DARK was a great continuation of The Shadow Reader series and with so much happening in the book - not to mention a great cliffhanger of sorts - I think many readers will enjoy this sequel just as much as the first book.

The Rating

4/5 stars

The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

Release Date: 25th October, 2011

Publisher: Ace Books

Pages: 307pgs

The Story

There can only be one allegiance.

It's her time to choose.

Some humans can see the fae. McKenzie Lewis can track them, reading the shadows they leave behind. But some shadows lead to danger. Others lead to lies.

A Houston college student is trying to finish her degree, McKenzie has been working for the fae king for years, tracking vicious rebels who would claim the Realm. Her job isn't her only secret. For just as long, she's been in love with Kyol, the king's sword-master - and relationships between humans and fae are forbidden.

But any hope for a normal life is shattered when she's captured by Aren, the fierce and uncompromising rebel leader. He teaches her the forbidden fae language and tells her dark truths about the Court, all to persuade her to turn against the king. Time is running out, and as the fight starts to claim human lives, McKenzie has no choice but to decide once and for all whom to trust and where she ultimately stands in the face of a cataclysmic civil war.

The Review

McKenzie Lewis is not your average young woman. Unlike most mortals her age, she happens to possess the rare ability of tracking Fae (also known as a Shadow Reader), and with this gift alone she is able to read the shadows of where the fae go after they leave a realm and be able to draw maps in order to track them down at a certain point and location. For almost ten years serving at Court, McKenzie has been using her so-called 'gift' to assist the king of all Fae, King Atroth, by tracking down rebel fae members who want to destroy his kingdom. But with McKenzie in love (like forever and ever in love) with the forbidden king's sword-master, Kyol, and with her being suddenly kidnapped by a man named Aren, a rebel fae leader, everything is going to change this one woman's journey forever . . . and possibly a whole kingdom.

Now I wasn't too sure whether to pick this book up or not, but I'm so glad I did. It was an enjoyable, tense and over-the-edge kind of book, and in the end it soon became a very surprising debut novel coming from the talented Sandy Williams . . . so be on the lookout for this author in the future. I didn't think I would like it - I admit that - but I did and I have no regrets whatsoever. Along with the writing lines of Jeaniene Frost and Richelle Mead, THE SHADOW READER is highly recommended by me. I think what made me fall in love with it even more than the storyline itself was McKenzie Lewis and her character alone. She was such a fierce, strong and independent young heroine, and those traits made it even easier to feel drawn to her character despite her personality and action faults. Trust me she has a list of faults, but I love her still for them.

When it came down to the love interests (c'mon you know there's always a love interest involved), you would already know I don't like love triangles anymore - in fact I hate them - unless they're written well and are justified for good reasons. In this book's case, the love interests were done extremely well in both senses and it was one of the best that I've seen and read in adult fiction. Sure the relationship complications frustrated me to a higher level but that's one of the main reasons why I thought it rocked my world, too. Talk about hot fae boys (two of them people)! First of all, I loved the connection between Aren (the rebel Fae dude) and McKenzie. They had great chemistry and had the same old yo-yo romance that could and would drive you mad because you just wanted them to kiss and get on with it. But . . . for some reason I pondered often why exactly they liked each other. It wasn't really explained in the novel. Aren is technically 'the bad guy' and often showed those bad traits of his but I felt it was a little underdeveloped in the romance section concerning Aren and I wanted some answers on why McKenzie was so attracted to him in the first place other than his hotness . . . they're great together but I don't know . . . there was just something missing in their spark. And after all, they've only known each other for a few brief weeks.

On the other hand, we have the sometimes-tense relationship between McKenzie and Kyol (the king's sword-master). Now THEY have a more believable relationship through my eyes than McKenzie and Aren ever did. Both of these characters, McKenzie and Kyol, have worked together for almost ten years straight and since a human and fae relationship is completely forbidden, both have tried really hard (especially Kyol) to keep their feelings unnoticed. For McKenzie, she has waited all those ten years to be with Kyol and I truly felt her pain. I mean TEN YEARS! Damn that's a very long time to wait for someone you love to love you. But by the time McKenzie returns from captivity and returns to Kyol, and by the time Kyol realizes his mistakes from keeping things from McKenzie that have now done a lot of damage control on their relationship, things aren't ever going to be the same between them . . . though I do hope in the next book they work it out somehow. I loved them together! While Kyol understands McKenzie needs to move on, but I don't believe he's ever going to give up that easy on her. A secret part of me hopes he doesn't.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I can see it appealing to readers of all ages. With a lack of romantic scenes that I kind of hoped for, that still didn't stop me in wanting more and more of this book because it has some of the best actions scenes I've read so far this year! So yay for that! Anyway the bottom line is THE SHADOW READER is a must-read for Urban Fantasy fans and it's definitely something I would reread again and again!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars