A Shadow Bright and Burning Book Review

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

One of my fave booktubers gushed about this book, and I just was not feeling it. Maybe because this book read more like a middle-grade novel? Although it was well written, I did not connect with any of the characters. It does, however, have an interesting magic system with cameos by classical magical creatures like trolls and elves. The mix of mystical gods, portals, magicians, etc, just felt like a hodgepodge of myth and magic. All this takes place in Victorian England, which as a history buff, all seems very appealing. The heroine’s struggle of being a teenage girl thrust into a male-dominated role as a sorcerer was interesting. However, her tendency to running away or out of a room during confrontations was a bit annoying and reminiscent of my nine-year-old daughter. I listened to this book on Scribd which probably made the book more entertaining than actually reading it.

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