Inkson offers a dark fantastical world brimming with shadowy magic fierce warriors and political intrigue. The plot ticks along with familiar beats but the world itself has a certain charm blending classic fantasy elements with a slightly darker edge.

It is a solid adventure though not one that completely reinvents the wheel. Expect plenty of action and moody atmosphere with a cast that while engaging occasionally slips into familiar archetypes. Still a fun read for dark fantasy fans.

The Shadow Kingdom is an intriguing story, the world is literally black and white. I like the idea, and for the most part, the story is engaging and keeps your interest. The characters are likeable at times, but I wouldn't say I connected with them at all. The descriptions of the places is decent, could have been better. The ending wasn't the greatest, kind of sudden. An overall, just okay read.

I just love reading. I always find new and amazing worlds with great and funny characters. The Shadow Kingdom is one these stories.

A world where there is no color? What?! I could hardly believe it when I read the book’s descrition. And the cause? Magic!! I love magic. And curses. And seemingly ordinary people who can break them. That’s our main character Eli. I like her. I like characters who aren’t perfect, who are vulnerable. Eli is naive and helpless but as the story unfolds she gets stronger and braver too.
And yes, the book has a pretty boy with moving tattoos, Tren. Now, he is a mysterie. You can tell from the start something is off. He keeps secrets, lies by omission but he is also protective and strong and kind.

The world-building is amazing. I fall for the idea of a world where there is no color. It just made C.J. Inkson’s job that much harder because you cannot describe a world with colors if said world doesn’t have any. But still Inkson succeeded in describing a wonderfully beautiful place.

I hope there will be a second book because I’m curious what happens next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy,

I enjoyed this book! I liked the idea of a world without color and how that would play out. I did find the magic system to be a bit annoying but it’s just part of it, I guess!

Elliot West has grown up knowing that she has no choice in her future, she knows who she is and her purpose in life. For generations her family have lived at the watchtower in Sheltley, their prime objective never changing; to keep watch over the endless tides for signs that the Shadow may cross the sea over the borders of Barrier Strait. The Shadow appeared in the Kingdom Tallon across the water hundreds of years ago, a curse that put the entire land into darkness. The residents haven’t seen colour since and have come to accept that it will never be again, lands across the seas forgotten. No one has ever tried to cross the border across the ocean, so after generations, the Shadow Kingdom became legend, a myth, a bedtime story. Even Elliot isn’t sure what to believe, that is, until she is captured by the legendary Lojkin warrior clan from the Shadow Kingdom, a clan who hasn’t lost hope in bringing colour back to their lands, who believe in drinking the blood of a being in colour will restore them once and for all. Elliot was their chosen sacrifice.

I really enjoyed this story. It had everything you could want from a fantasy adventure, a driven purpose to travel through unknown magical lands full of wild dangerous clans, mythical beasts as well as beautiful landscapes and mystery around every corner. A strange world cursed into darkness that has kidnapped Elliot in order to bring colour back to the lands, a fantastic storyline that will keep you on your toes.
Eli is the only colourful being in the entire Shadow Kingdom, the Lojkin sought to bring colour back to the lands, as well as a means for the warriors to rule the lands in it’s wakening. You can’t begrudge them for trying, even if it means using Eli as a sacrifice, but as our protagonist in this story, we can’t accept Eli being killed.
Here we meet our dark mysterious saviour, Tren who appears with his shady vague answers and magical tattoos that move around his body, a different being to the ones responsible for her kidnap, but that doesn’t mean she can trust him. For reasons unknown, Tren decides to end his alliance with the Lojkin in order to help Eli escape and assist in taking her home across the sea.
He continues his dark evasive behaviour throughout their journey to keep you suspicious but at the same time, you being to feel something more for our anti hero. He’s determined to keep Eli safe, but why? The small gestures to keep her close and small glances at her will blossom into a romance you can’t decipher. The reader will keep you guessing right until the end, you’ll be desperate to know what happens between them.
Eli is one of those characters that has been thrown into an unknown world and incapable of surviving on her own. You can forgive her attitude at times since she grew up with limited adventures having to remain at the watchtower staring out into the ocean, but there are times you want to shake her silly. She’s determined to get home but allows the terror to consume her. It’s clear she wants to rely on Tren, she wants to trust him but still can’t help the niggling feeling that he’s holding back on something. Is it just his personality, is it that he’s got someone waiting for him at home, or is it that he’s just intent on keeping secrets from her. She tries to prove herself by saving him when she could have walked away and found her own way, but whether it’s because she needs him too much or whether she actually feels something for him you don’t know.
The author does a great job in building up their characters, but I feel like they could have advanced it further since they spent so much time alone together, you still feel like they don’t know each other any better by the end. The additional characters included along the way were well written even if brief, you understood each role and their purpose for Eli, whether it was to use her as a sacrifice, whether it was to keep her for trade or simply to help her along her journey. Each one bringing a new exciting part to their adventure.

Overall I thought it was a great story opening into The Shadow Curse trilogy and I’m looking forward to reading the next part of the journey to see what happens next!

Lovely, intriguing, and fascinating story. The beginning was a bit slow but the story is so original, I absolutely loved it. The weiting was rich and descriptive, I le enjoyed the author’s voice. I’ll definitely be reading anything the author writes.

A very imaginative story; I love anything with a hint of Norse in it. As others have said, Tren is my favorite! Excited to see what’s next for this author and these characters.

Thankyou to NetGalley, KDP and the author, C.J Unison, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of The Shadow Kingdom in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I was intrigued by the premise of the storyline. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book. I thought it was a slow moving plot that failed to hold my interest.
Not a book for me sorry.

This was a very interesting story! I found the concept of comparing our world of color to one of black and white very intriguing and meaningful.

An interesting concept a world without colour I found it a bit dark in place and didn’t enjoy it all to much.

Something weird happened with my laptop and a lot of my downloads disappeared, including this and other Netgalley ARCs I had not yet gotten around to, but are now archived and not available to re-download... I am sadness

An exciting new fantasy series has arrived! What happens when you have spent your life disbelieving in the monsters from over the sea but then you suddenly find yourself facing them? Add in a confused/moody/torn hunk who doesn't know if he wants to hurt you or hug you and this is a perfect YA fantasy book. Well written, with good characterisation and a plot that sucks you in, I can only look forward to the continuing tale.

I finally got round to reading this - I am so glad I did, and I am sorry I missed the NetGalley archive date - but you can all go and buy it (I will be purchasing a paperback for my shelves) You are unlikely to regret it!

I really enjoyed this, more than I honestly expected to. It was really well paced, wonderfully written and I really liked the characters, including the smaller ones, some of whom we are going back to hopefully in the next book. I loved the way the colour of things were barely mentioned for Shetley, and when they were it was a 'white fence' 'eggshell paint' 'grey skys'. They were almost brushed over, taken for granted, because we have them. The Shadow Lands they were really descriptive but in tones and shades of black, greys and whites, moonlight and shadows.

I really liked that Eli was clueless, but curious, and that she had zero survival skills. As you would expect from someone who has never had to learn any. She was a realistic and believable character and I really liked the way her feelings crept up on her and even when she became aware she still wanted to go home.
Tren is mysteriously likeable in that you are kept wondering about him. You doubt him, cheer when he does good, or opens up just a little bit and hope that you're not wrong!

The world is well built, I like the different magics that we come across and I love the idea of the Rhunes and their magic, and the way they seem to react to Tren's emotions.

The end sneaks up on you really fast, and you certainly don't expect what happens in the final chapter!
I had almost forgotten that this was book one and that ending made me want to deduct a star because, just NO! But it is only book one, there will be more, and I, for one, cannot wait!

The Shadow Kingdom is an intriguing story. The world is literally black and white. That's so weird! I like the idea, and for the most part, the story is engaging and keeps your interest. The characters are likeable and clever. The descriptions of the places is vivid. The ending wasn't the greatest, kind of sudden. An overall good read. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

After reading this, I am already very much looking forward to the next book. The construction of the cursed Shadow Kingdom is imaginative and interesting, woven together with mythology. The storyline offers constant twists and doesn't follow the predictable path, which is what really intrigues. I cannot wait to see what happens to the characters in the next installment.

An interesting synopsis and when I got into the book an even more interesting read. It was a little slow to start but once the book took off you didn’t want to stop reading. I loved the characters especially Eli and Tren. Cannot wait to see what happens next, the sign of a good book to me always. The only criticism I have is it took time to build pace.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

The Shadow Kingdom was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On one hand the concept is interesting - imagine a world without colour where there are only shades of black and white?! On the other hand there are some elements such as the tribes that I wasn't sure of and made me feel a little uncomfortable.

Rumour is that the shadow curse is dangerous and has the potential to spread throughout the world. Eli is tasked with watching out for any potential spread of the curse into her land. The trouble is nobody is sure if the curse is even real. Until Eli finds herself dragged headfirst into the middle of a mysterious conspiracy with the Lojkin.

For the most part I liked Eli who goes through a lot in a short space of time. Some of her choices are pretty questionable

I have to admit I did find the story a little difficult to follow at times with although combined mythology and complicated world building. I couldn't quite make up my mind about Tren either, but I did like the tatts though!

Oh the drama!

3 Stars in my Sky!

I received a review copy

The book started out okay - I really liked the concept of a color-drained world - but then it just went on and on and on and on. I would have liked more of a backstory about how the world got to the way it was - I feel like that's generally what a first-in-the-series book is for. But getting background information out of this book is as hard as it is to get literally anything out of Tren, the brooding, secretive, helpful guy that saves Eli from near death. I didn't understand how the color world Eli is from is so advanced, while this gray-scale world just remained in a kingdom/clan situation. I also felt like Eli was an incredibly flat, vacant character. Where did she come from? What did she love? I would have liked to know anything about her aside from the fact that she can't survive on her own, needs Tren and ends up crushing on him I guess, and wants to be at home because "her family misses her." Not a lot to care about, there. I actually would have preferred all the chase and adventuring be much much much much shorter, - maybe only 2 murderous groups and near death escapes? - to get to the city of Ichor faster. That seems like an interesting place, with the Magician's Guild and the blood curse. But now I'm exhausted and wary from the sheer unnecessary length of this book and probably won't venture to try the next. A nice concept, but not so well executed.

Also, and perhaps unrelated, there were an incredible number of typos in the advanced e-version I read. Words mushed into other words over 200 times (I kept a highlight tally), and there were definitely other non-format/technical typos present as well. Hopefully the print version has ironed those out, but it did affect the experience of reading it.

***Huge thank you goes out to Net Galley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review***

Happy first book review of 2019! How is it that I already feel behind in accomplishing my book reading goals for this year? But at the very least I get to kick off this reading season with not only a fantasy novel, but one I actually enjoyed!

No, The Shadow Kingdom by C.J. Inskon isn’t perfect, but what it gets right is pretty spectacular. The synopsis and idea behind the story is what draws many in. Heck it’s what drew me in and though the details are murky and jumbled especially when it comes to the magic system, had these things been addressed I think the book would have been even greater. From here I think the only thing the author can do is push forward with the series and hopefully fill in those details and small plot holes in order for the series to end on a high note.

Elliott West – She is the current in a long line of Watchers. Her family are the ones who stand on top of a lighthouse facing an ocean canal called the barrier strait that leads to the Kingdom of the Shadow Lands; a place were a curse is said to have fallen causing all color to be drained from the world. Plants, animals, people, nothing has color. This supposedly happened over three hundred years ago and the fear still is that someone from the Shadow Kingdom will attempt to get to Elliott’s world of color, presumably causing the curse to spread and her job is to basically sound the alarm if that should happen. Yet, in those three hundred years no one has tried.

GOOD POINT: I like that the first setting we see is a pseudo modern world. Though the place is clearly made up by Inkson, we can assign our own version of our own modern world on top of it, which is a nice way of making it relatable.

Despite the fact that her family’s job has become obsolete, Elliott or Eli, insists that she will be the next Watcher while her friends leave their small town to go to college; onto bigger and better things allegedly. While having a sort of mini reunion with said friends Eli is kidnapped by a clan of Thor people from the Shadow Kingdom (The clan names in this book are not easy to pronounce or spell so I’m just going to do my best) who believe her to be blessed by the color gods and they believe she can restore their color. They want to eat her basically.

This is where the story introduces the reader to a dark and mysterious, yet strangely staggeringly attractive man like character. His name is Tren and for reasons it seems he’s not even fully aware of, he helps Eli escape the Thor people. They manage to get to the next town of Yrike, I believe that’s what it’s called. Anyway, Tren has them stay in a seemingly abandoned cottage at the edge of the city and then promptly disappears to run “errands” leaving Eli to her own devices. But before he leaves he makes a hard demand that she remain inside the cottage until he returns. Of course because we want to see Eli as a strong character she refuses to listen and leaves the cottage.

GOOD POINT: I am glad Inkson tried to make Eli strong. However, to me she came off as more whiny and like a brat at times. Granted I fully supported her leaving that cottage because dude was gone all day and he gave her zero information as to what was happening. Trust for a stranger only goes so far my dude even if you did help her escape. Anyway, I think Eli’s character needed some tweaking, but I can appreciate what Inkson was trying to accomplish with her.

Of course because she steps a single freaking foot outside she is immediately kidnapped by a guy who I assume is a disgraced cop trying to prove himself still capable even though it is clear he is waaaaaay past his prime. Eli is delivered to the Duke. According to the ant size amount of information Tren was willing to share we understand the Duke to “not be a nice guy” when in reality, he’s simply an opportunist. I mean lets be real, he seized his moment and in a way got a nice deal out of the interaction.

Tren and Eli bumble along through the foreign terrain getting captured yet again, this time by a Brazilian like clan of people. We don’t ever learn what they would have done to them, the implication is of course death, but we really don’t know. This is because the Thor clan miraculously catches up to them and attacks the Brazilians in order to get Eli back. They manage that for a while until the Brazilians retaliate and Eli is able to crawl away only to be stopped by one of the Brazilians and gets stabbed. I presume the idea is this was going to be the outcome even if the Thor people never showed up, but I don’t buy it. The guy was pissed because they had nabbed these people that lead this other clan to attack them. I’d want to stab her too.

She ex machinas her way out of that predicament by being saved by yet another clan, this one of magicians. She asks about Tren and they say she is the only one they found, but he’s more than likely alive because he is a Mimir (Basically he’s hard to kill). This is enough of a reason for her to declare that she alone will go back into Brazil and rescue him.

GOOD POINT: I liked that she was willing to go back and rescue Tren. This alone showed that Eli was a strong character. But then I felt the author spoiled that by having her whine during basically all of her solo adventure and then wait four days, yeah FOUR DAYS, to actually go into the camp and get Tren’s butt out of there. Come on Eli, that was ridiculous and such a waste of time! You said you wanted to get home as quickly as possible, how did this help you?

Another side quest happens that really served no purpose other than to set up the romance between Eli and Tren. The beginning of the book teeters on the brink of this, but doesn’t come crashing down with full force until this moment. It was lack luster in my opinion. If you are going to pen the trope of insta-love you may as well go whole hog. Yeah, they’ve known each other longer than most YA couples (A whole two weeks!) but still, you either have a nice slow burn or you do a sleazy lust fest, when your story lands somewhere in the middle it can become stilted with no excitement or tension. This is what I felt when I realized that was where the love story was headed.

They reach their destination (finally) and low and behold [SPOILER] Tren was lying the entire time. I knew this pretty early on, but I thought “all right, lets have fun and give him the benefit of the doubt” nope. Though his reasons are honorable, he still pretty much sells her to the highest bidder (as she loving puts it) while he is haggling the price for her. This results in heartbreak of the weakest kind.

I felt for her, but the way she reacted was strange to me. She did act like a woman betrayed by her true love, but instead acted like a teenager who realized that her crush asked someone else to prom when she was certain he was going to ask her. It didn’t ring true as a “true love” situation. Granted, I’m just speculating, but I get the feeling Inkson was wanting readers to buy into Eli and Tren being really in love. It was hard to feel that fully the way it was presented.

Once Tren gets what he wants, he leaves and she is now the Queen’s prisoner, but wait! Suddenly her two best friends (you know the ones I mentioned way in the beginning of this? yeah those two) they magically show up having learned the ins and outs of this foreign land easy peasy and rescue Eli. I’m glad that Inkson established that these two characters went off to college otherwise I would have no choice but to label Eli a simple country bumpkin who couldn’t handle anything new. And this is the cliff hanger we end on.

As far as the writing, it was solid and I enjoyed where the story could potentially go. Despite my lack of enthusiasm of the characters I didn’t not like them. I just think they can definitely be improved upon. For example, it is possible for a male character to come across as mysterious, but not hold back vital information in order for the female to fully understand her situation. I realize he ends up betraying her, but there were things that would have been alright to tell her so as not to have her go bumbling around and getting kidnapped all the time. At what point do you just give in and tell her certain things? Come on man.

I’ve already expressed my issues with Eli.

The other thing that was hard to ignore. The blatant lack of consistency with the setting and magic system Inkson created. I realize these are the author’s creations, but having things flow is important for believability. If your world is devoid of color, you can’t see the silver or gold of the walls, so you won’t be able to tell that that is what they are. You can’t see beautiful light hitting off of anything because all there is is white and black and sometimes shadow. Black absorbs light and if any light hit the white bits, you would be blind. And then the author straight up says that something is silver. I get that gray could exist here, but not silver. Nope.

As for the magical system, that was all over the place. There is magic, but it is only used by magicians and Mimirs (as far as we know). One taps into something called the wellspring, which we learn is where the curse is from, and the other uses runes. Since the magicians weren’t a big part of this novel, their magic didn’t get toyed with as much, but oh my goodness, the runes. I felt like whenever Inkson needed something a certain way she just invented a new rune for it. I get it, it’s easy to do that, but oh so lazy and sloppy too. The cloak thing really bothered me and it really didn’t make sense either.

I think these are things that would have been and should have been easily caught by an editor or even a beta reader. I think the next time around Inkson should have someone read it and just ask, “if there’s no color how does this work?” until all those flaws are fixed. And I think it would be best to draft an outline of the magic system so as not to make your readers confused about the parameters.

In the end I actually did like this book and I fully intend to see where the series goes.

BAD POINT: How can you live in a world without purple!?

4 Out of 5 Stars

An interesting story about a world without color in a cursed kingdom. While reading the book I was reminded of the stark beauty of Ansel Adams famed photographs.

I enjoyed the book and the main characters, Tren and Eli —but their personalities and relationship could be developed more. As much as I liked the book, the ending was abrupt and a bit disappointing. Maybe if the reader were aware of other events leading up to the end— interjected throughout the story, instead of being told of weeks of events in a few paragraphs, it would’ve brought the end to a better closure.