3.75 Stars. This is a nice, if a little slow historical fantasy that relies heavily on political intrigue. It is set in a time an place that feels a lot like Rome (don't ask me what era, because I will get it wrong). We have a sly political lady named Cassie who was effectively banished to an outlying territory because she got too frisky with another high politician's wife. She takes it in stride, however, and is looking to leverage that banishment into a better position for herself and her family. What she doesn't anticipate is the absolutely unstoppable Arian, a local tribeswoman who is rightfully skeptical of the Kavillian politician.

Cassie and Arian have to team up, however when Arian's people start showing up dead and they don't know who the murderers are. Cassie drops the act and Arian lowers her shield to let Cassie in, and what happens after is not what anyone predicted.

I had a lot of fun with this book, especially the play between Arian and Cassie. Arian is from a strict society that doesn't allow for even the thought of same-sex attractions, but there are hints of it everywhere. I love the obvious allusions to Ancient Roman political structures and that Rome itself is simultaneously opened minded about some things while closed about others. It also helps that while also being Rom-Kavillian, Cassie is naturally an arrogant person. Heck there were times where I wanted to get the woman to shut up, but she was fun to read about. Whether she was smoothly navigating political waters, or sticking her foot in her mouth when it came to Arian, I just wanted to see what she did. Arian is interesting, too. Her anger and prejudices are very obviously reactionary but from the stand point of having been part of an oppressed group. She's also simply a strong willed person who is very much confused about her growing attraction to Cassie.

Fletcher creates some of the better fantasy stories in lesfic, and this isn't too far behind. If anything, I think it's a little slow for me, but I do understand that she was setting up a lot of things. I do not think this is going to be a one shot book, as it does leave a lot of things open ended. If there is a second book, I will be there to read it.

*I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I absolutely loved this book. Sapphic, enemies to lovers, highland romance? Fuck yes. The pacing was terrific. The story is intriguing. The characters are well written and you get connected to them very quickly. Having the who did it a mystery as well made the book even better. The main romancing pairing is absolutely sweet and I love seeing romance between what seem to be two older women (though they never quite state their age so this is how I perceived them.) And of course, I was very satisfied with the end, no cliffhanger HEA. It left me smiling.

It was just all-around a wonderful book.

More please! That was great. Immersive, detailed, engaging. I was hooked and didn't want it to end ... and when I did I have hope that there might be more coming one day.

I think this is my first Fletcher read and it won't be my last.

Historical-inspired F/F with politics should have been my jam but this one left very little impression on me alas... Most of my reaction going thru this book was a :[ face because I really think "huge powerful empire meddling in barbarian politics" is a trope that carries, hm, a lot of connotations. There was some work put into making both countries seem extremely imperfect, especially towards the beginning, but by the end it really just seems like the barbarian country thinks the empire is great and comes neatly to heel. I might have been down for this if the existential horror of the situation was played up more but the book seemed unmotivated to explore this.

The F/F relationship was an interesting one in that I spent the whole book going :/ But are they REALLY good for each other? and then the ending basically affirms that they probably won't stay together so lol I guess I was correct to think they were not very well suited. This is one of the few times I was actually down for the non-HEA ending because I'd spent so much time being sceptical of our main couple which I guess is a decent testament to my media literacy but at the same time I don't know if it was a very pleasant experience. Constantly sceptical and then on the last page I got a brief burst of validation for my troubles. I probably won't remember this book in a week, sorry. Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the book. it's a bit of a fantasy. Cassie was smart and a bit manipulative. She was always a step ahead of everyone, it seems almost as if she was playing a game with the people around her. Arian on the other hand even though intelligent was innocent and very naive. Overall, I didn't 100% fully believe Cassies feelings for Arian. I recommend regardless 4 stars.



Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for this ARC.

As an imperial envoy, Cassie finds herself tasked with acquiring a new land for the empire. She finds herself in a land of old fashion weirdos to be quite frank.

Of them are some lovable characters and secrets that Cassie unfortunately finds herself right in the middle of.

This book is kind of a murder mystery mixed with a bit of fantasy. I definitely enjoyed it, though at times a bit hard to understand.

Cassie is definitely one of my favorite characters however, I feel like the author didn’t give as much of an insight into her as she could have. Emotionally wise I feel disconnected from her. She was almost killed and we got almost nothing from that. She basically just shrugged it off and wasn’t even shook.

I’m still kind of undecided on how I feel about Arian but I loved her and Cassie’s chemistry. Not sure how I feel about the ominous note of their ending but still cute regardless.

This book deals with some triggering topics so warning in place; rape, murder (a lot), I guess racism but not really applicable to real life so I don’t really wanna put much emphasis on that as a warning, homophobia

Honestly that being said, this book would’ve been more enjoyable with some more light moments. The moments between Cassie and Arian’s sister were some of the most relaxing moments of reading.

Nevertheless, I liked this author, will check more of her work out and hopefully achieve fulfillment with a plot.

If this doesn’t make sense I’m sorry it’s 6am and I got an exam and just wanted to do this before I forgot… if there’s spelling errors let me know lol

A Fox in Shadow follows Imperial Envoy Lady Cassilania as she ventures to a neighboring land to try to negotiate mining access for her government. She is well schooled in political games from her experience in her own government's senate and brings her political savvy to a far more simple people. She finds more than she bargained for when she meets the king's sister, Arian, who despises Cassie from their first meeting.
This was the first book I've read by this author and I loved it. Cassie is one of those characters that keeps you on your toes, always a step behind her, surprising you at every turn. Arian is a truly noble person, just as intelligent but with a slight naivety that makes her that much more attractive. Both are trying to do the best thing for their family and their people. The story felt a bit slow to start but once I got into it it felt like a rollercoaster. They go from enemies to friends very slowly and the journey is made interesting with lots of political intrigue, family arguments and secrets. I'd definitely pick up another book by Jane Fletcher in the future as this was truly a fun read.

I have enjoyed many of Jane Fletcher’s books in the past, so was pleased to be given this ARC ebook to review, courtesy of Bold Strokes and NetGalley. While I didn’t enjoy Fletcher’s last book, Silver Ravens, I found A Fox in Shadow a return to form and a fun, light, pacy read.

The plot concerns the political machinations of a powerful imperial family and the small, independent kingdom on the borders of a large empire, roughly analogous to Rome. Cassie is sent north, ostensibly to negotiate a trade deal, but naturally that’s not all she’s after.

Waiting for her in the north is her love interest Arian, the sister of the king. This is a definite enemies to lovers situation as Arian, like most of her people, hates the Empire and everything about it, particularly their laissez-faire attitude to queer intimacy, though in Arian’s case this is definitely an example of the lady protesting too much…

Just when you think you’re going to be treated to a slow tale of trade negotiations and occasional flirting, the bodies start piling up. Time for this to book to become a murder mystery! And I do enjoy a good murder, it has to be said. Cassie investigates the murder of the king’s heir and immediately realises that this situation is a bomb waiting for a spark, and she is happy to provide that spark. If she can avoid being killed herself along the way.

The romance between the lead characters progresses at a good pace in my opinion, and it has a little bit of an edge to it due to Arian’s cultural taboos against same-sex attraction and Cassie’s political machinations that are always at the forefront of her mind. The ending is somewhat open-ended, but satisfying nonetheless.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit and would recommend it to new readers of Jane Fletcher’s work, as well as returning fans - particularly those who enjoyed Rangers at Roadsend or Shadow of the Knife.

A Fox in Shadow is a fantasy novel centered around two kingdoms amidst a brewing war (with a murder-mystery woven in).

I had a hard time getting into the first 10% of the book; it wasn’t slow but there was just so much dialogue with world building in there. I appreciate when an author doesn’t dumb-down the exposition but this one had a lot to take in and I had to stop and reread a couple parts to make sure I was understanding everything.

The characters didn’t grab me. Cassie didn’t have much depth, and Arian was *so mean* toward her. She was very vocal/harsh in regards to Cassie’s preference for women, and even after the two of them had a bonding moment midway through the book, I just didn’t care for her. Plus, their chemistry was non-existent. Pursuing Arian seemed like more of a game to Cassie than anything; something to pass the time. Then all of a sudden she had actual feelings? Hm. Neither seemed particularly interested in each other beyond the convenience of them being in the same place and having the same persuasion, and by the end I just didn’t care if they got together or not.

I liked the mystery element to the story, and the Lycanthi had an interesting royalty dynamic (the heirs to the throne had to be of known royal blood, meaning the king’s sister’s son would inherit the throne). I haven’t seen that before and thought it was a pretty cool concept.

As far as content warnings, there was a lot of homophobia present, and slightly graphic scenes of torture/death. Sex scenes were fade to black, except the opening scene which was barely graphic at all.

Overall I’d give the book 3.5 stars, but I have to go with 3 instead of 4 because, while there were interesting elements to the world building, I couldn’t really get invested in the characters and that makes it hard for me to enjoy a story.

If you like fantasy-esque settings and the inner workings of royalty/politics (and don’t really care about the romance side of the story), you may enjoy this one.

I am a huge fan of the author and when I saw she had written a new book after so many years I immediately grabbed it. She is very good at creating new universes and webs of intrigue, and I enjoyed the political intrigue and murder plot. The Lycanthine bloodline tradition was an interesting angle. However, I had issues with how Cassie was playing Arian and the others like they're pawns in a game of chess, and the fact that this continued into the romantic relationship was not really addressed or challenged. (Spoiler: Because of this I doubted Cassie's feelings and intentions toward Arian and the vague ending and the romance being a side note to all the other action did not help.) Overall, not my favourite work from this author but I did enjoy reading it.

Alternate history mixing Romans with Romance
This can count either as a fantasy with the world heavily modelled on Romans vs. Britons or an alternate history. I rather liked the clash of the Empire‘s advanced art of political intrigue and manouvering in the person of Cassie, the empire‘s envoy, and a simpler, more direct and directly brutal world represented by Arian, the sister of the king. Sometimes the depiction of the two worlds is almost too simple - the refinement of the Empire vs. the squalor of the outside world but as another fellow history geek unfortunately there might be much truth in it. The two worlds are woven together in many ways e.g. by the enemies to lovers romance between the two main characters or by Arian‘s sister who lived in both worlds or the questioning of matrilinear heritage vs. patrilinear. I liked the thoughtful end - not all roses, but not all thornes either. I esp. liked the glimpses into local customs, gods, etc.
The storytelling is well done, the story moves on a good clip and at the same time fills in a lot of details of living conditions and attitudes. I sometimes missed a bit of humour - something I have come to relish with Fletcher. Note to publisher: The final proofing could have been better.
Trigger Warning: Some graphic violence (what you expect with swords, battles, questioning of prisoners).

Perfect for fans of historical fantasy with a bit of mystery, A Fox in Shadow includes the start of a Sapphic romance and pits two cultures against one another. For my personal tastes I would have preferred more leaning into the Romance aspect of the story, and I think there could have been less telling and more showing to make it more engaging personally for me as a reader, and to help develop the characters a little more.

I am grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of A Fox in Shadow. These opinions are my own.

4.25 stars. I haven’t read a lot of books by Fletcher yet, but I liked those that I read and I was looking forward to this new book. It’s a bit different from previous work as there is less of the fantasy genre involved and I didn’t know very well what to expect after reading the blurb of this book. One thing I didn’t expect was a mystery, so I was positively surprised to get that as well. This book is best described as historical fantasy, and not fantasy in the sense of otherworldly realms with dragons or other fantastical creatures, but a made-up empire that highly resembles ancient Rome and, as the author mentioned, their invasion of England. And let me say how much I like this cover!

When I think of ancient Rome I think of political intrigue and yes that’s what you get with this book and I loved it. The book is not set in the Kavillian empire though, but in the “barbaric” society of the Lycanthi, so it’s not so much the political games you could expect in the refined empire, but it’s focused on how to “play” the rough and untrusting barbarians to get what you want. And this is Cassie’s job who is send as an imperial envoy to the Lycanthi to negotiate a trading agreement (and bigger underlying goals). I loved her character, she’s so very cunning.

I won’t go into much details on the mystery, but the thoughts of the Lycanthi on how to handle the situation are divided and the decisions of the king of the Lycanthi leave a lot of room for improvement. It turns out that some people have their own ambitions and are willing to risk everything for it.

On the Lycanthi side there is Arian, the king’s sister. It took some time to get to like her as she’s really quite naive and somewhat aggressive, not the best combination, but luckily she improves as the story evolves. There is also an enemies to lovers romance between the Arian and Cassie, which I would describe as very light as their feelings and actions are mostly directed towards how they deal with the political games, making the romance a side issue. It also ends on a bit of an open note, a happy for now scenario. I would like to read a sequel with these two characters and switch to the Kavillian empire.

The worldbuilding is easy to follow, there are only two cultures and the Kavillian empire is so familiar that not much info is needed to understand their way of living. More info is given on the Lycanthi culture, but it didn’t feel as an info dumb.

All in all, I highly enjoyed reading this book, it’s an excellent book for fans of historical fiction/fantasy and I think that even those that don’t like extensive worldbuilding, but do like political intrigue or mysteries, will enjoy this book.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5 stars

This was an interesting fantasy book with some great political intrigue and a sapphic romance at its heart. I do love a bit of high-stakes politics, especially in a fantasy book, so I was fully drawn in by the complicated politics. All the characters were also interesting, if not a little bit underdeveloped, although this can easily be improved on in subsequent books in the series. Similar with the romance, I think it gave a great taster of what the romance could develop into.

What I wasn’t a huge fan of were the seeming lack of complexity and thoughtfulness placed into a largely imperial storyline. I just don’t think the underdeveloped barbarian civilisation v. Massive rich and opulent empire is a simple story nor one that should be told without a lot of thought behind it. While it was clear in the beginning, the author included some complexity into the colonised peoples and their traditions, this wasn’t really carried through the entire story. By the end, it felt like most characters wanted to be part of the empire and realised how lacking their own civilisation was. Even the traditions initially developed didn’t hold up to scrutiny, and there was a lot of poor leadership and internal squabbling which seemed inane at best. While the imperial government was definitely not made to seem benevolent, they were written to feel superior in every way, even towards their views on same-sex relations.

A ‘barbaric’ civilisation that was homophobic, lacked important traditions, and with terrible living conditions (that our main character commented on endlessly) just makes the book feel pro-colonialism even if this wasn’t the intention. I just don’t think enough thought or genuine care was placed in to writing a story about colonialism at its centre.

Four stars. This was intriguing. For the first few pages, I was worried I would find it a slog, but I was quickly drawn in. It was fun to be in Cassie's head, although I would have liked for her walls to crumble even a little bit at the end. It was annoying for her to not give herself away at all, despite falling for Arian. Still, she's seen so much more than Arian that it makes sense for her to be so jaded.
This was why I wondered if the two of them are a good match. They are so different, and not just in the superficial ways: they have almost opposite beliefs about people and about the world. They think so differently that it seems like Cassie's always having to tell Arian what's "really happening." By the end, Arian is willing to go all in while Cassie clearly isn't, even if it's probably too late to protect her heart.
Half a star deducted because I couldn't bring myself to care about the battle scene, nor figure out why it seemed to end quickly after pages and pages of build-up. The political intrigue was fine, (spoilers) but I didn't like Leirmond as the antagonist. I don't think we were given adequate reason to think that he would be capable of pulling it off, aside from his words being the only ones that Gethryn ever hears. (Which strikes me as unlikely, since malleable, gullible people shouldn't be selectively stubborn.) For more than half of the book, I was convinced that the murders were Tregaran's way of framing Leirmond and getting him out of the way while still accomplishing the goal of starting something with the empire. I am convinced that my conclusion would have been more compelling, because I'd rather have read about Cassie facing an unexpected enemy than being entirely unshakeable. Where's the fun in a protagonist who's always, every minute of every day, ten steps ahead?
Lastly, this was my first Jane Fletcher novel, so I don't know if this sort of ending is typical for her, but it didn't sit right with me. Maybe I'm more of a sucker for a HEA than I thought, but you do kind of look for that in WLW. Logically, I probably agree with the assessment that they won't be together forever, but that's just not the deflated, dissatisfying vibe I want to take away. The ending is why I'm so ready to move on from the book that writing this review was almost too much, and I just don't foresee A Fox in Shadow being a book I'll be thinking about after I put it down.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Cassie is working as dispatch to help bring the empire annex a region for its mining industry. She is there to find any weakness that can bring the empire to them but she wasn’t counting on the king sister Arian who mistrust everything Royal empire is even more so Cassie but she can’t help being drawn to her. Although Arian is reluctant she and Cassie work together when murders start happening of the Lycanthi people. I like all the mystery stuff and what anyone will go to great lengths to achieve their goals even though sometimes you realizes what you think is right isn’t always the case if that’s makes sense.

This was a intriguing political suspense story with a slow build romance that’s set up with a cliffhanger overall a good read.

4.5 stars

This book is part fantasy, part mystery, part political intrigue and part romance. Fletcher uses her knowledge of the history of the Roman Empire and then twists it a bit to create this imaginative fantasy story. First we have Cassie who is the daughter of a prominent woman Senator in the Kavillian Empire. She’s is sent out to a rural mining town to try and bring them into the Royal empire. As the imperial envoy she must use all her cunning and persuasion for success. The small rural region is home to the Lycanthi and is ruled by a week king who’s aides are working behind his back for their own gain. The king’s sister, Arain, is very loyal to her family and her people. And despises the empire and the Royal envoy and makes no secret of her feelings and dislike.

Cassie is brilliant in her mission to convert the region and is quick to find solutions for the towns problems. Arain doesn’t trust her at all but comes to rely on her once murders of the Lycanthi people begin.

I enjoyed the political intrigue and the little mysteries throughout the book. And the slow burn romance that builds up to a cliffhanger ending.

ARC received from Bold Strokes Books thru NetGalley for a voluntary and honest review.

Cassie is dispatched as an Imperial Envoy to help the empire annex a region for its mining industry. The people of the region believe their gods gifted them this land. Cassie’s main goal is to find any weaknesses the empire could exploit in order to achieve their goal. Arian is the king’s sister and mistrusts everything about Cassie and yet she is inexplicably drawn to her. 

The world building is Roman inspired with the legions of a precision military, the advancement of their civilization in comparison to others and the empire’s hunger to conquer more lands. Fletcher is a life long student of history and she uses this to her advantage in creating her world. Fletcher’s manipulation with the historical facts gives us a setting which is as fluid as some of the characters who inhabit it. 

The story is a political intrigue romance. The cat and mouse games Cassie plays with Arian personally and her country’s power structure is gripping and intense. Fletcher makes sure to keep the reader in the loop until a surprise plot twist at the end.

Fletcher is an author who is new to me although she has fourteen novels in print and is a multiple literary award winner. How I have not known about her books is a mystery. Yet now that I do know and with the superb craftsmanship of the writing and the expertise in storytelling, I have thirteen more books to add to my must read list. And you have this one to add to yours.

P.S. If you want a good chuckle make sure to wander over to janefletcher.co.uk for her home page. Her biography is hilarious!

I received an advance review copy from Bold Stroke Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed the lesbian representation in it and the political intrigue! The worldbuilding could've been better in my opinion but the setting was nice so I guess it's not a huge problem. When it comes to the mcs they were all very well done, Arian being my absolute favourite, so I think the author made a great job writing them. I would include trigger warnings at the beginning of the book if that is possible though!

Started off a bit slow but as the story progressed found it quite engrossing. All the political machinations by Cassie and some not so political by her enemies to get to her end game. Wasn't too sure how this would go when I first started it but yes I did enjoy it.