This is a fun YA fantasy heist.

As with many heist media, we follow a large cast of characters. The whole book is told from our main character’s POV, Cemmy. I found Cemmy to be a little annoying sometimes since she lacks a some critical thinking, and is quite self absorbed. Luckily I enjoyed the other characters more, and the diversity within the cast was wonderful to see. I also loved how sign language was used in the book, and Lyria was definitely a stand out! My other favourite character was Novi, though I wish the side characters were more development and had a bit more personality.

As for the plot I found the pacing to be a little jarring. The build up feels slow at times and the actual heist quite short. I found the training scenes and meetings before the heist a bit repetitive, and I think it might have helped if the side characters were more involved. I will say, you really felt the gravity of the situation, and I always applaud actions having serious consequences.
As for the magic system, I thought it was original and well crafted. I would have liked a more seamless integration of the shades and hues powers into the story, it felt a little info dump-y at times. Overall though, I found the shades and hues to be very interesting.

The prose was easy to read and the book flows swiftly along. It’s not a challenging read and great for those who might be dipping their toes into YA fantasy.

Until We Shatter by Kate Dylan is a fast-paced, action-packed fantasy with incredible world-building and unforgettable characters. The story dives into a tense, divided society filled with magic, danger, and intrigue, keeping you hooked from start to finish.

The writing is sharp and immersive, balancing thrilling twists with emotional depth. I loved how the themes of identity, resilience, and found family are woven seamlessly into the narrative. The representation—queer, disabled, and more—adds layers of authenticity and heart.

If you’re looking for a gripping standalone fantasy with rich world-building and a dynamic cast, this one’s a definite recommendation!

Cemmy is a thief by necessity. She’s a Hue, the product of a relationship between a human and a Shade (a human with magic), and thus her very existence is illegal. But her rare skill as a Bronze Hue makes her a target for a terrorist who threatens her friends if she doesn’t comply.

There’s a lot of promise to spark my interest here with heists, bisexual characters, a deaf character, romantic tension, and interesting magical powers. Some readers, especially younger YA readers, might really enjoy this, but it didn’t live up to my expectations. It felt lazy with an over-reliance on tropes and shoddy world building. More details:

Exposition and world building. Magic users are divided into two groups: Shades and Hues, the latter being the product of reproducing with a human (or typic). Every Shade and Hue has a power associated with a color. For example, Reds can control people. Shades are pure colors (or “hues” to use the technical term in design/color theory, to make things confusing) and Hues are permutations or combinations of colors (garnet, turquoise, etc.). The powers have no obvious connection to the powers with the possible exception of Greens being able to heal. Yellows (and Bronzes like our main character) can enter into the Gray, a parallel shadow world of sorts. There are seven colors associated with Shades, and it seems like around 3 Hue variations within each Shade. All of this is plopped on the reader in several enormous exposition dumps rather than slowly revealed. The political structure of the world is similarly poorly scaffolded.

The main character Cemmy. She makes a lot of bad decisions and puts people in danger. While she’s always well-intentioned, the writing isn’t strong enough to make her relatable or give me empathy for her. She just comes off as pretty stupid and short-sighted.

Names. This is a small quibble, but multiple characters have several names or go by a nickname. Rough when I’m already trying to keep this magic system in my head. Notably, the enemies-to-lovers antagonist’s name is Cassiel, but he insists on going by Chase, which sounds like a fratboy.

Lazy characterization. As an example, I'll use a particularly obnoxious bit used for characterizing the villain. I loved the presence of Lyria, a deaf character, and how the hearing characters take pains to learn sign language. But the villain is described thusly as he expands on his email plans:“He makes no effort to ensure Lyria can read his lips, nor does it seem to bother him that the rest of us are in no position to interpret”, and it just felt like a lazy to signal to the reader that the villain is bad and wrong. For example, if Cemmy had then spent a sentence or two reflecting how this was the last in a series of behavior that identified how the villain had just wanted to use them as tools and obviously would betray them, it would have worked a little better.

A standalone magical heist, count me in!
The world is divided in Council and Church, and our main character fits into neither of these groups. Cemmy is a theif and a half shade, and with an unwell mother, must embark on a mission that has danger at every turn.
Cemmy turns to a group of fellow misfits, most of whom fit in neither group and are hunted by both. They are blackmailed to steal an artefact under intensely high security.
I loved the writing style of this, and it was easy to read and the pages flew by, much like Dylans other work.
Cemmy was a complex character, like many of us is driven by the desire to do good but sadly, often ends up making the wrong choice and many mistakes that land her more trouble than she was in to begin with. I think it could be frustrating to read but it fits with her characters arc so well.
I really liked the layers of misinformation and misdirection adding to the story, and while I maybe wasnt as invested in the charcaters as i should have been, the variation in representation was a nice tough .

I really enjoyed this book so much so I went and bought the special edition version from a book subscription box and I love having it on display on my bookshelf x

A unique, colour-based magic system.
A heist in the shadow world with everything at stake.
Queer found family.
Super messy characters.
Secrets, lies, betrayals and twists.
Evil organisations on both sides.
“I am the violence the world made of me.”

Gripping, unique and high stakes, a great read.

Having absolutely adored Kate Dylan's sci-fi novels Mindwalker and Mindbreaker, I was eager to see her branch out into fantasy. And the comps with Six of Crows and Master of One had me instantly taking note.

Until We Shatter definitely delivered on its promise of an edge-of-your seat heist, and I absolutely loved the world Dylan created. Religious fanatics regulating the use of magic and the magical council opposing to anyone not purely magical made for an intriguing setting. I loved the concept of the shades and hues being able to access a parallel dimension, the grey. And while I struggled to keep track of the magical abilities of all shades and hues, this didn't impact my reading experience (and I frequently consulted the overview).

There's a nice element of found family to the cast - with an established group consisting of Cemmy, her ex Novi, Eve and Ezzo, adding new elements to the mix brought a shake-up and a need for new dynamics to form. I loved how Cemmy's relationship with her ex was portrayed and enjoyed seeing her overcome her jealousy of Lyria. Chase was definitely morally grey territory, but I loved how our perception of him shifted as the story progressed. There were plenty of unforeseen plot twists, and some heartbreaking moments. Until We Shatter takes a critical look at society and class privileges, as well as at the relationships in families and the families we chose, and what we are willing to do to save or protect those we love.
Until We Shatter has all the elements that I love about Dylan's writing: diverse representation, intricate world-building, high stakes and an action-packed plot. Dylan has definitely made the list of auto-buy authors form me!

Having loved Kate Dylan’s sci-fi, I was really excited to see her first try at fantasy and I have to say I am not disappointed! The idea of the magic of inbetweens and the different powers the Hues had were really fun and interesting ways to use magic. I loved they were used to such effect.

A lot of the themes that appear in Kate Dylan’s sci fi have travelled across to the Fantasy genre with her. In this book we see another corrupt society, though this one is on the brink of war with ever rising tensions between it’s people. I was really happy to see that the particular spin she puts on her books is still there, even in a different genre.

I also loved the representation in this book. Cemmy is bisexual and has both male and female lovers. I loved the fact that both relationships were pretty balanced. There wasn’t any emphasis put on one or the other. Her romantic journey in this book was partly to move on from her former lover and into the hands of someone new, and I feel like this was done effectively. Often in romance the emphasis is put on one romance lasting forever, so it was nice to see a book that accepts that sometimes relationships have to end and that new ones can be formed without one party being the “evil ex”.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see what Kate Dylan does next.

This might be the most beautiful book I own. The cover is STUNNING.
And the story is as well. I read it in one go and love the characters. But especially the magic system will stick with me for a long time. For fans of Sanderson and Samantha Shannon - you'll like the complexity of this one.

I struggled with this book and didn't end up finishing it. I don't think it was necessarily the writing or the story itself, it just didn't grab me and I couldn't keep going with it. Unfortunate because I was really anticipating it and have heard excellent things about this author.

I respectfully DNF @ 17% / 56 pages.

I very much liked the idea and was very intrigued by the magic system, but to be quite frank: Everything was so utterly confusing explained. Especially considering this is supposed to be YA.
I was hoping to understand more as the book progressed, but my confusion kept on growing because the plot was so hectic (the whole first chapter I was so lost like ?!?!) that nothing made sense for me. On top of all of that, the writing didn't really make it easier either.

I have no idea what's going on, who is who and what is what and to be honest I don't think that if I were to continue to read something I don't understand, it will magically make sense.

BOOK: UNTIL WE SHATTER
AUTHOR: KATE DYLAN
PUB DATE: OCTOBER 2024
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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I think this is the first time I'll like a book, but I didn't really like the main characters. I liked almost everything about this book. The MCs (although it was mainly one), Cemmy was understandably selfish, she was going through a lot on her own. But I admired that she would do anything for her mom and her friend. But, i still like her better. But Cassiel? I didn't like a thing about him. He was my least favorite character. I can't ever forgive him for what he did. My favorite characters were side characters, Eve and Ezzo.
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I like the world of Isitar, Shades and Hues. Some people had magic based on colors like Red, Orange etc. While Hues consists of people with mixed parenting of magic and typical parents. I loved the world building, but i didn't really understand it. This is not a fault of the author's because she talked about it extensively in the book. I just didn't get it. But, I liked that it was different. The main villains were the Council and the Church because they were all out for the Hues. Hues were the main characters in this book.
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And the main theme of the book, the heist. That was my favorite. It was well thought out, fast-paced, and engaging. I really liked it, how the team executed it and the ending. It was perfect, really.
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I liked this book. It was different. I also liked that there was nothing special about the FMC, Cemmy. She was just a girl dealing with the hand life dealt her, I might not have liked her, but I understood her.
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This was a very nice book, but i hope there's more to Isitar and Cemmy, I feel like there's something more to uncover.
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**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Until We Shatter is a book that has a whole spectrum of interesting ideas but is a bit too ambitious with just how many were thrown in so unfortunately missed the mark for me.

It takes place in a city split between those with magic (Shades/the Council) and those without (typics/the Church), where both parties are prejudiced against half-Shades (Hues). The protagonist Cemmy, is a Hue with the ability to manipulate physical objects in the incorporeal dimension – the Grey – that all magic users can phase in and out of. Thus in order to make ends meet for her and her ill mother, she works as a thief. On one particular job she gets caught and is coerced into partaking in a heist with another mysterious Hue called Chase to steal a powerful relic from the Church.

Now there are a lot of details to the worldbuilding and magic system, the latter involving different types of powers that are associated with colours which I was fascinated by but also confused with for a lot of the book. What each colour represents is very broad and there is a fair bit of info dumping. There is a part in the book where the specific Hue powers are categorised better but until that point it was quite hard to keep track of what was what. Additionally, I was just as confused about the whole jumping into the Grey aspect and by the end I still couldn’t fully grasp how exactly it worked.
That being said this in-between dimension was still really interesting especially with how Cemmy used it for her own little acts of thievery and it was quite a fun addition to a heist storyline too.

There was a nice found family in the book but I found I sadly wasn’t able to connect to all of the characters. We get to know Cemmy really well and aside from the fact that I was constantly facepalming at her decision making she was a likeable character. With regards to her rag-tag group of friends while there are backstory moments of how she met each person, I felt like more attention was given to their specific colours/powers than anything to really flesh out their individual personalities. Plus the pacing of the book is quick so scenes that show these already established relationships go by in the blink of an eye.
I found this was different with newly introduced characters though as I somehow felt more connected to Lyria (absolutely loved that there was deaf representation in this and the use of sign language!!) and even Chase had more on page characterisation. I personally think this came down to the single POV narrative and that we only see the characters through Cemmy’s eyes.

Coming back to Chase while I really liked his character the romance between him and Cemmy was not convincing at all. Their dynamic definitely worked but for the time frame of the story and the fact that the words “close proximity” were actually mentioned in the text to refer to their relationship (if I remember correctly) made it all feel superficial.

The whole Church vs Council thing while again an interesting concept wasn’t really explored as much as I thought it would be, it felt like background noise that piques your curiosity but didn’t fully become relevant to the plot until the big heist came about towards the end. And while the heist was good it was easy to guess how and what was going to happen.

Dylan is still a brilliant writer though, the atmosphere side of things and how she captured the different settings in this were the highlight for me. And my love for Mindwalker and Mindbreaker still stand so I look forward to reading what she puts out next!
Final Rating – 3.25/5 Stars

Until We Shatter by Kate Dylan is a captivating fantasy set in a unique world filled with colour magic, high-stakes heists, and intriguing lore.

Told from the POV of Cemmy, our fierce FMC, we follow her journey as a “hue” - the child of a Typic (mortal) and a Shade (a magic wielder).

Due to difficult circumstances, Cemmy often has to steal to get by. One day she’s approached by Sarivan, a rogue Shade who has tasked her with stealing from the Governors manse. What Cemmy doesn’t realise is that this heist will change her life - and her friends’ lives - forever.

The characters are skillfully written, and their vastly different personalities shine through beautifully, though I did wish for a bit more page time for some of the side characters to make me feel fully invested in them. With that said, the characters balanced each other out, and their personalities complemented each other really well.

There are a few poignant scenes around consent which I think is such an important topic and something that isn’t discussed enough beyond romance. This is definitely a rare and valuable theme in fantasy that deserves more attention!

60% of this book is the build up to the main heist, where the reader learns about the lore, magic systems and each of the characters power. But when I say, the last 40% was an emotional rollercoaster which has my heart in my throat, I mean it - I don’t know what Kate put in the last section of this book but I could NOT put it down!

If you’re into action-packed fantasy with themes of betrayal, found family, and a non-spicy enemies-to-lovers romance arc, Until We Shatter is a must-read!

This was my first Kate Dylan book, and I’m officially a fan. Her fast-paced style, complex characters, and worldbuilding brought the story to life - I’ll definitely be adding her other works to my TBR!

Well it wasn’t what I expected to be honest. I thought it was a longer book and it took me a while to get into it. I nearly DNF because of the informations dumping, I was lost a few times. And let’s talk about the magic system to this day I still don’t think I understood everything. For a book that was only 300 pages the system was way too complicate.
The characters were just meh nothing to really connect to them, to the point I couldn’t feel anything if one of them got injured or worst.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book at all. The start of the book was very confusing and you just get thrown into the story with (for me) not enough information to understand completely what's going on. It didn't get much better further into the book, so unfortunately I didn't finish the book until the end, but stopped around 75%

i’m sorry this was just not my cup of tea 😭 why compare this book to six of crows when the only thing the two have in common is a heist 😔 the premise for the heist wasn’t very intriguing so i found myself bored until the 75% mark. throughout the book none of the characters have any real motivations imo. they’re just being threatened into complying so it was hard to be invested. only chase has a secret motivation which is revealed towards the very end.

the magic system is interesting but just kind of tedious imo 😔 the only character that feels developed to me is cemmy and she was so stupid sometimes i was so annoyed 😭

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.

So the reason I wanted to read this book is because I saw it on Netgalley and the story sounded really cool. Friends, I'm so glad I got chosen to read this. I loved almost everything about this book. First of all, the magic system was really cool and I'm really glad that there was a guide to explain each magic at the start (even though I didn't need it very often as the author kept explaining what each of their magics could do). The found family aspect book was incredible and made it all the more easier to empathise with each of side characters as well as Cemmy. The twists and turns of this book had me in a chokehold for most of the way through and I honestly think if I hadn't of been so sick this past week I would not of put this book down. The only downside to this story is I did feel like there were some parts which were a little drawn out for longer than they needed to be but the moment those parts were over we got back into the action - packed story. I would 100% recommend this to anyone who wants a good heist fantasy story and I will definitely be picking a copy of this book up!

(If you'd like to see more of my reviews please go to my blog:
https://doesden.blogspot.com/)

Thank you NetGalley and Hodderscape for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5!

I have head a lot about Kate Dylan’s previous series, and so I was excited to read this one. There was a lot to like in this one—Cemmy is a competent main character and the crew itself is a band of misfits and the vibe is very fun. The magic was really neat and it’s a fast read. It feels rather nostalgic, and I think people who cut their teeth on YA fantasy from the early 2010s and miss books with that vibe will eat this up. The stakes feel pretty high and although the heist itself doesn’t take place until much later in the story than I had expected, the tension is well done.

However, I didn’t particularly feel attached to any of the characters—if anything, I thought the side characters felt underdeveloped compared to Cemmy and Chase (and I felt that Chase felt pretty underdeveloped compared to Cemmy). I cared little for the romance aspect and there is one scene where I can tell it’s supposed to have a big emotional impact but I struggled to feel strongly about it. The magic is complex but not super well explained, and while I was okay with that, I think people who like to get into the weeds of world building will be frustrated. While I found the book easy to read, I struggled to feel engaged with the prose. I don’t think this was poorly written or anything, but it felt like a mismatch between the author’s style and my personal preferences (I also struggle with first person a lot of the time, but alas). I’m sure there is an audience for this (I know a couple of people I would definitely recommend this to) but there wasn’t enough here for me to chew on, and at some point it became really annoying to be in Cemmy’s head.

I am the violence the world made of me.

Until We Shatter is essentially a heist story that has the benefit of magic. The main character, Cemmy, is stuck between two magical forces who want to kill her for her magic. She is dragged into a heist to help her sick mother, but the situation is much bigger than all that, and everyone's safety is at risk. The involvement of a man with questionable loyalties and motives does not make anything easier. What can she do to help the situation and survive?

The magic system, named by color designations, felt interesting and new, but I do think that I never fully understood how it worked and should have made myself some sort of cheat sheet. On several occasions when there was heavy magic use, I felt myself thinking, "Okay, so I guess that's how it works?

Thanks to Kate, Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.