Of Silver and Shadow di Jennifer Gruenke
Hello Books Lovers,
before starting this review I have to thank the publisher, North Star Editions, who kindly sent me a copy for reading via Edelweiss. Of Silver and Shadow is a High Fantasy story written by Jennifer Gruenke. An autographed copy can also be purchased on the author’s website.
Only one thing I found missing in this book. A map. In the story they mention various realms, various populations, and a map would have been the perfect addition to better understand the content. But what I really appreciated is the protagonist, Ren, a girl who has been through a lot and survived. She is now the only one who is able to use silver, magic, apart from the royal family who exterminated all the people with this gift for being the only ones to have it.
Ren’s parents died the day the King’s Children, his guards went to kill Ren. She managed to escape, and managed to survive alone, fighting in clandestine pits, and stealing food and money whenever she got the chance using her silver.
One day she is kidnapped, to be recruited into the riot, by Darek and his brother Markus. And it is from this moment that the real problems begin. One of the aims of the revolt is to show that the king and his sons are not the only ones with silver. Ren shows off her skills in public, never showing her face. But the king sends his guards to find the rioters and bring them to him.
And now that everyone is involved, it’s not just Ren’s life that’s in danger. And then there is Kellen, the prince, the second son of the King, another silver bearer. He is not a conventional prince, court life is not for him, he goes out at night, secretly, to go and manage his clandestine fighting pit. It is here that he meets Ren for the first time, without knowing either her name or her abilities. And it is also from this moment that he too will remain involved in the intrigues of the revolt against his family.
All in all the story is really beautiful, and the narration is particular. It is not easy to explain why if you do not read it in person, but I will try to make you understand. You see how, in every book written in the third person, we start with the point of view of a character, to then evolve the story to each added character, so that for each chapter, told from a different point of view, the names of the characters are used when they have entered the scene. Here it is different. Each chapter is from a different point of view, and until the characters get to know each other, the story is told as if you were reading a different story each time.
Example. The first chapter is about Ren. The second is told by Kellan, he doesn’t know Ren, so he never mentions her name, he doesn’t know who she is and he won’t find out until many chapters later. The same goes for all the other chapters. Obviously you would understand much better by reading. However, it is a style that may be liked or not. But from chapter to chapter you have a 360 degree view because, for example in moments of battle, at the end of a chapter, the one after sometimes resumes not chronologically following, but also a few moments before to give a vision of the impressions of all characters on the same situations at the same time.
Overall, I give 3.5 stars to this book, very leaning towards 4. I give this rating because the narration at some point, towards the middle of the book, had started to bore me slightly, but the ending left me breathless. Too bad that, as far as I know, it’s a stand-alone one.
