The idyllic kingdom of Parisia sat nuzzled securely in the Great Emerald Mountains. For generations Parisia had known nothing but peace and prosperity. When the elder dragon Darka Mors, steals the Darkstone, the entire realm is threatened. Without the Darkstone, the magic sealing away the Shadow King would fail. His return would bring death and destruction to the world of men. Desperate, the king of Parisia calls on an unlikely hero, the Disgraced Knight Vale Lox to lead a group of Seekers on the most important quest in a thousand years.
To save the realm and everyone they have ever known from the rising shadows of darkness, these misfits must survive hostile lands, enemy armies, unspeakable monsters, and each other in order to retrieve the stone from the dragonโs lair before itโs too late.
Shadows of the Dark Realm was an enjoyable YA fantasy novel about an unlikely group of heroes bound together by their quest across the realms. All wanting to wish on the darkstone for different reasons, united by the common goal of retrieving it from the dragon realm and the elder dragon Darka Mors.
UPDATE: I received an updated copy of Shadows of the Dark Realm and am amending my review. Previously, I noted that the ending wrapped up very quickly and had it in the ‘meh’ category below. Tyler Edwards took note of this from his arc team and revamped the ending, adding a lot more content and rounding it out nicely. I am bumping my review up to 4 stars solidly! The story still very much is about the journey than the ending, but now, with the edits, it ends much better and at a better speed.
The good:
- A lot of the characters were great! I enjoyed how different they all were and how it led to a ton of banter and disagreements about basically everything. It helped the reader get to know them each better throughout the book.
- I liked the addition of characters as we went on in Shadows of the Dark Realm, they blended into the group and the story really well. Each character was added with purpose and reason, and they added to the plot each in their own way. It never felt like someone was added for fluff, each person had a role to play.
- Celeste. I put this in the ‘good’ category because I hated her with a passion and I wanted to rate the book 1 star just because I hated how whiny and annoying she was, and then I hated her for being a wretch the rest of the book. Clearly that means it was a well written character.
- I liked the different realms and different types of power – it was interesting to see how they interacted during fights and during the voyage.
- I liked the story overall! It was interesting and full of great twists, dangers, adventures, and more.
The meh:
- I struggled to get to know the characters at the beginning – it felt like their moods changed on a whim, and their emotions/mannerisms were not consistent. It got better as we went along, but I think a little more character development or backstory at the beginning would have been helpful.
- I personally didn’t like the replacing cuss words with random words; I know lots of books do it, but the characters spoke well enough that it didn’t make a ton of sense to me. It didn’t really take away from the story, but is something I noticed.
Overall, Shadows of the Dark Realm by Tyler Edwards was an enjoyable read! I liked it, it kept me intrigued and interested, and I am glad I read it.
Read worthy.
See what books I think are worthy of a re-read here.
*this story was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review. all thoughts are my own.*
