Review - The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair

The Beckoning Shadow by Katharyn Blair

Published 2nd July 2019 by Katherine Tegen Books

Star Rating - ***

Goodreads Challenge - 38/50

I was gifted a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Vesper Montgomery can summon your worst fear and turn it into a reality—but she’s learned the hard way that it’s an addicting and dangerous power. One wrong move and you could hurt someone you love.

But when she earns a spot in the Tournament of the Unraveling, where competitors battle it out for a chance to rewrite the past, Vesper finally has a shot to reverse the mistakes that have changed her forever. She turns to Sam Hardy, a former MMA fighter who’s also carrying a tragedy he desperately wants to undo. However, helping heal Sam’s heart will mean breaking her own, and the competition forces her to master her powers—powers she has been terrified of since they destroyed her life.

My Thoughts

I was gifted a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for review. I was really drawn in by the synopsis, a fantasy story set in a contemporary setting is one I haven't read in a while and I was keen to dive in. Unfortunately, although I thought the plot was interesting,I think this could have been executed better. As I just said, I enjoyed the plot of this story. It has a really interesting premise, although it was a bit tropey. We follow our main character, Vesper, who develops powers that she doesn't want. Things happen in her life and she ends up amongst others like her, taking part in an underground fighting contest to win a prize she desperately wants however, not all is as it seems. I liked the idea of the underground fighting scene and I really enjoyed all of the different types of magic in this book. However, I think these aspects were underdeveloped, especially the magic, and I would of loved if they had been expanded on a little bit more. I thought the writing style was good. The story itself was fast paced and I read it quite quickly, even though the book is nearly 500 pages long. It wasn't as complex as I usually like though, as I said before there are aspects of the story I would of liked to have been expanded upon. It read very much like your typical YA story. The main thing that let this book down for me though was the main character. I didn't really like her very much and I struggled to connect with her. I found Vesper to be very whiny and full of self pity. There was a point at about 100 pages in where I nearly DNFed this one because I was getting fed up with Vesper's attitude towards everything however, the plot kept me going. I didn't feel she had much character development and spent most of the book being quite negative about herself and her situation rather than finding ways to resolve her problems. I thought Sam was quite sweet but Vesper's personality meant that I found myself struggling to enjoy their interactions and relationships. Overall I thought this one was just okay. I definitely would of enjoyed it more had I liked the main character I think. I think this is going to be a series based on Goodreads however, this book finished quite conclusively and therefore I don't think I will be continuing on. Overall Rating