The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller - Book Review

"Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:

1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King’s power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she’s going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra’s not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen—all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?"

I can't say I liked this book, but I did not hate it either. There were parts of it which were okay, but others were unclear or dull. I cannot form a proper opinion of this book, but it wasn't too bad, and I think I will give it three stars for now; this rant could change my opinion.

Since it is a standalone, the story moved pretty fast. The chapters were very short, as was the book. I finished the whole thing in less that twenty-four hours, so it could not have been too bad. I did not like the characters much, they were hardly developed, but that wasn't as annoying as how their personalities kept changing. The Shadow King went from mysterious, harsh and brooding to open and friendly in a matter of seconds. He was kind to Alessandra most of the times, yet she called him selfish and controlling which made me think him a little rude too. I did not like how the only thing Alessandra had to do to attract his attention was wear a dress that was not green. Many girls attended his ball, hoping to please him, all wearing a gown in his favourite colour - green. How could nobody have seen the other green dress clad girl getting turned down and thought to be unique by wearing another colour? The worst thing that could have happened is that they would have been turned down. But everyone else wearing green was too.

The entire relationship of Alessandra and the Shadow King was unsatisfying. He acted like he loved her right from the start, yet she was blissfully unaware of it. She claims to have liked him when she first set eyes on him, but we know that her original aim was to poison him. Since we all knew they would end up together, sometimes I felt like telling them to just get on with it and stop their bickering. It was mainly annoying because I did not like Alessandra at all, nor the Shadow King much, which made anything apart from the murder-related plot boring.

And oh the plot. How do I begin. I do not want to hate on it too much, but I did not like it. The synopsis made it sound interesting, and I was not ready so get so let-down by this book. I understood nothing about His Majesty's shadows. And is it just me, or did the immortality part not make sense at all? If touched he would become a mortal. Okay I get it. But somehow he would become a mortal only in the presence of that person, and could only be killed by that person. How? So now that he has touched Alessandra, if she goes more than fifty yards away from him, he will become an immortal again? And if not, how did he not become a mortal when the other people touched him?

I have little to say about the world-building. Since it did not exist. 

I had no idea about how their world was supposed to look. The king controlled many regions, yet we hardly see any evidence of his power. Infrastructure was poor, there was a shortage of competent soldiers, the council was unintelligent, and the King himself was hardly capable of ruling. They had various modern facilities like electricity and fancy deserts (and somehow even eclairs?) yet they seemed pretty backward to me. Women did not wear pants, could not expose any bit of their skin, and general society was hardly developed. If they had electricity, didn't anyone build cameras? An alarm system? An electric chair for questioning? Cloth irons? Hair straighteners? There were so many possibilities to improve their safety and living condition and that of the King, yet they relied on his unreliable shadows.

I would have ignored the poor world-building if the characters had been nice, but they let me down too. The book felt bland and half-formed. Nothing was described well, yet it was described a little. I have only a vague idea of everything and many a important things were not described at all. The palace, Alessandra's looks, people's expressions, and the like were not explained properly, which failed to draw me into the world or make me empathize with the characters. 

I feel bad for hating on this book so much because the idea was good and it wasn't that the author was bad at writing. I just didn't feel this book and thought it had a few flaws. It was fun to read though, I'll give her that, and the cover is nice. I'll give it a two-star review.