Ren Kolins is a silver wielder - a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won't see a single coin until they overthrow the King.
Plot
This book starts with an engaging premise and easily held my attention. For a book of this length, I sped through it, absolutely captivated by the story. However, the end of the story did feel like it fell apart a bit. A number of essential elements to the twist weren’t introduced until the very end and seemed thrown together for a bit of “shock”. The book doesn’t end with a satisfying conclusion but does leave the potential open for a sequel, which may subvert some of my reservations about the ending of an otherwise very exciting and engaging plot.
Characters
The characters were, as they should be, the heart of this book. The book alternates third-person point of view between many characters, including those that are antagonistic to Ren’s story. Normally changing point of view is a struggle for me, but I really connected with each major character we met and was interested in seeing their lives finally intersect. While the author did a great job with the main characters, there were some minor characters that felt underutilized and unnecessary. Again, though, if this book is setting up for a sequel, this could be acceptable.
Setting
The book takes place in a relatively small setting for a Fantasy novel, we just get to see one city in their kingdom, but the author does a great job of developing this “bottle” setting. I felt as familiar with the streets and taverns as Ren and the other characters by the end of the story. Additionally, the magic system introduced was fun and engaging, if not entirely unique to the genre.
My Recommendation
Of Silver and Shadow is Jennifer Gruenke’s debut novel and is a delight to read. It can be dark at moments, and somewhat graphic, but not bad enough for a squirmish person like me to shy away. The story will absolutely hook you, but you, like me, might feel the ending is somewhat thrown together. However, the last few pages leave the door open to a potential sequel, which I think would relieve some of my complaints about an otherwise excellent book.
