Ben Alderson

Romance. Magic. Lies. For fans of elves, shapeshifters and elemental control.

Cloaked in Shadow

Jamieson

"Our only enemy is within and once you conquer it ... you can overcome anything. 


I have had this book in my kindle library pretty much since it released, because I was really highly anticipating it. When I used to watch a lot of Booktube Ben was one I watched a lot and I was really interested to see what his debut novel would be like. Also, the premise of this was so interesting to me. It's a high fantasy featuring elves and a central m/m relationship, which is ownvoices representation. 

This book follows Zacriah, who is transported along with all the other elves who are eighteen to the capital to meet the king, though no one knows for what purpose. Zac is forced to join the kings new army of shapeshifters - but Zac cannot shape shift. He has another magic entirely, that he doesn't understand, but must keep a secret. But a war between the three elven continents is brewing, and Zacriah finds himself unwittingly thrown into the middle of it. Cloaked in Shadow is, to me, a mix of Throne of Glass, The Lord of the Rings and Avatar: The Last Airbender 

I have many mixed feelings on this so lets break it down

+ positives

🌱 romance & representation For me the highlight of this book is definitely the romance. This book nailed angsty, slowburn romance. I was really rooting for the main romance and the build up was so good. This is also ownvoices gay representation which is something I always love and support in fantasy. It was nice to see a normalised m/m relationship and I just overall thought the gay rep was really great in this book. 

🌱 plot the plot was super fast moving and a lot was happening. The first two thirds flew by (more on the last third later) and the book mixed drama with intrigue and politics really well. The mystery elements were compelling, and I really appreciated how fast moving this book was. 

🌱 characters I thought the characters were overall a positive. Though I don't feel super strongly about them, they were well written and had logical character arcs. Zacriah had some character elements that reminded me of Aang from A:TLA which I loved because Aang is one of my favourite characters. I also LOVED Hadrian. 

- negatives

🌱 the writing I ... really didn't love the writing in this one. Ben is a good writer but this really, really could have benefitted from some more editing. Some of the metaphors and phrases used were confusing, pointless or didn't actually say anything. The dialogue blended fantasy and modern speech in a way that didn't make sense and pulled me out of the story because it disrupted the narrative flow. Also, there were spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the book and pretty frequently. I am not such a *huge* stickler for grammar/spelling and usually let it pass, but it was A LOT here and the thoughtless editing was distracting from the story. 

🌱 the last third The end of this story needlessly DRAGGED. The conflict climaxed and then .... the story kept going? The new story thrown in came out of nowhere and didn't have the necessary build up to keep me interested. I skimmed the entire last 20% of this book and nothing really happened, which was unfortunate since the rest of the book was well paced. 

🌱 plot inconsistencies Some parts of the plot didn't add up. Conflicts were set up that weren't resolved, or which had confusing endings. Basically, it felt like the entire middle section didn't necessarily line up correctly with the beginning and endings. Again, I think this is an editing issue and it's a shame because it could have easily been resolved with more beta reading. 

🌱 side characters This is not a strong negative but .. I didn't love the side characters? Most felt one dimensional and the portrayal of a lot of the female characters was .. sketchy. Not necessarily problematic or bad, but not great either? Like I said this isn't a super negative it just didn't sit right all the time. 

Overall I do recommend this book it's a fun and fast paced fantasy with a well written m/m romance that really got me with the slowburn angst. I do plan on continuing this series, and I hope the next books are just edited a little bit better, to really tighten up the elements that let this book fall down. 

This was my first read for UnsolvedAThon (read a book featuring mythical creatures) and Magical Readathon (Herbology - read a book with plants on the cover)

Abbie Harrison 

Decent read, got a bit slow in the middle but the last few chapters really picked up the pace and made me what to read the next book

Sahi K

A fun and entertaining new fantasy series featuring different kinds of elves and elemental magic. The writing is very easy flowing and I almost finished this in a single sitting.

Zac is a very relatable protagonist and it was great to see an MC with such great magickal powers also get overwhelmed and show his vulnerabilities to those closest to him. Hadrian is the perfect prince - charming, powerful, compassionate and so so sweet. These two were just amazing together. The development of their relationship from friends to more is written beautifully and their interactions are flirtatious and swoony. I’m totally in love with them.

The plot is very quick paced, with elaborate action sequences occurring frequently, which kept me on my toes. The ending is explosive but I think I saw it coming; it still broke my heart and I can’t wait to read what happens next.

Crystal Counterman

I am basing this review on the story alone. There is a great review in here by Shauna about some of the problematic issues with the book (such as a problem with editing) that I wholeheartedly agree with. But......I am so proud of Ben on this awe inspiring achievement. The story itself is fantastic! The pacing is near perfect. Not once did I get bored or find my mind wandering to something mundane or unrelated to the story. This is a debut book. Are their errors and issues? Yes. But those can all be learned easily. Grammar, spelling, and word choice are the nuts and bolts. The real magic and hard work of writing a novel is the story. The plot is where most aspiring authors will give up. 
 Plot is a real bitch!! And I think, in regards to plot, that Ben did an excellent job. I can't wait for the sequel and to see how much Ben grows as a writer.

Ariel Himboi

I had such high hopes for this book. For one it was incredibly hyped by the LGBT community, as it is written by a fantastic and fun LGBT writer and YouTuber. But I kept putting this book down and forgetting about it. The writing was good and the world slowly came together but every character except the main protagonist was 2D. Maybe I did not read enough ( I read over.... 80 pages? ) but I felt a little bored reading the dialogue because it seemed out of place and cliche.

The romance seemed promising but it was extremely insta-lovey and that's a no-no to me. How do they keep running into each other?? He's a prince with thousands of guards! 

Anyway, the love triangle was okay and a little realistic and the magic system was pretty cool. I did enjoy the variation in species in the story and the shape shifting abilities.

But all of the faults that I kept seeing really made me DNF this book. I feel like I might give it a 5th chance if someone convinced me, but it felt like amateur-ish fanfiction and not a fully fleshed out novel to me. I have read better.

But props to anyone who loved it, it unfortunately wasn't my tea.

Manon van Heumen

I'm going to give this book 4.5 stars. I was super excited for this book, and the storyline did not disappoint! If you like good storylines, this one's definitely for you! However, some of the things just didn't make sense as to why someone did a certain action. Also, Zac's feelings were really messed up at some points, mainly when it came to his 'ex-lover', and that was the main thing why I won't rate it 5. However, I definitely want to read the next installment, and I will highly recommend it, because I still loved it deeply!

Cloaked in Shadow

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