A Tale of Stars and Shadow

Tale of Stars and Shadow Series, Book 1

By: Lisa Cassidy

Narrated by: Danielle Cohen

Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

A broken warrior searching for redemption. A criminal who haunts the darkest shadows. A rising darkness that threatens to consume them both....

A born warrior, Talyn Dynan was the finest fighter of her generation. But after a combat mission goes tragically wrong, she is left broken and wracked with guilt. Sent on a dangerous assignment to the mysterious kingdom of Mithranar, she must contend with the ruthless political games of the royal court while secretly hunting a criminal who is key to a much greater mystery. A single mistake could mean her death.

The Shadowhawk thrives in the darkest of nights. Desperate to help the oppressed human folk of Mithranar, he haunts the streets, stealing from those who have the most. The arrival of a foreign warrior brings him closer than ever before to being unmasked and executed. But is she truly his enemy, or an unwitting pawn in a game being played by the powerful ruling Acondor family?

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either, a murderous foe stalks the dark corners of Mithranar. One that answers to a single purpose....

Vengeance.

©2019 Lisa Cassidy (P)2021 Tantor

Decent Story but Slow Narration

The story was interesting enough to keep listening to the series, but took a while to get interesting. This book was mostly world building. The narrator reads suuuuper slowly, and I had to speed up the audio to get to a normal pace. She does fine once the speed is at 1.2.

Story

Such a good story!! I am hooked can’t wait to start the next one. Definitely give this a try

Plz plz plz give it a chance …

I found this book recommended deep in a Reddit thread and decided to give it a listen... I absolutely loved it. Per usual, the world building was a little slow, but without realizing it I grew so invested. Each and every character snaked their way under my skin and every interaction had me on an emotional rollercoaster. I had my suspicions but the last two chapters made me jump up and scream. I don’t know how this book isn’t more popular. It’s a literal crime.

Looking forward to the next book

This book was very good for those who like epic fantasy with a strong heroine. The narrator was excellent as well.

My only negative is that something about pace of the story and world building felt a little off. I can’t put my finger on anything specific, maybe I’m just used to a different writing style (Sarah j maas, Ilona andrews, Lindsay buroker). By the end of this book I was captivated and am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Yep. That ending is how you get me to read book2!

Let me just say that I was Surprised 😮 at how much I loved this book. Especially because I never had heard of it before and I read 150+ books per year in this category!!!! WHY HAVE YALL BEEN SLEEPING ON THIS SERUES?!? Also never ever seen the ending coming! I kinda thought the Shadow was who he ended up being but after ignoring the signs and going with obvious looks, I shrugged it off for a mysterious unknown character. Then WHAMMO! Yep. That’s how you get me to read book 2 and change my rating from 4 to 5 stars! ⭐️

Torn

There were a lot of parts I liked about the book but also some I really found annoying. Basically this book is Ted lasso with a female and no humor. It’s a lot of team building/training montage that dragged for me. And the female lead was annoying at times. But the ending was great and I’ll definitely listen to the next one

Rising above what is, sowing seeds of what could be

An intriguing tale with a complex array of mysteries carefully unspooling. A cast of characters, each with their own skills and challenges, developing bonds of loyalty, dedication and appreciation among unlikely partners and a narration that pulls the listener into their world. I’ve already purchased the next two books, eager to know what happens next ❤️

Happily Surprised

The beginning of this story was a bit confusing, but as it continued, it dug its claws in and I was hooked! By the final sentence, I said out loud, "Damn! That was good!"
The twist at the end had me gaping. I did not see that coming.

World building - 4.5
Relationship Building - 4.25
Narrator - 5
Storyline - 5
Writing - 5

Great world building and political intrigue!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would. There were a lot of predictable moments and I was able to guess at one of the big plot twists from the very beginning, but overall the story was very well done. I loved the characters and the realness to them.

Overall this book had a slower pacing and felt like an introduction. I think it did what was needed to set the rest of the series up for more intense adventure and action. I got some Brandon Sanderson vibes with the found family, building up a team of guards from thieves and people at the bottom of the hierarchy, and I was overall invested in this book.

I wish there was a bit more action, but overall I had a great time and will continue this series!

I LOVE this series!!

I've been reading this series on my Kindle and have loved every book! So much so that I'm reading the 4th and last book and listening to the first one! I figure by the time I'm done reading, the audiobook will have caught up to the end! Great characters, love the story! Highly recommend!