Shadows So Cruel

Court of Ravens, Book 2

By: Liv Zander

Narrated by: Shaina Summerville, Tor Thom, Tommy Fuller

Adrift in a sky shadowed by war,

We seek, we ache,

Searching for the woman who fled us.

We shattered her heart, but she unfurled her feathers,

Our sweetheart, our little dove,

Escaping our talons on pure white wings.

One of us soars over battlements,

Haunted by past mistakes,

Vowing never to repeat them.

The other storms through walls of stone and hatred,

Eager to destroy the shackles of his past,

Determined to shackle her to him instead. Forever.

Loyalties are torn.

Friendships are tested.

Among the chaos, one claim stands irrefutably:

We will get her back.

She will be ours.

Come home to us, white Raven.

Shadows so Cruel is a full-length dark fantasy romance novel, and book two in the Court of Ravens duet. The two-part story features two morally gray raven shifters, a young woman at the mercy of their shadows, and a HEA. This world contains dark elements, violence, and themes some may find disturbing. Listeners can find more detailed information at LivZander.com. What this book doesn't contain is a hero—because villains do it better. And two do it better than one…

©2023 Liv Zander (P)2023 Dreamscape Media

No MMC will ever be better than these two crow men

I listened to the audiobook and read the Kindle version at the same time. All of the narrators were perfect. Hearing Sabien say "Sweetheart " rather than reading it makes all the difference. I just finished the 2nd book this morning. (Stupid thing to do before work because I'm a mess) I didn't want to finish it but I couldn't stop reading.I loved the darkness and how Liv doesn't shy away from the horrible things that happen to people and how it affects them. I felt every emotion these characters felt. It was so well written. I can't wait to dive into her other series. It's going to take me a long time to get over these books. Not sure how any MMC will ever top those two Raven men. 🐦‍⬛🖤🐦‍⬛

SMDH

As I said about the first book, I didn't care for the narrators. The F did ok. The voice for Sabian was the best of them, but it was because he read really well. The dude that voiced Malyr? Whenever he started reading, I just kept hearing the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz, "Put 'em up, put 'em uuuuuup!"
Now, onto the story. The amount and type of sex in the book doesn't bother me. Lucky woman, I say. It really is a good story. The back stories are well done, the characters are well fleshed out. I have to say, the last few chapters? Jesus. I cried like a big fat baby. I really did NOT like that, and felt it was totally unnecessary. The book was done, I didn't even want to listen to it. It actually pissed me off. So, it's a good book, but I HATE how it ended.

New Favorite Series!

Dark,cruel, heart-wrenching, exciting and super freakin HOT. The narration was top notch. The story had a good pace and a lot of clear character growth. The sex scenes are deliciously depraved and yummy, but don't give the book a smut feel. It's hard for me to decide if I liked this one more than the first book. The First book had that great tensions and angst but this book really dug into the whole story. There are some sad bits but they add to the plot ( not just tragic for tragedy's sake). Overall I was very satisfied with the ending. I will be replaying this sometime soon ( both books start to finish) just to hear this awesome story again. It was that good. This author is officially a new favorite and I will be buying any new books she comes out with asap!

Book 2 is SO Good! I literally cried at one point

This book should be hyped more. The story is so good and I couldn’t put it down.

OMG what an emotional ride

I'm seriously emotionally traumatized.. I Ugly cried for dang near an hour 😭😭. great writing and narration!

Very dark and spicy…but

The traumas were dark indeed. The thing that really bothered me was the watering down of fated mates. Sebian was super cringey. I wished it was just a story focused on Melyr and Galatia

Wow

The beginning of the story was a little slow but this series was amazing I usually don’t leave reviews this book actually made me cry and k have never cried before what a beautiful love story the spice was good the plot was good I loved the magic system and the settings

This series rocked me.

Story🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Performance 🎤🎤🎤
Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
I have to admit at first I almost DNF the first book in this series. It started out so slow. But then it started picking up and then I was lost. This is a very very dark book. If you can’t handle SA then do not read this book. It has a lot of bullying, degradation and very rough msex with kn!fe play. An aphahole you will want to reach in and strangle 80% of the time. This story sucked me so far in I was cussing the main characters for being naïve and pig headed. Then I was cussing the author because I thought she should have given the FMC more jabs during an argument. Seriously, I was basically yelling at myself saying don’t you forget he did this, you need to tell him this and get mad because it didn’t happen. Like they were real people and I’m over her trying to have my girls back. I have never been so engrossed by a story that I have become totally lost in it. I am fifty years old and I have read many books my entire adult life. I have never, ever cried over a story. I was blubbering like a baby by the end. This story gives you everything. I never understood when someone would say that a book gave them all the feels. Now I do. A lot of it anxiety and screaming at the FMC not to give in to him yet. The FMC was perfectly balanced. You couldn’t help but cheer her on. She wasn’t a badass and she had a softer side, but she also did well standing up for herself. So many of these books starts out with the FMC being strong and then as soon as they hit the mattress she forgives everything and starts to follow the MMC like a puppy. The story was very original and so well written. World building was ok, like most alternate worlds it is difficult to keep track of names of towns and places, but you really didn’t notice because the characters were so well developed, you kind of forgot anything else. I can’t say enough. That being said, as far as the narration goes it was ok. The voice of the MMC could get annoying at times. It was like he took a deep breath after so many words so it came out choppy. Overall chefs kiss 🤌.

Dark Fantasy Romance/MFM

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫(4.5)
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ (4.5)
Dark Fantasy Romance/ MFM 🎧📖

✨“My love is not gentle, or tender, or easy. But it is real, grown from hate and pain deep inside a chest sullied by shadows. It is cutting and biting, leaving behind scars as unfading as my love for you.” His warm lips scathed my jawline.

“And once we are gone from this earth, I will continue to love you among the stars. I will be the night, the darkest patch of sky around you, just to ensure that everyone can see how you sparkle. And once your light starts fading, I will take you into my black embrace, and that is where I will love you beyond death.”

✨This book, these characters……this author…she utterly broke me, tore me to absolute shreds, all while filling my heart with more love than I thought possible this week 💔 The way I sobbed, it was not a pretty sight.

I am going to need some time to process this one fully, time to let that ending mend my heart, and definitely time to re-read this amazingly beautiful, and devastating story all over again.

✨Liv Zander did not hold back in Shadows So Cruel, book two, in her Court of Ravens duology. I absolutely loved it 🖤 This books is still full of plot, the dark elements we have come to know in this world, spice, tension, and all with so much added swoon.

If we have chatted in the last couple of months, then you know that I have been raving about book one in this series, Feathers So Vicious! I can not recommend both of these stories enough! They are both available on KU and audio. I listened to this book on audio as I read along. Check CW/TW my friends

Bravo!

Bravo, bravo, bravo.👏 I was so unsure with the first book, the heroines name drove me nuts and it took me a bit to get over it but gosh darnet. Here I am at the end of book two and balling my eyes out. These two books blew by and I couldn't get enough. I need more, so much more. I will forever be a fan if Liv's books.