Genre: Greek Mythology/Fantasy
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Zephyr Mourning has never been very good at being a Harpy. She’d rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changes when her sister is murdered—and she uses a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.
Zephyr is on the run from a punishment worse than death when an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend (a surprisingly HOT friend) changes everything. Because it seems like Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess made flesh that is prophesied to change the power balance. For hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.
But how is she supposed to save everyone when she can’t even save herself?
Going into Promise of Shadows, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The cover was unbelievably eye catching and the premise sounded unique and completely riveting!
Unfortunately, it wasn't as captivating as I thought it'd be.
From the first chapter, I was fascinated by the worldbuilding--seeing a new twist on Greek mythology is always captivating! The world is my favorite bit of the book, managing to be completely original, something that's actually pretty hard with this genre nowadays. Learning about the Vaeter and the Aetherals was enchanting and it just pulled me into the world filled with harpies and Fates, Greek gods and the Nix. And, beyond the Greek gods, there wasn't much that tied the book to Greek mythology, something I found interesting and pleasantly surprising!
We start out in Tarturus with Zephyr, making us hooked and enthralled. There's a sense of intrigue from chapter one, and you just automatically want to know more about what happened to Whisper, how Zephyr got thrown into Tarturus, and all of that. But after that, things started for a downward spiral.
There were a lot of secrets revealed in the first few chapters, but Zephyr never seemed to be that surprised or that hurt, despite the fact that in years of knowing these people and that she just know learns of these things. She only seemed to be affected when it suited the plot--or when she wanted to be whiny.
Speaking of whiny...Zephyr wasn't exactly the best character. She didn't listen at all, and sometimes the characters went along with it, even if she was in the wrong and they were in the right. She was impulsive and ignored everyone's warnings, thought that she knew everything when she knew nothing at all, and she always did what she wanted, even though she knew perfectly well that it would put everyone she loved in danger.
She was also hypocritical and seemed to always be itching for a fight. She was, really, just a terrible character and I wasn't exactly the biggest fan.
The other characters were a bit flat and didn't have much character. We never really got to know them well, besides the fact that they either worshipped, feared, or hated Zephyr.
The plot was a bit predictable and a bit typical too, though it did manage to surprise me now and then. I wasn't a giant fan of the storyline, though it may have been overshadowed by my not so big love of Zephyr. It was a bit rushed, but it was still a bit fun. I do wish it was a bit more edgy and dark though, but I'm not totally unhappy with it!
The romance was forced to me, and I really didn't feel like Tallon and Zephyr fit each other besides their affinity for erobos (essentially, the "darkness"). Although maybe they do since while Zephyr kept screwing things up and directly disobeying Tallon's instructions (that would've saved them a whole lot of trouble), and yet, Tallon kept on forgiving her, saying he was wrong all the time. It irritated me that he didn't seem to do anything besides support her the entire time or get grumpy.
Promise of Shadows honestly wasn't my favorite book and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Though if you loved Justina Ireland's Vengeance Bound, you may love this one too!
I've been really excited for this one, Nikki, so I'm pretty sad that you didn't like Zephyr, and that the romance seemed forced to you. :( The premise shows a lot of promise, considering I'm a huge fan of mythology and do think that Harpies need more book time. I'll still be looking out for this one, but I'll probably lower my expectations. Lovely review, Nikki!
ReplyDeleteAimee @ Read by the Undead
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree! I felt like the romance was so weird and also Zephyr was such an odd person. Also, there were so many weird plot holes like how nobody knew Zephyr was the harpie that had killed that god or whatever even though APPARENTLY all harpies have blue hair. So I mean, if she's a harpie, wouldn't everybody be suspicious if she was the only harpie in that jail thing and when Tallon was trying to save her he didn't even recognize her like wait what? But rant aside, sorry you didn't really love this one, but fantastic review, Nikki! <33
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