Radiant Shadows by M. Marr

The fourth novel in Melissa Marr’s Wicked series, Radiant Shadows does exactly what all her other books have done for me. It left me with more questions, more scenarios running through my head, and all without a single cliffhanger. There is no one word to describe Radiant Shadows, but I can give you to two: freaking fabulous!

The one thing I love about reading is how much it can inspire one’s imagination and Marr definitely does that with Radiant Shadows.  The ending leaves us with a lot of options of what is to come as well as settles some scores that needed to be dealt with.  We’re given another fabulous story within the Wicked world and it doesn’t involve Aislinn or Keenan.  This time around, we’re focused on Ani, the sister of our tattooist friend from Ink Exchange (as well as the daughter of the Hunt’s Gabriel) and the High Court assassin, Devlin.

Being the halfing daughter of the lead hound, Ani has a few abilities that have earned her a lot of notice from Sorcha and Bananach.  Attention that isn’t exactly in the best of her health.  Needless to say, this is how Devlin enters her life, but he doesn’t make the impact he is suppose to.  As the two deal with this attention, quite a few characters get tangled up in the situation and everyone gets developed a little more.  I’m mainly talking about Seth, Niall and Irial.  Of course, the sisters undergo a slight change as well, but I’m not about to tell you what that is.  You’ll just have to read Radiant Shadows in order to find out.  Since we are focusing on Ani, her siblings, Rabbit and Tish, are also impacted, but again, to what extent, you’ll have to find out for yourself.  I’m not doing spoilers here.

Since I’ve already said there isn’t a cliffhanger, you can assume there’ll be a happy ending at the end and I have to say that I liked the chemistry Ani and Devlin have throughout Radiant Shadows.  None of it was really forced, but they both did what seemed natural and just went with the flow.  This made it so I was easily lost in the story.  The pacing of the plot was perfect and there was never a time where I felt like nothing was going on.  There was always something that grabbed my attention, kept me entertained or further developed some point.  Everything had a purpose and it was so easy to just immerse myself in the world yet again.  Marr has a talent for sucking readers into her world with a great story and even more fascinating characters and she doesn’t let us down.

Seriously, I haven’t been in the mood to read anything for the past two weeks.  However, I knew I had to pick up Radiant Shadows so it could continue it’s travels, so I forced myself to pick up a book and begin reading.  By the fifth page, I was totally hooked and back in the mood to read.  With engaging characters and a plot that sparked my imagination (oh all the things I could see occurring), it was exactly what I needed to get me back in my groove.

Overall, Radiant Shadows is another fantastic novel and one everyone needs to head to the stores to get when it comes out April 20th.  It has characters that we have met before and get to love even more, a plot that finalizes a few things and creates even more situations that will be fun to read about later and it’s Marr’s Wicked world.  Who could ask for anything better to read?  I do feel like I should mention that while Aislinn and Keenan were not anywhere to be found, it was given away that something was going on in the Summer Court, but we’ll probably see what in the fifth novel.  Regardless, the actions of Radiant Shadows will definitely have an impact on all the faeries courts and I can’t wait to see what the reactions from all the sides will be.  I can tell you this, there is one reaction I am dying to see and something tells me it is not going to be pretty. *grin*

Read Order:
Wickedly Lovely
Ink Exchange
Fragile Eternity
Radiant Shadows

Also reviewed by:
Boy with Books
Ellz Readz
All Consuming Books
Addicted to Heroines
YAthenaeum

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

7 Comments

  1. Can I say I am jealous you read this book already? *evil stare*.

    But seriously, your review is great and I can’t wait to get my greedy paws on this one. Melissa Marr is an incredible storyteller.

  2. Great review Jackie. I loved the hound. I am anxious for the next book, (I know looonnnng wait). This did wrap up but left several open issues.

  3. Oh, great review! I’ve already put my library request for this one. I’ve been really curious where MM will take Seth’s character, especially after the developments in Fragile Eternity (which I LOVED.)

    I’m looking forward to reading Ani’s story!

  4. Jackie, sweet review! And is it bad of me to say I’m happy Ash and Keenan aren’t around much in this one? They annoyed the crap out of me in FE and I’m looking forward to a couple fresh characters in this one. Though I adore Irial and Niall and am looking forward to more from them.

  5. No, it’s not bad of you to say that. Honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve read FE that all I remember is that Keenan was an ass and the triangle between Ash/Keenan/Seth got more complicated. I’m still waiting to see how that ending has affected everyone. Plus, I’m kind of hoping Lesley makes another appearance. *grin*.

  6. Thank you for the review! I adore Marr’s books. She writes . . . true. And thoughtful of her young audience. I will always respect her for the ending in Ink Exchange.

    I went to her book talk here in Minnesota for Fragile Eternity, and her words in my book are “Choose Joy.”

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