Win The Shadow The Sun (Militess Mage, #1) Curated By Monica Enderle Pierce Disseminated As Booklet

totally agree with Mara it is a very good book , but it did not keep me on edge and while I liked and admired Halina and Gethen I didn't fall in love with them.
Will I read the next book Most likely, but not immediately,.

I so enjoyed this fantasy with its touch of romance, its heroine, and the romp through lands unknown :

The only con is that I could not find it completely compelling.
For how much I liked it and I did, my heart wasn't in my throat even at the worst times, But I would suggest that you do read this book, The writing was slow and vague and not compelling, I didn't care about the characters, Spoilers most likely

Got this one for,and what a delightful surprise it was to find how good this book was!

The writing is technically very good.
Little to no editing issues, Well developed characters and secondary characters as well as an antagoniost that is not just purely evil but has a story behind them.
Bravo!

I would definately recommend this book to my friends, This author's writing is certainly in league with Grace Draven as fantasy goes, unfortunately she lacks Draven's romantic touch,

The author is adept at world building and had logic and reason behind the magic and spell work she gave to the mages.
In short, it was magical yet believable,

This is not a cliffhanger, there is an 'end" a HEA thank goodness, but it does end so one need not continue with the series, but I certainly plan to.



A brief summary:

There is a war brewing between two lands, The feud between these once allied Kings started over a really simple and ridiculous reason, Little did either of the Kings realize that it was not just a war over trading salt, but a war that was instigated by a Rime Witch who was released from her hold in the Void.


Gethen is a shadow mage whose powers are fading as he makes the transition from shadow mage to sun mage.
He has been the one person who's sole responsibility has been to keep the wraiths and Rime witch contained in the void.
As his magic weakens, his protective wards are as well, Unfortunately, at the same time, the Rime witch has been released, On top of that, his brother Zelal is threatening and demanding Gethen's aid to fight the war against his enemy, AND! Zelal's enemy is seeking Gethen's aid to fight Zelal, It is when Halina, appears at Gethen's keep to negotiate for his aid that the story begins,

Halina is a fierce warrior and plans to either gain Gethen's aid or kill him, The Rime witch has manipulated the weather, causing Halina to be snowed in with Gethen, and it is over these next few days she realizes that the Rime witch must be dealt with first, for she is everyones common enemy.


There is far more involved in this tale then I have just described, Too much to continue without re telling the entire story, In short, Gethen gains strenth through Halina, they fall in love etc,


Overall a great tale with much magic and fighting,

My criticisms:

, I think Gethen's love for animals could have been played up more, I didn't feel as much of an impact to his devastation at seeing the the dead animals in the Ballista as I should have.
Yes he was a vegetarian, yes he refused to kill animals to absorb their power, but there should have been more to show his passion and connection with the animals.


. Halina is a warrior, and I like that, but she could have been a little more femine, We know she loves Gethen, but she never tells him, Even after he delcares his love for her she doesn't say it,
She should have been shown to have more passion for Gethen, which would have made her connection to Gethen seem stronger, more powerful.
The author should realize that passion and love do not equal weakness, A warrior woman need not be emotionless to be portrayed as strong,

Otherwise, I really liked this story, Both MC were sexually experienced, Halina more than Gethen, Gethen's past was only rarely mentioned, never detailed and nothing more than a passing thought, Halina on the other hand was more of a rake but only in the past not after meeting Gethen, Finally! It's good to see at least one author turn the tables,

There is only one detailed love scene towards the end, But again, I wished there was more romance, Perhaps it will grow in the next in the series, I do hope so.

. I really enjoyed this book! It was recommended during a Facebook romanceauthor event, and I'm very glad I picked it up, I liked that Halina is so fierce and unapologetic about her body, her skills, and her sexuality I appreciated even more that Gethen respected and enjoyed those things about her.
Despite the ageold romantic trope of having two main characters hate one another at first, this romance was refreshing in that the characters managed to be on totally even ground.
Often in romances, I feel like the only way the author manages to make a heroine "tough" is by writing her as snarky and shorttempered.
Halina was smart, savvy, and though she was sharptongued, she wasn't unnecessarily antagonistic or reckless, It made her Gethen's equal, occasionally even his superior in strength and battle acumen,

If I have one complaint, it would be all the thinking out loud that the characters did, I mean, my god, every thought they had was said out loud, and for some reason that bothered me,

Otherwise, I highly recommend this book! DNF ugh, cant take it, Its too boring. Alternate cover edition of ASIN sitelinkBDVSUA


Among the living or the dead, hes never needed anything from anyone.


Shadow Mage Gethen is a powerful necromancer, keeper of the border between the living and the dead, and brother to the king of Besera.
But with his dark powers failing and a vengeful entity attacking, Gethen should be happy when a formidable lady knight appears at his gates.
Hes not. The price for her aid is steephis allegiance in a war against his brother,

In battle or in bed, shes never met a man she considered her match,

Militess Halina is undaunted by the threat of war between her country and neighboring Besera, She earned her titles by shedding blood and breaking bones, She uses her body to reward soldiers who serve her loyally, and to punish those who dont, And Halinas never met a man she couldnt command or crush,

Until now,

Passion and power unexpectedly ignite when a blizzard traps Halina at Gethen's citadel, With the evil entitys onslaughts rapidly deteriorating Gethens sorcery, they have little time to understand their unexpected attraction, But could their passion be the key to defeating an ancient enemy thats hellbent on obliterating their world DNF

It's a lot better than you'd expect for ac book, but that's not saying much.
it just means the grammar isn't butchered constantly,
Anyway, the characters are weird, I feel squicky about the leading lady fucking all of her subordinates to make them obedient, That feels really weird and unpleasant, You really shouldn't have to fuck everyone to be a respected leader, In fact I imagine thats a quick way to turn everyone against you, I also don't like how smirky the leading dude is, and also he's like a weird powerful magical prince king boy next door farmboy what the fuck is this guy, figure out what you want to do with him.


Also don't listen to people, This is a bodice ripper, There's nothing minor about the romance in it, it's all the fucking book cares about, I got really tired of the characters wittily bantering and then separating to ruminate in circles about how formidable and sexy the other is until they get together and then leave to ruminate sexily again.
Rinse and repeattimes in theof the book I bothered with,

Here's the section that immediately made me go from "eh" to "nope DNF right now":
"'What would it take to coax her to burn for me" he laughed note: he spoke and laughed this to himself He already knew she was willing to set his bed on fire with him in it.
" UGH. FUCKING JUST GAG ME. I'd rather die than read any more of this shitty innuendo, which came hot on the heels of a wick dipping innuendo get it the wick is his penis dipping into her vaginaGAG GAG GAG.


Blegh. The plot felt watery and nonexistent, Everything just existed to get the two leads together in the same room so they could spend all of their time interacting solely with each other or themselves.
It was weirdly lonely. I didn't find their dynamic sexy enough to distract me from the lack of interesting side characters,

Anyway this is way too much analysis for ac bodice ripper, What did

I really expect Buddy read with the sitelinkMacHalo sisterhood, The Shadow amp The Sun has all the things to make up a great story, A storyline with magic and swords with a dusting of spooky stuff and romance, But yet, there was something that held it back, It felt like the author was hovering around, As if she wanted me to hang out and enjoy the world and really get to know the characters, The stalling didn't do it for me, The MacHalos have already started the second book, I'm going to join them and give it a go, If they weren't doing a buddy read I probably wouldn't consider the second book at this moment, My firstread this year!!

Maybe a review later, . . review to come on release day ! preorder now forpennies
I'm starting to notice a theme: Read a book by Monica Enderle Pierce, give itstars, desperately wishing for the power to erase my memory of reading said book so I can read it again and experience it all over again for the first time.


I was first introduced to M, E. Pierce's writing with FAMINE, her apocalyptic dark fantasy novel Hello Horsemen, It is a fabulous read and I highly recommend it, It's been a while, so I think it's about that time where I can go back and reread it without having details fresh in my head so I can ooh and aah over the book again.


I then read GIRL UNDER GLASS which I have yet to write a review for, but will! I'm a touch behind.
This is a postapocalyptic novel where we have warred with aliens, No less intense than FAMINE, full of adventure, strife, suspense, and yes, romance,

And then there's this novel, High fantasy. Romance. Suspense. Politics.

I am now waiting for sequels in three of her series, Why do I heart them so much Not only does Pierce create this world that is so detailed it is nearly palpable, but she does it in such a way that I don't feel as if she's droning on and on and describing every vein of every leaf.
No, there is no telling here, There is SHOWING. And that's how I like my books, You're plunged into the world of her novels without static, without a break, just seamless entry that seems wholly believable,

And then there are her characters, In this novel, Halina and Gethen are the main characters, Halina. I LOVE Halina. Why She is no simpering maiden in need of rescue, She is unapologetic about her success on the battlefield, about being an amazing warrior, about caring for the people who are within her domain, and about her loyalty as one of the king's soldiers.
She is strong, forthright, and moral, Her sex doesn't make her feel vulnerable and she certainly doesn't act like it, She doesn't use her physical attributes to get what she wants or to achieve her goals she uses her mind, Gethen is the shadow mage, but he is wholly unexpected as to what we think of as necromancers/shadow mages,

Their adventure begins when Halina realizes that Gethen is right the kingdoms have a mutual enemy that is driving both of them towards war.
Together, they will fight against it, But will they be enough,