Book Review – Cloak of Shadows by CK Dawn

“Cloak of Shadows”, included in the Fire and Fantasy e-book anthology

Boy. I am still pacing and antsy-excited at the stunning cliff-hanger ending of CK Dawn’s Cloak of Shadows, the first book included in the Fire and Fantasy e-book anthology, and the first book of her Netherwalker series. Now, CK did include a note before the epilogue: “If you plan to continue with this series, there’s a tantalizing epilogue…but I suggest you stop here if you don’t like cliffhangers and don’t plan to continue onto the next book in the series just yet. Thanks for reading!”

But I love cliffhangers, and after reading Cloak of Shadows, I sure do plan to read the rest of the series once it’s published, so I read on.

Wow!

This story is based on a fantastic “what if”: What if all we knew about the Arthurian legend was a lie to protect a much darker secret?

I used to think that I wasn’t really interested in YA novels. CK Dawn’s Cloak of Shadows showed me that I was just looking at the wrong sub-genres. So, if YA urban fantasy is your bag, with a dash of adventure, romance and Arthurian legend, Cloak of Shadows is your book.

The book centers around two Hunters of the King’s Court, Lourdes “Lourdie” Reese and Abigail “Abby” Thorne heading off to Porthleven in the UK from their home port of New York for Abby’s final Hunter trial and for Lourdie to help train other Hunters, descendants of the Knights of the Round Table, from around the world. There’s friendship and romance and shadow-like otherworldly creatures called krims that suck the life out of the normal people who can’t see them that the Hunters have to banish back to their own realm.

I confess to a little bit of confusion at some of the terms the characters used and wondered why I wasn’t getting a better explanation, but the story was otherwise so compelling that I decided I’m okay with not knowing. And who knows, maybe the explanation might be found in the next book, or in the other Netherwalker short stories that CK has written.

*off to take a look, because this stuff is just that good*

The characters are all so strong. CK does a good job of writing teens and their dialogue just as well as the adults. There’s a slow build-up of romantic relationships, perfect for the YA genre, along with believable, laughable, conversations about the hunky Hunter. (I’ll leave you to find that one out for yourself. *wink*)

Check out the author interview with CK Dawn here.

Find Cloak of Shadows in the Fire and Fantasy eBook anthology here (Amazon) or by itself in paperback here (Amazon)

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