I'm so disappointed. I'm not saying the first book was written incredibly well, but at least it was enjoyable. This was.... Just bad. The first half is so repetitive it is excruciatingly boring. The author completely changed Aliza's character from the first book. Her motives, her characteristics. It just doesn't make sense.

Merged review:

I'm so disappointed. I'm not saying the first book was written incredibly well, but at least it was enjoyable. This was.... Just bad. The first half is so repetitive it is excruciatingly boring. The author completely changed Aliza's character from the first book. Her motives, her characteristics. It just doesn't make sense.

I don't know if it was due to the beginning, that was particularly slow and the skirmishes of the newlyweds were boring me, but I wasn't sure I would be able to finish this book until about halfway through the pages. Then the story suddenly sped up, the drama reigned supreme and somehow I devoured the second half of the book and now I already have the third and final volume in the series ready.

Non so se perché l'inizio era particolarmente lento e gli atteggiamenti dei novelli sposi mi stavano dando noia, ma non ero sicura che sarei riuscita a finire questo libro fino a circa la metá delle pagine. Poi la storia si é improvvisamente velocizzata, il dramma é regnato sovrano ed in qualche modo ho divorato la seconda parte del libro ed ora ho giá pronto il terzo ed ultimo volume della serie.

DNF Really struggled getting into this book. Loved the first one, but this was significantly harder. Not sure why.

Not only is there a sequel, but there's clearly a third book on the way.

Aliza and Alastair are newlyweds, but they're not allowed to stay alone to enjoy their honeymoon period for long. There's a desperate plea for help, and Aliza is determined not to be parted from her husband.

This book is less like Pride & Prejudice, understandably. But it's still quite good. There's plenty of non-human creatures, and you see more of their customs and lives. Plenty of action and mystery, and a big creeping evil to deal with in the sequel.

Enjoyed. Internal dialog a bit much, but all around great story. I want more

Merged review:

Enjoyed. Internal dialog a bit much, but all around great story. I want more

4 Solid Stars

Okay, full confession: I received the ARC of this novel from the publisher last year and ended up backlisting it because I was afraid of what might have been done to Austen's creation in the first novel and wondered where on earth White would go in a sequel. Well, my bad. I ended up reading Heartstone after getting the concluding book in the trilogy (Flamebringer) and basically promising I was going to read and review the third book which meant I was honor-bound to read the first two. And after finding the first in the series, Heartstone much better than I had feared, I was really curious to move on to the second book. How would White handle the possible departure from the Pride and Prejudice template?

Dragonshadow finds White no longer constrained to the Pride and Prejudice plot structure, though she keeps the tone of the era. While flies full-dragon ahead into fantasy territory, with Lady Aliza Daired and her husband Alastair lured into... a selkie story!? Sure there are other elements here, like revenants called ghastradi who take the form of new characters or... shudder... old characters we loved to hate, and the usual direwolves, wyverns, and nixies. But this is also a surprising story in a number of its elements. Like the evil old woman/must be a hag who turns out not just to be good but to be kind and a leader, and other trope-breaking characters. The women White writes continue to be strong partners and sisterly affection lasts beyond death. Plus, you just can't beat Akarra the dragon for her sarcasm and fondness for Aliza. All in all, I enjoyed this one even more than the first.

Content Warning: a graphic and very sad miscarriage in this plot may be troubling for those of us who have suffered miscarriages.


I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book started out strong but went downhill for me. I could see how other readers might enjoy it but I didn't. First off, I expected this to be a Pride and Prejudice-esque sequel. Instead, it's more like a fantasy novel where the author took the two main characters from the first book and put them in a new situation. I didn't like the dark and sad parts of this novel, and a lot of it was dark and sad. Maybe if I'd been expecting it to be that way I would have handled it better. The whole part about the miscarriage was just heartbreaking and I really didn't want to read about that. Sigh. Not sure if I will continue on in the series! We'll see...