Sanctuary of the Shadow

For humans, the circus is a place filled with wonder and amazement. For Harrow, though, it’s a place to hide from those who slaughtered her entire clan. Disguising her abilities as part of her act has kept her true identity safe for years.

Until he arrives.

A strange new attraction with no name, no memory of who―or even what―he is, let alone an explanation for his odd yet deadly powers. But beneath the layers of anger and isolation, one glimpse into his inky eyes reveals a soul that calls out to the loneliness in her own.

And so she chooses him.

Harrow is drawn to the darkness, to her insatiable need to soothe the beast who threatens their very existence. But with every secret she unlocks from his past, another from hers whispers free show more as well―luring enemies who will stop at nothing to get their final revenge on Harrow. And she’s afraid she’s given them the perfect weapon against her…because he’s not what he seems.

But maybe it’s time they finally learn―neither is she. show less

God please take all of the one-star ratings from this book and give them to The Wren In the Holly Library.

I've had some time to research some of the opinions and think on my own for this novel and I have to say that, for my personal opinion, Sanctuary of the Shadow was unfairly judged and review-bombed- but it's also partially the publisher's fault for misrepresenting and misadvertising what this book is actually about.

Red Tower, while they are known for their gorgeous covers and deluxe editions, are also known to publish books that aren't regarded very well. Even Fourth Wing, which blew up on TikTok and I personally loved, has plenty of haters for their own reasons. When Sanctuary of the Shadow came out to much anticipation, it was show more given one-star reviews left and right which lead to a rapidly dwindling Goodreads average rating (it is currently at 2.90 as of my writing of this review). After reading many of the more popular reviews on this website, I've come to a conclusion as to why so many people disliked this book: misadvertisement.

Red Tower marketed this book as a fantasy romance ("romantasy") set at a magical circus. The issue here is not that there is no circus, it's that the circus is featured a lot less than what the marketing team promoted it to be. The description of this book makes it seem that the circus is the main setting for the entire story, and even the cover of this book features a circus tent front and center. However, the circus itself was only featured in about 30% of the novel. Readers were, of course, disappointed.

I, on the other hand, went into this book with zero expectations as well as the knowledge that the circus did not play as big of a part as it was made out to have, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing wasn't perfect, but it was far from the worst I've ever read, and while I thought it was cute I didn't much care for the romance. What kept me hooked to this book were the characters and the world-building. I loved Harrow and Malaikah, Raith and Ouro grew on me after some time, and even the ringmaster Salizar and his assistant Loren had captured my interest. The world-building of the magic system, the queens, and the world's history was so rich and explained well. It honestly reminded me of The Wizard of Oz, with Queen Furie as the Wicked Witch of the West and the wraiths as her flying monkeys, and I would not be surprised if Ascher took inspiration from that for her novel. The worst part of this book for me was probably the spice, as I found it to be a bit too abundant for my taste and I ended up skimming those scenes. Overall, despite that one thing, I really enjoyed this book and I'm very excited to read Malaikah's (and hopefully Ouro's) novel when it is released. I only wish that this book had been sold to a publisher that knew how to properly market its products instead of using BookTok tropes and keywords to go viral.

If you've read this far, and you have any interest in Sanctuary of the Shadow at all, I encourage you to ignore the haters and please give it a chance. It's not a masterpiece, but it's worth much more than a 2.9 average rating on Goodreads. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Pre-Reading Updates: I don't wanna read Sanctuary of the Shadow BUT THE PARASITES IN ME WANT TO READ SANCTUARY OF THE SHADOW I don't wanna read a book that has a rating below three stars on Goodreads BUT THE PARASITES THE DEMON IN ME IT WANTS TO READ IT show less

Sanctuary of the Shadow is the first book in a planned trilogy by Aurora Ascher, a ‘romantasy’ featuring love and magic.

Harrow is the last of her kind, an Elemental seer whose source of power is The Water. She has spent her life in hiding, pretending to be human, afforded the protection of the Enchanter Salizar and his traveling ‘Incredible Elemental Circus’. When dreams of fire and shadows begin to disturb Harrow’s sleep they lead her to the circus’s newest attraction, a dangerous creature thought to be a myth. Raith has no memory of who he is, not his name or his purpose, but Harrow is certain he is her destiny, and she will risk everything to set him free.

I won’t reveal why Harrow and Raith should in fact stay far away show more from each other, but there is a good reason, just not one either remember. Yet the two are drawn to one other, also it turns out for a good reason. I’m not that keen on the insta-love situation generally but at least it makes sense within the context of the story. It does cause some pacing issues though, especially as they tumble into bed before they’ve had much of a conversation.

There are some really promising elements to this story with the magical world Ascher has created which includes warring sister queens, magic welders, and animal hybrids. Harrow was just ten when her clan was massacred by one of Queen Furie’s legendary assassins, ephemeral creatures made of shadows and fire, her escape from their fate inexplicable. In Harrow’s present, the queens, of whom there are five each representing an Element, have all but withdrawn from the world, the population of their elemental subjects having been devastated as a result of their infighting. Often despised by humans, the circus offers stateless Elementals safety and security. I thought it was a shame that more was not made of the circus spectacle, we get a glimpse of the performances of Harrow’s best friend, Malaikah, a black panther Hybrid who performs on the high wire, but not much else.

While I was interested in elements of Ascher’s imagined world, and some of her characters, unfortunately I was disappointed by the execution of the novel. Even though Sanctuary of the Shadow is 400 pages long, it feels like the editing process was too brutal, stunting both the worldbuilding and the romance. The writing is also disappointing. Despite the explicit sex scenes there is a lack of maturity, and little finesse or lyricism.

While Sanctuary of the Shadow didn’t enchant me in the way I hoped, there is potential here I hope it might be better realised in the second book since the basics of the worldbuilding has been established and the focus will be on another couple. show less

This book was far from perfect - I would have appreciated more character development, especially for Raith - but it did make for a quick read with plenty of compelling moments. Overall, I would say that I enjoyed the read, even if I kept wanting something more from both of the lead characters and the relationship itself.

I enjoyed this one! The book started rather slow for me but after a few chapters things picked up. I liked Harrow and Raith. Their instant connection felt very real and I couldn’t wait to see how things would develop. This book was a bit spicer than I expected, which wasn’t a bad thing, just unexpected. Overall, I found this to be an entertaining read.

Harrow has spent the last 50 years telling fortunes with the traveling circus, keeping the fact that she is the world’s last Seer a secret. When she sees Raith, she is drawn to him and knows that they need to leave the circus to keep him safe. Raith has no memories of his past but he feels the connection to Harrow and wants to keep her safe. There were a few twists and turns that I show more could guess pretty early on but that didn’t impact my enjoyment.

I thought that the chemistry between Harrow and Raith was well done. They both felt a connection to each other and I thought that it felt very real. They both go through a lot in this book and I liked that we get quite a bit of excitement before the story wraps up. I thought it was interesting to learn more about each character’s past as we worked our way through this story.

I would recommend this book to others. It wasn’t a perfect story but I found it to be a lot of fun in the end. I liked a few of the secondary characters quite a bit and hope we see more of them in future installments in this series.

I received a review copy of this book from Red Tower Books. show less

One of the more interesting tales of forgiving someone who you should hate until the end of the world. A wraith, forced to do an evil queen's bidding and the last surviving seer. He has no memory, she only wants to survive, but fate has other plans. Read the book to learn what they are. Plenty of action and steam ensue.

If I could describe this book in one word, it would be amateur. The writing was bare, and the dialogue rote. The main characters, whilst supposedly being long-lived, felt childish and underdeveloped. The lead male character particularly was almost childlike because of his amnesia and the fact that he talks only in grunts and one-word sentences.

The romance was insta-love and unconvincing. The interminable sex scenes were simply icky. It felt like a young teen interpretation of salacious behaviour a' la Mills and Boon wrapped in a fantasy cover.

I was looking forward to being at a circus, but that was just in the beginning and more background than a lush, imaginative setting. Also, the elemental magic wasn't that creative, and the seer show more and other special abilities functioned more as plot-moving devices than anything else.

I think that there may be a good trope buried somewhere in here, but it missed the mark for me. I won't be backing up for more. show less