Where the Shadows Beckon Book Review

I found Where the Shadows Beckon well written and fun. The pacing is quick, but steady and well balanced with a good mixture (and variety) of action scenes counterbalanced by character interactions and narrative scenes.
The characters themselves are likable with strong individuality despite their number, and generally have good chemistry. (Their interactions, and several other elements/scenes of the book, have a distinct D&D feel, which may off put some readers.) Evren is a solid lead character with many scenes of competence but also moments where she makes mistakes or fails. Her personal narrative of being a loner/desiring to remain out of the spotlight is present but slightly underserved in the narrative, largely because she’s ultimately the driving force behind the party finally unifying (its part of her character arc, so not in a contradictory way) but that character arch isn’t granted the depth is merits. Her transition from loner is almost entirely internal (no external interactions with her companions to affect it) and didn’t cause or necessitate any external action ( I.E a situation where she is forced to trust her companions to do something or with informations despite her predisposition to not do so.) This results in the character arch lacking a rewarding pay off, or compelling cost from situations where she fails to fulfill it. The same is true for her desire to remain outside of the spotlight, though that narrative is largely absent from the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed the plot (delving deep beneath the worlds surface into unexplored territories without any external lifeline where you have next to zero information about the environment is both compelling and wonderfully thematic.) As the narrative progresses though, I did grow somewhat fatigued with the constant reversals and subversions and betrayals.