Review: Promise of Shadows

PROMISE OF SHADOWS
Justina Ireland
Paranormal Young Adult
371 pages
Simon & Schuster
Available March 11th
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Zephyr Mourning has never been very good at being a Harpy. She’d rather watch reality TV than learn forty-seven ways to kill a man, and she pretty much sucks at wielding magic. Zephyr was ready for a future pretending to be a normal human instead of a half-god assassin. But all that changes when her sister is murdered—and she uses a forbidden dark power to save herself from the same fate.

Zephyr is on the run from a punishment worse than death when an unexpected reunion with a childhood friend (a surprisingly HOT friend) changes everything. Because it seems like Zephyr might just be the Nyx, a dark goddess made flesh that is prophesied to change the power balance. For hundreds of years the half-gods have lived in fear, and Zephyr is supposed to change that.

But how is she supposed to save everyone when she can’t even save herself?

MY THOUGHTS
Promise of Shadows is a story that will delight readers who love Greek mythology, starting us out in the pits of Tartarus before tossing us directly in the path of some of the heaviest hitters–gods, goddesses and creatures alike–as Zephyr’s tale continues. Power, darkness, greed, and betrayal are all constant companions as we read, the gears in our minds turning at full speed as we try to figure out a way for our young heroine to fight not only her external battles, but her internal ones as well.

Zephyr is a character with whom many readers will likely struggle given her extraordinarily negative self-image, but the little glimpses we get of her life before she was sent to Tartarus paint a painful picture of verbal abuse and emotional manipulation, at the very least allowing us to understand why Zephyr sees herself the way she does. Her mother and sister would never view their treatment of Zephyr as such, instead arguing they were simply trying to make her a stronger Harpy, but their ceaseless criticism and constant reminders of unmet expectations have turned Zephyr into her own worst enemy. Now at every turn she hesitates and doubts, prepared to lose before whatever fight she’s facing has even begun. While there are times when we can’t help but want to yell at her to snap her spine straight and defend herself to those who continue to berate her, it's easy to take a step back and remind ourselves that seventeen years of ingrained worthlessness are not something she can quickly shed simply because a prophecy tells her she’s strong.

Though the mythology is fascinating and Zephyr is someone we’re desperately rooting for (insecurities and all), where this story slides a little off the rails is in the romance between her and her childhood friend Tallon. Tallon is physically everything we might consider swoon-worthy in a fictional boyfriend: Dark and muscular with a bevy of unique abilities and an extremely attractive fighting prowess, however, the moment he opens his mouth the beautiful illusion of him shatters and he becomes someone who doesn’t seem ideal for Zephyr in the least. He’s callous in his remarks to her, insulting her and belittling her again and again when she doesn’t behave as he feels she should as the Nyx, and while he is at least man enough to apologize for the hurt he causes, the repetition of this pattern throughout the book robs his apologies of all sincerity. There are undoubtedly a couple romantic moments between them, it’s just extremely difficult to believe in them as a lasting couple given Zephyr’s history with people who use their words as weapons to cut her down.

Troublesome romance aside, Promise of Shadows is a solid and enjoyable read, the pages turning quickly and easily as we wait to see if Zephyr will embrace the prophecy and see herself without the prism of everyone else’s opinion distorting her view. The highlight of the story is Zephyr’s best friend Cass, a young woman with her own painful past and the only individual to support Zephyr without question, a pillar of true friendship and acceptance for the person Zephyr is rather than who she isn’t. Ms. Ireland tells a good story despite a few flaws, and I look forward to following where she next leads.

Rating: 3.5/5
 

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.