Book Cover
Title A Dark and Hollow Star
Author Ashley Shuttleworth
Cover Art ---
Publisher Simon Pulse - 2021
First Printing Simon Pulse - 2021
Book Cover
Title A Cruel and Fated Light
Author Ashley Shuttleworth
Cover Art Melanie Delon
Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2022
First Printing Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2022
Book Cover
Title A Grim and Sunken Vow
Author Ashley Shuttleworth
Cover Art Melanie Delon
Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2023
First Printing Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2023
Book Cover
Title A Wild and Ruined Song
Author Ashley Shuttleworth
Cover Art Melanie Delon
Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2024
First Printing Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2024
Category Young Adult
Warnings None
Main Characters Arlo, Nausicaä, Aurelian, Vehan, Celadon, Riadne, Lethe, Theo
Main Elements Fae
Website ---




Click to read the summaryA Dark and Hollow Star

Click to read the summaryA Cruel and Fated Light

Click to read the summaryA Grim and Sunken Vow

Click to read the summaryA Wild and Ruined Song




This was free on rivetedlit.com in the month of January, and the timing was perfect as I had just started a "Fae" themed reading year. The downside is you have to read it online so I read it in bits and pieces across the month, whenever I had time on my computer, this affected of course my ability to easily follow what was going on.

And it's a pretty complex mystery, someone is killing the ironborn, the half-bloods, and the full-blooded fae don't seem to care much. But Arlo cares, after all she is ironborn herself. She apparently doesn't have much in the way of magic, so the Fae court wants to wipe her memories and have her live as a human...but this is one of those "special snowflake" tales so Arlo will of course be super powerful in the end and everything will revolve around her, even the gods noticing her, and this while the gods are not allowed to interfere in our realm anymore. For what it's worth, she didn't annoy me as is common in some of these tales.

Toss in a Fury who has been outcast into our realm, and a couple Fae princes, the Wild Hunt and some sexual tension all about and it made for a decent story with some pretty good worldbuilding. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it, but I will definitely hunt down the other books in the series.

May 2024

While Arlo continues to be the naive "special snowflake" we come to realize that pretty well everyone is more than anyone thinks they are, including themselves. A lot of complex things have been set in motion years ago and this group of teens have to figure it out and save...well we don't even know what the end goal is here. Do they need to save the world or is it more than that, something that goes all the way up to the gods? Must admit it didn't hurt there was a titan parading about as a cat while everyone thought it was just a pet phooka. I don't know if its entirely realistic that every character is of some form of queerness, though it was nice to see the variety, including an asexual character which you don't often get to see.

I've grown very fond of the male characters, Arlo is too...naive and trusting. She's grown up around the Fae, she should know better. Guess one could argue it is her human side that tries to see the good in everyone, and to be fair, some of the sidhe have the power to manipulate her into thinking anything they want her to, but it bugged me a bit she just walked into every trap set for her.

Anyway there are a couple more BIG books still to go, can't imagine how this tale will get even more complex but I guess it must!




Posted: January 2023

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