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Dark Fae Cursed Shadows #4

Cursed Shadows 4 (The Dark Fae) (Cursed Shadows

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RELEASE DATE TBC, 2024

ebook

Published March 26, 2025

21 people are currently reading
127 people want to read

About the author

Quinn Blackbird

34 books744 followers
QUINN BLACKBIRD is a wanderer, a caffeine addict, a concern to her teachers & a bit of a dork.
You can find Quinn buying gym equipment she never uses or being dragged out of the writing cave by pesky friends.
Mention "margarita" and she'll come ah-runnin.

QB's goal is to live on a farm with rescue animals and write!

Now beware!! Blackbird writes about everything she loathes. This makes for books that are darker, grittier, anti-heroes, messed-up characters, and dark worlds. It's not a guarantee you'll find redemption in her pages. Because, as Gaslight Her warns, 'sometimes, the villains win.'


popular questions answered:
*there is no reading order to the dark fae universe books ~ and yes, another dark fae book is coming!*

CONTACT:
FB Quinn Blackbird
FB READER GROUP: Quinn Blackbird and Her Blackbirds

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5 stars
101 (55%)
4 stars
51 (28%)
3 stars
27 (14%)
2 stars
1 (<1%)
1 star
2 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Misha.
656 reviews23 followers
March 8, 2025
5 star

This is one of my favorite series. This installment was a great addition. Highly recommended.

Almost the entire book is taking place in the Sacrament - the venue where both light and dark fae race to the summit to ask the Mother for one wish. It is now well known that Nari is Daxeel’s mate/evate and his second heart outside his body- making him vulnerable to death if she dies. Given he is felt to be the front runner to win- she is a target to be killed by the light elves or dragged to the mother to be Daxeel’s sacrifice by the dark elves when he makes his request- as he plans to offer his evate bond in exchange for releasing the dark elves’ shadows into the world. Nari is expected not to survive this. All the fae contenders go through a portal and arrive in the new world separately from one another. Nari has no one to protect her when she arrives. This book describes her journey through this sacrament, with her time there lasting less than 14 days.

Stop now if you don’t want to read lots of gushing with some mini spoilers about why I loved this book.

First, I loved how Nari became stronger in the Sacrament -learning to fend for herself while everyone around her is trying to kill or capture her- not so much the helpless darling anymore!

The blood thirsty components and surprising betrayals were epic. I loved her survival instincts and cunning. A pleasant surprise was how she’d kill if she had to. This chapter of the series, and really the series itself, is not for the faint of heart- there are no fluffy unicorns and rainbows! There is a lot of death and dismemberment - and not just strangers. I’ll tell you this much- the fae body can take a lot of abuse! I also liked how some truths came out between Daxeel and Nari, clearing up some long term misunderstandings.

One of the best themes in this one is how Nari sees herself as selfish- with most of the story narrated from her point of view - but her actions speak louder than her thoughts- telling us the opposite. Just like how Daxeel says he loves her in so many non verbal ways, despite what he says with his mouth. That being said, I also LOVE how they are willing to stab each other LITERALLY, to get what they want. Rivals as well as mates. Despite not wanting the bond - the concern they each felt when they couldn’t feel each other in the sacrament was sweet.

My heart aches a bit for how it ended. How can THIS be the end of their evate bond and love story? One more book in May. I need it NOW!
163 reviews1 follower
March 6, 2025
terrible cliffhanger

I love the dark fae books .I didn’t expect to like this one because it is war. The writing was excellent as always , but not that long I think the coda could have been included. Still love Quinn and the Dark Fae world.
Profile Image for Sphinx.
87 reviews16 followers
March 25, 2025
I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It was definitely better than the previous one. At times, I couldn’t put it down—the suspense kept me completely hooked. But other times, I found myself really annoyed with Nari constantly reiterating her stance on things.

I’m also confused about why the author introduced certain side characters or events throughout all four books when they added nothing to the story. I kept expecting some kind of explanation or payoff, but it never came. Was it just pointless rambling? If there’s one thing I can’t stand in books, it’s endless rambling.

The MMC isn’t my type at all, but he was still interesting to read about. I actually enjoyed the FMC more. I especially liked her the most in book 1, the part in which she spits in his mouth? I LOVED that.

And yes, I realize I’ve only pointed out the negative aspects in this book, but it still deserves 4 stars. It’s rare for me to finish an entire series, yet somehow, this story managed to keep me hooked.

One character who really piqued my interest was Samick—I’d love to see a series about him.

But then, I read the last 10 pages to this book and let me tell you, I'm pissed. I thought the author would wrap up this series with this book, so imagine my surprise when she pulled this bullshit? I don't understand why the author decided to drag this series out so much. I'm changing my review to a 3 stars, lol. Had she finished this series in this book, I would have given it 4 stars. Sometimes less is more.
Profile Image for Erica&#x1f98b;.
53 reviews
March 9, 2025
This was probably my favorite book in the series. I liked Nari in a the first three books, but I LOVED her in this book. You’ve out done yourself Quinn Blackbird and idk how I am supposed to wait until June with that cliffhanger.
Profile Image for Julia Liv.
49 reviews1 follower
April 19, 2025
Don’t understand why there’s a 5th book but I’m here for it
Loved this strong Nari tho!
Profile Image for Jan.
392 reviews7 followers
March 31, 2025
If I had a dollar for every time Nari cried or vomited, I’d be one very rich lady.
That being said, despite being a crybaby, I was really happy with Nari this book. After all the desperation, the humiliation, the emotional torture Daxeel put her through, she’s finally done with him. She claims to not to love him anymore, and her telling him that felt like finally drinking water after being left parched in a desert. The satisfaction it gave me to see Nari stand up for herself, to make it through so much of the trial on her own made me take her seriously for once, which has been hard to do this whole series. And even though she failed to stop Daxeel, I get the sense the series won’t end in total tragedy. Not when Nari’s finally grown a backbone.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
57 reviews
March 9, 2025
Quinn Blackbird's books are a breath of fresh air for me compared to what's on the market, nothing captivates me and keeps me interested like her books. The Cursed Shadows series is one of my favorites.
81 reviews2 followers
June 4, 2025
Penultimate book, in the series, this one is all about the Sacrament and set almost exclusively on the Mountain of Slumber. Nari is compelled under the slave command of Daxeel to compete, no getting out of this one. However her attitude and feelings towards him have undergone something of a transformation. She's so angry and pissed off in this book.

She's dropped through the portal, away from the dark fae and must try and survive, battling both the light fae who want to slay her to defeat Daxeel and avoiding the dark fae, who will drag her to the summit for sacrifice. She has a target on her back from both sides.

Nari really comes into her own in this book, she's determined, cunning, feisty and she just wants to survive. No more cowering or whining, she'll do whatever she has to. This is a book with a lot of violence and bloodshed, and surprising betrayals.

When she's finally captured by Dax and the other dark fae, she's not backward in trying to escape and
to offer Daxeel plenty of home truths. Finally a lot of misunderstandings and revelations are bought into the light and cleared up between them, but is it too late to turn Daxeel away from his plan to sacrifice Nari? You definitely feel as though the worm has turned in this book and its Daxeel on the back foot.

There are lots of twists and turns in this book, its pretty action packed and the final few chapters have a lot of unexpected happenings that I doubt many will see coming. Will Dax go through with his sacrifice and kill Nari or will she outwit him and survive?

The last book in the series, Coda, has just been released so you wont have to wait to see the conclusion. I loved it and it sets up events very well for the final book.
13 reviews
September 11, 2025
Seriously WTF

Oh. My. God. JUST when I was FINALLY starting to fricking like Nari. JUST when she FINALLY grew a backbone and stopped wallowing in her self-pity. Are you serious!?

*spoilers*

I was so chill with everything up until she actually tried to OFF HIM. Bro wtf. Then too, like one second after he proved that he never wanted to kill her?? It’s just cruel! Break your bond, stop loving each other, I support it—y’all are toxic—but it was too far. And, more than that, it didn’t make any sense. I don’t believe Nari just “stopped loving him.” Stopped trusting him and giving him chances—that makes sense—but you don’t just flip a switch and turn off your love even if you realize it was misguided. For her to go from “I want to marry him” + “I want to win him back” to literally trying to off him 2 seconds after she decided they needed to let each other go is crazy. For a “selfless cause,” nonetheless. Since WHEN does she care?? I mean, she didn’t even question it. I thought it was gonna be a test or something.

She was on SUCH a decent character redemption arc til then. This book did so much for her development as a character it was crazy. All of that for what? Maybe I should’ve just DNF’ed during book two itself. I don’t even understand why Mother listened to Daxeel at all.

Highly disappointing conclusion. (I may just skim the ending of book 5 for peace of mind but UGH I can’t with this series).
20 reviews
March 17, 2025
love this series

Anyone who loves their MMC unapologetic and dark will just love this series.. Nari the MFC comes into her own in this book and I found myself urging her on to succeed won’t spoil it and give you the details but there was a few things in this book I didn’t see coming.. a fast paced book that leaves you wanting more so disappointed when it ended on a cliffhanger as I need to know now what happens next.. so will have to wait patiently for the next book hopefully it won’t be long … Just love the Dark Fae world highly recommend all the books..
Profile Image for Ingríð Älva.
253 reviews1 follower
April 13, 2025
It took me a few hours but I couldn't stop until I finished it.

I haven't had such a brutal book in my hands in a long time. I can't even breathe until I find out how it ends.
While at the beginning I sometimes felt that Nari was a weakling, after this book I think this about myself. I would have given up so many times, I whispered it to her so many times...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Leala .
59 reviews1 follower
September 22, 2025
The storyline has picked back up. The point of view from other characters still bugs me a bit so I mostly skip those as well as the long drawn out flashbacks. One of my last favorite series done but still a good enough story to continuing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Thyia.
10 reviews
April 23, 2025
Cliffhanger like this should be criminal but I just love the dark fae world and every story in it - let’s pray for hea guys lol
Profile Image for Misty Byrd.
103 reviews7 followers
June 7, 2025
As usually Quinm Blackbird didn't fail in giving dark excitement in her books. I can't put this series down.
49 reviews4 followers
June 24, 2025
Nari’s a deeply misunderstood character and the sacrément finally gives her the courage to stand up for herself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

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