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Shadow Strife
What happens when a secret society of magic is revealed to the regular world? Nothing good.
While Quincey Oaks and her friends were on their search for the Captain, King Idris of the Shadow Realm declared a magical world war. Since then, Prince Alastair fled from the palace and has begun wreaking havoc across the United States with the help of a pair of criminals, the Dahl Twins.
With no clear definition of 'right' and 'wrong,' they must try to hunt down the revolutionaries before more people get hurt. But when a parasite begins to plague the group, tensions rise. Which will tear them apart the war outside or the fights within?
Join Quincey in the thrilling third installment in The Hidden Legacy
While Quincey Oaks and her friends were on their search for the Captain, King Idris of the Shadow Realm declared a magical world war. Since then, Prince Alastair fled from the palace and has begun wreaking havoc across the United States with the help of a pair of criminals, the Dahl Twins.
With no clear definition of 'right' and 'wrong,' they must try to hunt down the revolutionaries before more people get hurt. But when a parasite begins to plague the group, tensions rise. Which will tear them apart the war outside or the fights within?
Join Quincey in the thrilling third installment in The Hidden Legacy
598 pages, Paperback
Published July 7, 2025
About the author
I.R. Miller
3 books19 followersI.R. Miller is a teen author from the Midwest. They live with neurodivergence and chronic illness, and one of their goals with their writing is to make sure they add representation for those in the fantasy genre.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2025
This book made me desperate for a horror story by I.R. Miller, because the horror aspects of this were my favorite part, and they were fucking insanely well written and horrifying. And you know what? Pretty much everything else was equally well written and amazing! The issues with present tense being used instead of past tense that I mentioned in my reviews of the previous two books came up WAY less in this one, so YAY FOR IMPROVEMENT! Aside from a few moments of telling instead of showing, the writing was FABULOUS. Filled to the brim with the personality you ought to know I.R. Miller's books for by now. (Not to mention that there's six different personalities filling it to the brim, because different POVs).
Speaking of the six different POVs, let's talk about the dark shadow elephant in the room. MILD, mild spoilers ahead in this paragraph. That dark shadow parasite of an elephant in the room... Atius. The execution of him slowly taking over Quincey's mind is done freaking exquisitely. From the pages of Quincey's chapters becoming darker and darker (literally), until they're nearly black symbolizes it beautifully, and watching uncertainty, fear and corruption cloud her thought processes was immersive as all hell. And the thing at the end of them, oh my god...
I read through my reviews for Soul Savior and Siren Song before writing this, and if that hasn't shown how much the characters have changed, and I haven't even noticed it, because the character development feels so natural. They're clearly still the same people, but they've been through so much that their outlooks and behaviors have changed—AGH, IT'S AMAZING! These characters aren't only characters; they're people. And goodness, I love them. They're just the best. Ajkasbfjhasbfjhadyt.
As for a favorite character... I think I still have to give it to Lyle. Because he has such a great name (jokes, 'cause I also have a character named Lyle, who is my favorite in my trilogy). His care for all of his family members—even Minerva, who he's not a big fan of!—makes him so fucking great. It's impossible not to like him. He also gets MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANY plus points for how he treats Quincey, who's now officially his girlfriend. They're literally just the sweetest. He's the king of communicating, and even if Quincey isn't always the queen of it (gee thanks, mind parasite), they make things work. I'm reminded of Kinger's quote in episode 6 of The Amazing Digital Circus: "Relationships are two-sided, and sometimes, it doesn't make sense to do all the heavy lifting when the other isn't in the mood. We all go through and deal with things differently, and sometimes, you just need to let people do things their own way. As long as you're still there when they need you, giving someone space should never be the same as giving up on them."
THAT IS LYLE TO A TEE. And he still shows so much concern and desire to help her when he's giving her that space, and I just ajfbasjhfbasjhfbasjf he's perfect.
Okay, Lyle rambling out of the way.
So the world building? Beautiful. Beautifully done and beautifully delivered. The world of the magicfolk, and all the different types of magic and species, and how they're presented and used in the story, AAAAGGGGHHHHH I LOVE! And something I kept bringing up in messages with the author: I fucking ADORE how disabilities are such a regular part of the magic world in The Hidden Legacy. There's no stigma around being disabled, and the magic world is so accepting and accommodating; it's so refreshing to read! All in all, how Miller incorporates and represents all kinds of disabilities is just amazing. I spoke about it in my Soul Savior review too, but it bears repeating because of how much I love it, and because of how good it is for the world for literature. There's characters with ADHD, autism, anxiety, dyslexia and other mental conditions, but no one's treated like they're lesser because of it. Getting help from therapists is mentioned frequently, and there's never any shame around it. This book also really started getting into the physical disabilities. Without any specific spoilers, we'll just say that the loss of a limb in one character, and the use of a cane to walk for another were wonderfully done.
In my review of Siren Song, I said this:
Learning more about how the secret magic world works might be one of the things I'm most excited for in book 3.
AND SHADOW STRIFE DELIVERED! IT REALLY FUCKING DELIVERED!
ONTO THE PLOT! Best one yet. Without a doubt. There was never a boring moment. Things were constantly happening, and the characters were constantly reacting according to their internal conflict, and best of all, many times they MADE things happen because of their internal conflict. FUCKING LOVELY! This captured the chaos of a world wrapped up in magical war, and it was a terrifying emotional rollercoaster to say the least. So many new enemies. So many new dangers. And fucking ANTEROGADE...
#EliasHateClub. That's it.
Actually no, #LanceHateClub too.
#WickFanClub, he's just a silly eternal teenager.
Everyone deserves better. I'm so very nervous to find out whether they'll actually get it or not in book 4 (which I will be a beta reader of!!! AAAAA!). The ending of this book set up one hell of an adventure to be had in Shaded Secrets, and I cannot freaking wait to get to read it and help Miller with it.
Speaking of the six different POVs, let's talk about the dark shadow elephant in the room. MILD, mild spoilers ahead in this paragraph. That dark shadow parasite of an elephant in the room... Atius. The execution of him slowly taking over Quincey's mind is done freaking exquisitely. From the pages of Quincey's chapters becoming darker and darker (literally), until they're nearly black symbolizes it beautifully, and watching uncertainty, fear and corruption cloud her thought processes was immersive as all hell. And the thing at the end of them, oh my god...
I read through my reviews for Soul Savior and Siren Song before writing this, and if that hasn't shown how much the characters have changed, and I haven't even noticed it, because the character development feels so natural. They're clearly still the same people, but they've been through so much that their outlooks and behaviors have changed—AGH, IT'S AMAZING! These characters aren't only characters; they're people. And goodness, I love them. They're just the best. Ajkasbfjhasbfjhadyt.
As for a favorite character... I think I still have to give it to Lyle. Because he has such a great name (jokes, 'cause I also have a character named Lyle, who is my favorite in my trilogy). His care for all of his family members—even Minerva, who he's not a big fan of!—makes him so fucking great. It's impossible not to like him. He also gets MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANY plus points for how he treats Quincey, who's now officially his girlfriend. They're literally just the sweetest. He's the king of communicating, and even if Quincey isn't always the queen of it (gee thanks, mind parasite), they make things work. I'm reminded of Kinger's quote in episode 6 of The Amazing Digital Circus: "Relationships are two-sided, and sometimes, it doesn't make sense to do all the heavy lifting when the other isn't in the mood. We all go through and deal with things differently, and sometimes, you just need to let people do things their own way. As long as you're still there when they need you, giving someone space should never be the same as giving up on them."
THAT IS LYLE TO A TEE. And he still shows so much concern and desire to help her when he's giving her that space, and I just ajfbasjhfbasjhfbasjf he's perfect.
Okay, Lyle rambling out of the way.
So the world building? Beautiful. Beautifully done and beautifully delivered. The world of the magicfolk, and all the different types of magic and species, and how they're presented and used in the story, AAAAGGGGHHHHH I LOVE! And something I kept bringing up in messages with the author: I fucking ADORE how disabilities are such a regular part of the magic world in The Hidden Legacy. There's no stigma around being disabled, and the magic world is so accepting and accommodating; it's so refreshing to read! All in all, how Miller incorporates and represents all kinds of disabilities is just amazing. I spoke about it in my Soul Savior review too, but it bears repeating because of how much I love it, and because of how good it is for the world for literature. There's characters with ADHD, autism, anxiety, dyslexia and other mental conditions, but no one's treated like they're lesser because of it. Getting help from therapists is mentioned frequently, and there's never any shame around it. This book also really started getting into the physical disabilities. Without any specific spoilers, we'll just say that the loss of a limb in one character, and the use of a cane to walk for another were wonderfully done.
In my review of Siren Song, I said this:
Learning more about how the secret magic world works might be one of the things I'm most excited for in book 3.
AND SHADOW STRIFE DELIVERED! IT REALLY FUCKING DELIVERED!
ONTO THE PLOT! Best one yet. Without a doubt. There was never a boring moment. Things were constantly happening, and the characters were constantly reacting according to their internal conflict, and best of all, many times they MADE things happen because of their internal conflict. FUCKING LOVELY! This captured the chaos of a world wrapped up in magical war, and it was a terrifying emotional rollercoaster to say the least. So many new enemies. So many new dangers. And fucking ANTEROGADE...
#EliasHateClub. That's it.
Actually no, #LanceHateClub too.
#WickFanClub, he's just a silly eternal teenager.
Everyone deserves better. I'm so very nervous to find out whether they'll actually get it or not in book 4 (which I will be a beta reader of!!! AAAAA!). The ending of this book set up one hell of an adventure to be had in Shaded Secrets, and I cannot freaking wait to get to read it and help Miller with it.
July 8, 2025
SO PROUD OF YOU- i’ll write a full review on my author account when i read the official final draft, but as a beta reader this is definitely the best one in the series! I. R. Miller really outdid herself with this one!
August 11, 2025
Hahaaaaaaa guess who sobbed her eyes out
August 28, 2025
My favorite indie author book of all time right now (will update if this changes with the fourth book). I would genuinely be shocked (and sobbing with excitement) if Miller outdoes this book with the final installment of the series. The depiction of mental health in this book is astonishingly well done and the series really does grow up with you. The graphics add an extra spark to this book that leaves readers breathlessly terrified for the characters lives. I'm so excited for the next one!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews