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Chasing Shadows
Not yet published
Expected 1 Jun 26Ana is seventeen, a foster child, and one of the best monster hunters her school has ever quietly produced. The shadows that crawl through dimensional portals don't scare her. A desk job does.
When a creature from a parallel world crashes her school's sports match, kills her mentor, and steals her four-year-old brother, Ana does the only thing that makes sense. She dives through the closing portal after them.
On the other side is a world of beautiful Mirrors. Violent people with pointed teeth and extraordinary powers, locked in an endless war for survival against an escalating monster plague. A world where Ana and her reluctant companion Tashi are called "Shades” and seen as half-lives, incomplete without their dangerous counterparts.
Except something has gone wrong with that theory. Because in Distira, Ana and Tashi can fly!
Ana will battle anything to get Coby back. Sea monsters. Rebel armies. A scheming Mirror champion who planned her ascendance years in advance. But the hardest part isn't the fighting. It's working out who she can trust to fight beside her.
Chasing Shadows is Book 1 of the Shades & Mirrors a fast-paced YA portal fantasy full of monster battles, uneasy alliances, strong sibling bonds, and the kind of found family built when the world is trying to kill you.
When a creature from a parallel world crashes her school's sports match, kills her mentor, and steals her four-year-old brother, Ana does the only thing that makes sense. She dives through the closing portal after them.
On the other side is a world of beautiful Mirrors. Violent people with pointed teeth and extraordinary powers, locked in an endless war for survival against an escalating monster plague. A world where Ana and her reluctant companion Tashi are called "Shades” and seen as half-lives, incomplete without their dangerous counterparts.
Except something has gone wrong with that theory. Because in Distira, Ana and Tashi can fly!
Ana will battle anything to get Coby back. Sea monsters. Rebel armies. A scheming Mirror champion who planned her ascendance years in advance. But the hardest part isn't the fighting. It's working out who she can trust to fight beside her.
Chasing Shadows is Book 1 of the Shades & Mirrors a fast-paced YA portal fantasy full of monster battles, uneasy alliances, strong sibling bonds, and the kind of found family built when the world is trying to kill you.
348 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication June 1, 2026
About the author
Victoria P. Kelly
4 books7 followersVictoria Kelly grew up in England. Finding herself the resigned owner of hair prone to frizz, she fled the damp climate of her native land and spent most of her twenties travelling the continent. She is now happily settled in Central Europe, where she alternates between enjoying the sunshine and bemoaning the lack of English-language bookshops.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
This portal fantasy novel gave me nostalgia because it reminded me of playstation games like Final Fantasy, with all the quests and adventures the characters go on.
It is written for young adults, but I (35f) thoroughly enjoyed it, not least because of the writing style and the beautiful language. There’s a cast of very different characters that I really liked, and my favorite is Savan with his arrogant charm. :)
Some of the things I enjoyed about this book are:
* The amazing world building, which feels very immersive and unique
* The great pacing, it never slows down and the author is a master of cliffhangers at the end of chapters
* The story is a perfect mix of action and fighting, calmer scenes, interesting dialogue, and discovering the world, with a really good balance between everything
It is written for young adults, but I (35f) thoroughly enjoyed it, not least because of the writing style and the beautiful language. There’s a cast of very different characters that I really liked, and my favorite is Savan with his arrogant charm. :)
Some of the things I enjoyed about this book are:
* The amazing world building, which feels very immersive and unique
* The great pacing, it never slows down and the author is a master of cliffhangers at the end of chapters
* The story is a perfect mix of action and fighting, calmer scenes, interesting dialogue, and discovering the world, with a really good balance between everything
Review of advance copy received from Author
Finally, a full-length novel from one of my favourite authors! I was lucky enough to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This feels aimed at a slightly younger audience than I would usually read, partly because it requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. That said, the writing is genuinely sublime, and the pacing is so sharp and engaging that I finished all 300+ pages in just two days. That said, while the details are spread evenly throughout (thank GOD for someone who understands how to not info dump) the overall worldbuilding leans towards complex, which I loved but it's not a passive read.
I enjoyed the entire cast, but Dav was easily my favourite character. His straightforward nature and moral ambiguity earned him a “my hero” trophy.
As a gamer, I loved the “side quests”, but I also really appreciated how neatly everything was resolved by the end while still leaving plenty of room for a sequel. Best of all, it avoids the frustrating tendency some series have to artificially drag things out (ahem, no spoilers) just to create filler books.
It was shit. Four stars.
This feels aimed at a slightly younger audience than I would usually read, partly because it requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief. That said, the writing is genuinely sublime, and the pacing is so sharp and engaging that I finished all 300+ pages in just two days. That said, while the details are spread evenly throughout (thank GOD for someone who understands how to not info dump) the overall worldbuilding leans towards complex, which I loved but it's not a passive read.
I enjoyed the entire cast, but Dav was easily my favourite character. His straightforward nature and moral ambiguity earned him a “my hero” trophy.
As a gamer, I loved the “side quests”, but I also really appreciated how neatly everything was resolved by the end while still leaving plenty of room for a sequel. Best of all, it avoids the frustrating tendency some series have to artificially drag things out (ahem, no spoilers) just to create filler books.
It was shit. Four stars.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews