Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm

by A.J. Blakemont

They are immortal, deadly, ruthless. I don’t belong to their dark underworld. I won’t be a victim. Never again.

She has nothing—not even a roof above her head. She has unimaginable powers, but these powers come at a price: she has to feed on the mental energy of human beings, killing them in the process.

Her name is Griffen and she is a newborn. She is a copy, a paranormal twin of a young woman, Letitia. Griffen is not the only one of her kind—there are others like her, living among humans or hiding underground. Romantics called them doppelgangers, ghostly twins, the harbingers of death. Scientists who know that they exist call them simulacra. They call themselves mirror souls. Who are they and what are their goals?

Lonely and desperate, hunted by her fellow mirror souls, Griffen hides in the London underground and preys on criminals. In this dark underworld, is there a place for compassion, for love?

In this action-packed paranormal thriller, dark fantasy author A. J. Blakemont will guide you on an epic journey through parallel realities toward a dramatic revelation.

Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2016

About the author

A. J. Blakemont is a novelist and essayist interested in speculative and gothic fiction. He is also passionate about music, history and its mysteries. He grew up in Paris where he studied literature. He lives near London and he is a member of the Society of Authors.

Reviews

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love and hate. Eros and Thanatos. Creation and destruction. Two forces that shape the universe.

This book wasn't bad at all, but it certainly wasn't perfect either.

The good:
1) Griffen was great. Her badassery, her vulnerability, her humanity and her refusal to give in to her nature and her urges. She was young but mature enough to know when it was best to step back and capitulate.
2) The plot was very original and unique, can't say I've ever read anything like it. The idea of the simulacra, mirror souls, evil doppelgangers created by loneliness, was compelling and interesting. It had incredible potential, and even though it wasn't a winner in terms of execution, it's obvious there was a lot of skill and imagination involved.
3) And speaking of skill... I loved Blakemont's writing. She has a great way with words and a talent to convey moods and feelings.

Hunger... This is the kind of feeling that drives your mind to the edge of sanity. It rips away the varnish of civilization, leaving your primal instincts bare. It exposes your hidden, animal nature, now free to take hold over you.

The not so good:
1) This book's biggest issue and what I kept struggling with most was the story's pacing and, thus, the arc of suspense. It was fast-paced alright, but I never felt any real thrill. It was like a never-ending succession of mediocre climaxes instead of a build-up to the one big boom, so I kept waiting and waiting... to no avail. Though I wasn't bored, I never really felt completely immersed in the story and Griffen's struggles.
2) Sometimes, the revelations of what Griffen could do were a little... let's call it clumsy. There would be situations where she was about to be beaten by her adversary, and suddenly she'd be like: "Oh, by the way, I can slow down time!" or "Lucky me, I can make fire using my finger blades!".
Of course it wasn't worded like that, but it felt just a little too convenient for her to remember her gift in exactly the right moment, especially considering she'd never mentioned it before. The author took the easy path just a few times too many to make it convincing.

However, even though I didn't love this book, I can see myself giving the next book a chance.


ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Melinda Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

*This book was received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed this book. The world building was really good and I enjoyed discovering more about the main character Griffen. The story of Griffen's origins was really interesting as were the abilities she possessed by being a mirror soul. The concept of time travel and Griffen's moral debate about her means of survival were really intriguing however I disliked the ending. Overall, this was a unique and intriguing read full of twists and turns that will leave the reader guessing.

[Erica Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

~ ~ I was given this book by the publisher via netgalley for an honest review ~ ~

I found Griffen hard to get into, it jumped right into an action scene but still straight after that it started moving at what felt like a snails pace. Yeah, it was good to find out all about how Griffen came to be but really she just seemed really needy and kinda dull. I personally prefer something that is a bit more gripping but I'm positive that this type of story would be up a lot of peoples alley. I say give it a try I may be just expecting too much. It does have a rich mythology and makes this world seem completely possible. So give it a read and make up your own mind don't just take my feelings at face value.

[Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This paranormal fantasy novel jumps right in with an action scene, and follows up shortly after with details of how our narrator, Griffen, came to be who and how she is. In author A.J. Blakemont’s world, Simulacra exist – “doppelgangers, ghostly twins, the harbingers of death” – complete with immortality and various skills and abilities. They are trained, organized, and deadly. Fantasy readers, hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

I voluntarily reviewed this book provided by NetGalley.

Read more reviews! http://dreamerjbookreviews.blogspot.com

[Kathrin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy via Netgalley.
This could've been a great read but in the end, it just didn't work for me.

'Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm' is the story of a newborn mirror soul, Griffen, shaped after a mortal girl called Letitia. Mirror souls are mystical creature, like doppelganger, which are born into our world but also transfer to other realities. Torn between the politics of her world and her need to find a place for herself Griffen is faced with multiple challenges and the question who she can trust.

The synopsis was awesome and I was really looking forward to reading the book but right from the start there was one major question in my head - would it haven been possible to spot the young adult genre right away? The book was advertised as Fantasy & Science Fiction, New Adult. If you ask me this is a serious case of false advertisement.
I was constantly confronted with an annoying main character saying in one sentence she doesn't care about her experience but then goes on describing clothes in detail. Not only her clothes but seriously the clothes of everyone around her - and this was not necessary at all for the story to progress. Don't get me started on the important questions she faced (Can a mirror soul wear make up?) or how the author tried to shorten her descriptions (looking like a X-Men uniform).

Besides my problems with the genre I was disappointed with the character development. It might be harsh to say that there was none but let's agree on very little. So, Griffen is new to her world but there's a constant info dump about how things should work (I stopped caring for it to make sense a few chapters unto the book) and of course, she's super special and strong (let's not forget snappy and rude). In fact, stronger than much older mirror souls (a mary sue at it's finest) and just like this she uses new attacks and finds instant fixes for whatever problem she encounters. There are also a lot of other, really handy explanations that progressed the story and probably should make her easier to connect to. I couldn't relate to her at all.
My biggest problem was the romance in this book. The author spends pages to tell us that we're faced with a brave heroine saving the world but the instant a hot guy comes along she abandons her quest. Although she barely knows him she wants to spend her life with him and make him happy. At this point, I was done with the book.

Okay, I was not a fan of the main character - I still had hopes for the world building. The idea of mirror souls intrigued me. I wanted to know more about the worlds they live in but was faced with very short descriptions on how things work and longer ones that I couldn't understand. I got the impression that it just wasn't important enough. I asked myself more than once why she can use special powers but none other of her species? There were attempts to explain the political system but for me it wasn't enough to get into the story. There were some great aspects to the other world Griffen visits and I hoped the author would spend more time on them.

In the end, there were some good aspects to the story but the author, at least in my opinion, focused on the wrong ones. I know there are many excited opinions about the book which makes me believe that I'm just not the right reader. Marketing the book in another way might find more suitable readers - I was disappointed.

[D. Messing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, it was far different than I thought it would be but it was still a pretty good read. It was very technical in places, and that was pretty hard to follow. Otherwise it was an interesting story, with a storyline that is totally unique, that I haven't read before.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review to Come Soon

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

http://vampirebookclub.net/review-gri...

Doppelgangers. Everyone is rumored to have a twin somewhere out there, and stories abound about the mysterious relationship a doppelganger might have with its copy. But what if they were real? Beings that appear out of nowhere, identical to their twins in every capacity—except that they are not truly human? Griffen is one such being, otherwise known as a mirror soul. However, mirror souls gain their sustenance from humans, killing them in the process. As Griffen becomes more aware of what she is and how she needs to survive, she begins to question whether living is worth killing for.

Griffen started off rocket-fast, and had me going until about halfway through. From there, it took a sudden left-turn and I had a hard time sticking with it after that. While I do not mind romance, as long as it is story-centric, this one appeared to have been written in as a second thought, a way to get more audience. It was fairly abrupt and sort of felt like hitting a wall where there shouldn’t have been one.

The settings of the story were pretty interesting—it varied from current day to the past, even to worlds that really don’t exist. The descriptions, particularly of those places that were not real, were quite well done and definitely evoked the imagery in my imagination.

The characters were an odd mix of human and mirror souls, and the humans suffered by comparison. The mirror souls had more material to work with, and were better fleshed out, though they did seem to be a bit one-dimensional at times. Plus, the story—again with that sudden left turn—changed from ‘all death, all the time’ to ‘Wait! Never mind!’. It was a bit frustrating, and I honestly liked the arc of the first half of the story much better than the second, even though it was quite a bit darker.

Overall, Griffen definitely had some things going for it, but it seems to have stalled on the way to the finish line. The storyline was certainly an intriguing one, and a viable one for further stories. However, the romance was bland and sudden and the arc lost its fizz, and for those reasons it would be very difficult for me to recommend.

[Nancy (The Avid Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griffen is a young woman who is a copy of a human girl, Letitia. Griffen is a newborn and doesn’t know much about whom she is or where she came from. She does know that she is Letitia’s twin her doppelganger as some people call them but to Griffen and her kind they call themselves mirror souls.

Griffen soon learns that she is not the only one of her kind and soon meets others of her kind but would like to stay all to herself but unfortunately that may not be the case. She learns that there are numerous groups of mirror souls out there some that are worse than others. Some of which you don’t want no part of ever.

Griffen is taken by one the factions who want her to be a part of their group but they want her to do things and be a part of things that she doesn’t want to do. But they do teach her a lot about herself like how she is supposed to feed and how to use her abilities. But as soon as she gets the chance she is out of there. She is not into hurting or killing people.

I loved the concept of Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm, how Griffen is the mirror image of Letitia and how Griffen is another way of explaining how Letitia feels and all the things she has been through and her family as well. When Griffen feeds it is as if Letitia is sucking the life out of her family and herself because of all the things that she did or has been through.

I have really loved reading Griffen and can’t wait to read more of Griffen’s story or maybe even more about other mirror souls like Griffen. I love the world that the author has created for Shadows of the Mirror Realm series it is definitely unlike anything I have read before but is kind of an eye opener and explains a lot of how people may feel about a lot of different things that is going on in their lives no matter how big or small it may be. As I have always said “what may be a big deal to one person may not be a big deal to someone else or vise verse but you treat it as if it is the same size”.

I would like to recommend Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm to anyone who loves to read fantasy, paranormal or just a very good story.

[S.J. Higbee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels like the start of a series about this group of superbeings who have existed in our world alongside us for millennia. We see this world through the viewpoint of this newly created being, who has the memories and emotions of Letitia – yet needs to kill in order to stay alive. Traumatised and loathing the need to kill in order to keep alive, Griffen attempts to learn more about who she is and what she is capable of, in order to continue to be able to cope with her abilities.

It is a nifty idea – provide someone right at the start of their journey and give the reader a front row seat as she begins to learn more about who she is and what she is capable of. I very much liked the idea of how the mirror world is created and the factions and politics of the power struggles between those factions is by far the strongest part of the book. Blakemont nicely blends parts of our history, such as the Knights Templar being one of the early powerbases of the mirror beings for instance. And there are pleasing echoes of the vampire legends embodied in some of their attributes that I enjoyed.

What hampered my full reading enjoyment was my inability to bond with the main protagonist, Griffen. Perhaps had I known a bit more about Letitia before Griffen’s creation, in order to get a real sense of what she feels she has lost, I would have found her more interesting. It wasn’t until well into the book, I really began to care more about her aims and goals and with many books that would have been a dealbreaker, but I found the alternate world Blakemont has created sufficiently engrossing that I was able to continue enjoying the read. For while I didn’t fully identify with Griffen, neither did I actively dislike her. Overall, this is a pleasing adventure about an interestingly original set of superbeings, whose opposing aims and cultures pulled me into this story.

While I obtained the arc of Griffen from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
7/10

[DebbieReadsBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I as gifted my copy of this book.


Alrighty.

So.

Okay then, here we go.


I apologise if this review is a little disjointed.


I very nearly dumped this one, I got past half way and told myself to finish it, to see if it began to make sense, to become clearer. Unfortunately, while I I DID finish it, I still am not sure what the whole point was.


Griffen is newborn, a copy of Tish, a mirror of her soul. She has all Tish's memories. But Griffen needs to feed and she finds that food in the criminals of the London Underground. Killing a human trafficker brings Griffen into contact with her own kind, other who have motives that Griffen is not privvy to. She also comes into other factions of her kind, other non-humans and into contact with Andre, her salvation.


Other than the fact that this is first person, present tense AND singlr point of view, I'd like to make the following points.


There is much repetition. Griffen will say "I remember when...." and then we'll get an immediate, in brackets (well, Tish remembers when...) EVERY SINGLE TIME! Every time Griffen recalls, remembers, picks something out of Tish's life, you get the qualifier.


And there is a lot of stuff thrown in. Rules, traditions, or laws, or history. It just gets dropped in, and many time I had to go back and check I hadn't missed something. I hadn't, it just appeared. It made for a difficult to follow plotline.


Its full of action. Not a bad thing, but it was making me dizzy, the flipping back and forth between worlds, time zones, and Griffen in and out of peoples heads.


I'm still not sure if I liked it, but I didn't hate it and I DID finish it, so.....


3 stars


**same worded review will appear on: Goodreads, Booklikes, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com**

[Naturalbri (Bri Wignall) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. I found it had a decently unique story and was written well enough to have me wanting to find out what happened. It also had a good main character, who would be great for young ladies to read and feel strong.

I felt like the book had a fast pace, which matched the suspense and thrill of the story. It was carried throughout the book, which kept a steady feel and flow. This also set out the expectation that things were going to be coming at your quick, just like they were the main character. However, I felt it often meant that there were moments when the book could have done with a bit more detail. Don't get me wrong, it did have detail, just some points could have done with a bit more, and then I would have been hooked.

This also fell on the main character. I would have liked to have seen her grow, evolve and become something more, as she went through the actions. It would have been great to have seen her learn and feel more from what was taking place. Aside from that, she was a great character, really jumping straight into the action and trying to do what was best. I liked that and that she had a certain strength about her.

**I received this book for free and voluntarily provided my honest and unbiased review.

[Megan (Bookish_Raider) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Griffen is an new and interesting concept. The whole Universe of the story is very complex and multi-layered that I feel the story could have been much longer to fully explain everything. Griffen is a very straight-forward character with little surprise. The story moves very fast without much explanation or details specifically with regard to Griffen's training (advances from a newborn to a skilled vardger in several pages) and her relationships (gets attached to two characters from first sight).

Overall, it was very enjoyable and I would be interested to read more in the Universe of Mirror Souls.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Melissa Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Griffen, the pacing was off and there was far too much info-dumping going on. Now that the negative is out of the way, let’s talk about the good stuff! This is a very imaginative and unique novel. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Griffen was great, she was a strong character. The universe was detailed and developed. I enjoyed the writing style a lot.

I’m only giving it 3.5 stars simply because I think this is a book that would only be enjoyed by people who are already fans of the genre. There are only a few negatives, but they are big deals and took away from the story. I recommend it if you enjoy darker fantasy.

[Mary Hartshorn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have to say that I am sorry that I was unable to get into this book. It just started off depressing and to me, doesn’t get any better a few chapters into it.

[Scelest · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC copy for review.
Review coming soon!

[Elizabeth Wheeler]

I am really torn about this book. There are things I really like and find unique and fascinating. There are things that I find overly dark and humorless. I almost wish that the book started at the end. I was intrigued by what the relationship between Griffen and Ande would be "now". I recommend that people who like way out there fantasy read this book. Those who are more into prn would probably not like it. In the long run, I'm glad I read it.