In the 7th and penultimate novel of Dianne Sylvan’s Shadow World series, the foundation of Miranda Grey's life has once again shifted, and with it, the future of vampire kind. Instead of the traditional Pairing of Signets ruling a single territory, she is now part of a Tetrad that essentially rules half the planet.
As they race to save innocents in the path of the Prophet's army of possessed humans, Miranda, David, Deven, and Nico find themselves in new roles, wielding new power that invites new dangers.
Together with two other Pairs, the Tetrad finally steps into the Circle of the Dark Goddess Persephone, and the eight Signets learn their true purpose...along with their enemy's true identity...and his endgame.
But while the Circle learns to navigate its new reality, Miranda and her family come up against a frightening truth: The greatest threat to their world may come from within...and even the power of a Goddess may not be enough to save them all.
Dianne Sylvan, author of the Shadow World novels (Queen of Shadows, Shadowflame, Shadow’s Fall, the forthcoming Of Shadow Born, and at least one more) as well as two books on NeoPagan spirituality (The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition and The Body Sacred), lives in Austin, Texas, the only sane part of the entire state.
She is an unabashed Mac enthusiast, a froofy iced coffee beverage addict, a chronic Twitterer, a seasoned snark professional, a Spiritual Nomad, a shameless Vampire Diaries (TV) fangirl, a happy herbivore, a bit of a moody Scorpio, a sock junkie, a slightly freaky tattooed postmodern hippie, a cupcake baker extraordinaire, and is prone to hyperbole as well as fits of profanity.
When she’s not glued to the internet or writing about vampires, she works in the veterinary clinic and volunteers as bio writing coordinator for the animal rescue organization Austin Pets Alive.
She collects vegan cookbooks, wacky t-shirts, blank journals, obsessions, and dust.
She lives with two neurotic cats, Stella and Owen.
First let me say I love this series. Second, solid ratings! I've seen good reviews and bad but everyone has their own opinion on what constitutes as a good novel. I love the fact that David and Miranda did not have an "all sunshine, everything is so bright and beautiful" storyline. There's real life situations mixed in with the paranormal twist making this series even more captivating than it was. I know some readers did not like the second book due to the David and Miranda situation and stopped reading the series but again that is life. No one is perfect and if someone ever told me they were, I would run the other direction as fast as I can because one, they are lying miserable to me, or two, they are lying miserable to themselves. Not sure which is worst. So much has happened with the Shadow World from the very first book to this one. If you keep up with the series, you would find love for this series as I have. I don't know if this is the end or not. If it is, I'm sad to see it end. If not then I am excited for what other twists and turns the author has in store.
This story has gone such strange places relationship-wise that if this was not the last book I would drop it. Even the action storyline has gotten weird.
The involvement of the elves and their homeland made this one more interesting. And when the other two pairs are added the circle’s mechanics were better. Miranda’s career problems made me sad but the outcome is completely understandable. Just wish it could have happened differently.
But the ending was all I could have wished for. Exciting, bittersweet and satisfying. I can tell you that I would have made the same decision David made.
Footnote: 1) So Frozen is also popular even with six-month old elves. Interesting. 2) When Nico was intensely researching the magic books the correct word is to ‘pour’ over (the books), not pore which is a small hole in your skin.
Best scenes: Inaliel recognizing Deven, Miranda’s surprising encore revelation, the Nighthound’s entrance to the Circle room and Inaliel deciding to walk.
Disappointing. Just more crazy s*** thrown together in the hope that it will turn into something great. Despite all the crazy stuff, still ended up being quite bored and violation overload seemed to be used by the author as a mechanism to keep us interested but quite frankly it had the opposite effect on me. I grew even more bored and annoyed. I really liked the series at the beginning, but I have to say that it started to go downhill book 5 and never got back up. I guess I can say I finished the whole series but it will not be one that I will reread again.
This dipped too far into Anita Blake territory for me & put way too much focus on relationship drama & not enough effort into progressing the story or even the action. A sad deviation from previous volumes. As the “penultimate” in the series it was very anti-climactic & full of useless musings & sentimental drivel - very over-written. Much in the same way all the more recent Anita Blake books are over-written. Disappointing for me. Get your groove back lady! You can do it!
I have loved every single book in this series, but Shadow Rising has left me feeling very disappointed. The much-beloved characters somehow lost their depth and I could not connect with them at all. The story was slow, monotonous and lacked the build-up of the previous books. I honestly struggled to finish the book.
I won’t be leaving a detail review because if you are reading this novel I hope you read all the ones before it. I will simply say that I absolutely love this book and the entire series, and I am sad that there is only one more book left in the series.
For all that the description listed this book as "penultimate", I'm pretty sure the series is done. I'm glad. I loved the characters for the most part, but the final plot got really out of hand, as expected.
This series continues to entertain! I love these characters, their complicated relationships, and this world, and can't wait for the final installment!