In the beginning, I just couldn't put this down. But then at some point. Actually quite close to the end I just lost interest. I don't know really what happened. I wish Sophie would've had a bit more personality, in the end it felt like she was just following Cameron. And his personality didn't really shine either. I guess it was more of an action book and there was action, but I like more character driven stories. I feel that the characters stayed a bit too distant in the end. Not sure if I want to read the next installment whenever that's out. Might consider it. ( )

CLIFFHANGER, ARGH. Writing not amazing; good worldbuilding. More expository than showing. Felt like a lot of stuff happened *to* characters, rather than development actually happening. ( )

Lady Sophia is getting ready for her 21st birthday and as a royal witch she will go to the temple and have her magic bound to the goddess and then married off fairly quickly. The only catch is on whom her husband will be is how strong her power will manifest on that day. A few days before her birthday, the castle is attacked while she is out in town. Sophia is escorted away since she is a royal heir even if she is far down the line. Her birthday happens while she is out in the woods and unable to be immediately bound by the temple priestess instead she is bound to her guard. In the aftermath of the attack, she is pushed much higher up as an heir to the throne and the temple is upset that they can’t bind her powers. Things devolve from there for her and her guard now husband. The story doesn’t end on a cliffhanger but does leave the reader hanging for the next turn of events.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley ( )

I thought this was a good start to a new series. I think I downloaded it from a freebie promo the author ran. I'm used to reading YA and I have to say this had three fairly explicit sex scenes that put me a bit on edge. Nothing bad, but just more explicit than I'm used to. An illicit sex act becomes the central conflict around which everything then revolves. So, if you can overlook that, you will probably enjoy this book as the world and characters are well developed. I'll probably read the next installment. ( )

Review Originally Posted At: FictionForesight

In accordance with current FTC Guidelines, please let it be known this book was received through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A Justifiable 4 Stars!

The Shattered Court is a delightful combination of magic, romance, danger and tradition, all mixed up in one heart-pounding tale of court and kingdom.

A Quick Summary:

Lady Sophia Kendell lives in a world of magic and mystery. As a lady-in-waiting to the crown princess, her time is filled with the customs and traditions of a life at court. Just days from her 21st birthday (her Ais-Seann), Sophia is nervous to discover whether or not she will manifest any magical abilities, thus becoming a royal witch. Should she develop magic, she would be considered quite the prize, and as such, be married off by the crown to the most suitable fit. If not, she would be married off quickly and quietly to some minor lord, in an effort to be rid of her.

While out shopping for supplies, the castle is attacked. In order to protect Sophia, the guard – Cameron – takes her through a portal leading away from the city. While hiding out awaiting the fate of the kingdom, Sophia’s 21st birthday arrives. It is then that she discovers that she has, in fact, manifested magical abilities. This is also when Sophia and Cameron first become intertwined with one another.

As a lady awaiting marriage, this interaction creates a tidal wave of problems that encompasses far more than a simple social faux pas. Sophie’s magic and indiscretion with Cameron have effectively painted a target on their backs. She’s a powerful, unbound royal witch, and as such, she is a threat to an already unstable system.

This is a story of political intrigue, betrayal, romance, magic, mystery and mayhem. Unfortunately, Sophia is caught in the midst of it all. She must discover the truth about herself and those around her in order to learn to survive; because when it comes down to it, that’s exactly what this story is, a story of love, magic, control and the struggle to survive and be free.

(Rather admittedly, this summary is not as all-encompassing as my summaries usually are. This is intentional. Too much detail would be counterproductive. And I would hate to ruin such an awesome read!)

The Good:

First and foremost, let’s start with the obvious. At first glance, I assumed this was a young-adult novel. I’m not quite sure what brought about this assumption. Possibly the awesome cover. Or maybe even the brief description that I read. Whatever the case, that assumption was proven most assuredly incorrect. This is not a young-adult novel. That being said, this is not a bad thing! Do not misunderstand me, I love YA novels with a passion. But once in a while, it’s nice to read a book that doesn’t have to tread carefully. There is very graphic sexual content in this novel, but it is done quite tastefully. Is it crude? At times, yes! But it is what it is. People have sex. This book does a great job describing those scenes; and they’re not unnecessarily placed. This isn’t some sort of erotica that happens to be fantasy. It’s fantasy that happens to have realistic scenes. Pure and simple.

So although I touched on it a bit above, lets talk directly about the romance in this book. I love the fact that although Sophia has sex with Cameron, she’s not instantly head over heals in love with him. Sex comes first, but the love that follows takes time. They have to build on their relationship, and it certainly isn’t perfect. This isn’t a fairytale. It’s nice to see a romance begin and actually build instead of simply blooming overnight.

I rather enjoyed the political back and forth that this book brings about. It tends to remind me a bit of Game of Thrones in some aspects, and Red Queen in others. It’s the type of book where you learn a bit about life at court, without that being the central focus. Yes it’s the setting, yes things work around it, but it still isn’t dominating every point of the story.

The same could be said about the magic in this book. Obviously, a story about witches would be quite remise if it didn’t actually feature any sort of magic. I myself have said numerous times that I am not satisfied with the amount of power a lot of fantasy novels tend to display. To quote myself in this regard “more is better”. Well hind-sight is 20/20 they say. In this novel, my statement proved to be incorrect. There really isn’t a lot of magic going around, and yet it really wasn’t needed. In the future, as Sophia learns more about her power I expect more in this regard. However for the first novel, which really just served to outline what was going on, it wasn’t necessary. (I never thought I would be saying those words!)

I loved how awesome the characters were. I mean just look at Sophia. She’s got this crap lot in life, that turns out to be even crappier, and yet she deals with it. She doesn’t just give up, she accepts her role, and then she begins to thrive in it. Is she scared, angry, depressed? Yes! That’s exactly my point, she’s real. It didn’t feel like these characters were made up to fit the story, it felt like the story was made up to fit the characters; so much personality and so few pages.

Finally, and rather generally, I liked the writing style. M.J. Scott writes in such a way that I can’t flip the pages fast enough. Even when nothing that exciting was going on, I still felt myself distinctly aware at how fast my heart was beating. There were times when I found myself reading so fast, I had to stop and reread. That to me is a great sign. And it happened right from the beginning. I turned the first 3 pages and I just knew I was going to like it.

The Bad:

I’m going to be straight to the point here and say that I really don’t have too much to complain about with this book.

The only point that is slightly aggravating to me is that this story is pretty much just an epic prologue. It just set’s up the series without delving really into much of anything. Now I know what your thinking, that’s the point of the first book in any series. This is true. How else would we know all of the necessary information. And that’s really the main downfall of the fantasy genre in general. When you create a world, like most fantasy authors do, you have to take the time to world build. M.J. Scott did this fantastically! Yet, having to wait for the next book to find out what’s really going on is a pain. The ending isn’t exactly what you would call a traditional cliff hanger, and yet that’s pretty much what it was. With no publication date set for the next book in the series, I find myself annoyed and depressed at this disservice! Get a man attached and then leave him out to dry. Ugggh!

Other:

Just in case you didn’t read it above, please note this book is not young-adult.

Overall:

The Shattered Court is my sort of book. It has a bit of everything in it, from magic and witches to romance and scandal. It is sure to have you attached from the first page. At the very least, you’ll be pining for the next book just to fill in the blanks that this book leaves you with. Unfortunately without a release date set, you may want to prepare yourself for some epic monk-style patience testing! I wish us all the best of luck.

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