Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter Narrator: Leo Barnabas, Melissa Moran
Length: 14 hrs 48 mins
Series: Gods of War #1
Published by HQN on October 23, 2018
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 496
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I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Knox of Iviland has spent his life competing in the All Wars, where vicious warriors with supernatural powers fight to the death to claim new realms. One winner takes everything—and all losers die. Enslaved as a child for his ability to control shadows, the most ruthless champion in history will stop at nothing to kill his king. But first he must win the battle for Earth. When a fearsome weapon imprisons every combatant in ice, centuries pass without progress…until she walks in.
Vale London craves a fun arctic getaway with her foster sister before settling down to open a bakery. Street-tough but vulnerable, she is unprepared to find ancient gods escaping a frozen cave—merciless beings who target her when she inadvertently enters their war.
Though Vale is now his enemy, Knox is consumed with lust and a fierce need to protect her. But only one combatant can prove victorious, and he will have to choose: live for freedom, or die for love.
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I was excited to get started on a new series by Gena Showalter. One of my favorite authors. Shadow and Ice is book one in the Gods of War series. I was torn on my opinion of this book. There was a lot of world building which was definitely needed. I found there were a lot of characters to keep track of, all with different powers and abilities.
Despite there being so many characters, we are to focus on Vale and Knox. All the others are either allies, potential enemies or true enemies. While reading, I found I was focused most on the relationship between our two main characters and all the peripheral activity was just points where I would have to pause. Whenever Vale and Knox had to come across others, I had to struggle to place the character as well as what they were capable of. It really caused a slow down in my reading of the book.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Vale and Knox. Vale made such an impact on Knox. Her wit and survival skills showed Knox a different way to look at the realm he is on as well as the other combatants. The couple really built something that I became invested in. There were emotional moments that really hit me. Their relationship was my main focus of the story.
I believe I had book one syndrome with Shadow and Ice. There was a lot of world and character building that I needed to wrap my head around. By the end of the book, enough of the characters were eliminated that it was starting to clear up a bit for me. We definitely see the path of the next book, both in the world and with a potential relationship. What worries me is the upcoming joining of two other armies that were sent for the All War. That is going to bring a whole new slew of characters we’ll have to get to know. It brings the potential of a very long series, but it also promises a lot of little facts we’ll have to keep straight.
We are left with an HEA for our couple, but the world and the struggles that our main couple will face are left wide open. I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of Vale and Knox as the series moves on. I got the HEA and romance that I wanted with the kind of spunky characters I expect from Gena Showalter, but was left with a bit of uncertainty on the world. I hope that book two will help me understand a bit more of what parts of the world are what I need to focus on.
Excerpt
Somehow, their little trio had veered off of a path and ended up in this icy wasteland. In a blink!
Backtracking hadn’t helped. The ice had remained, and stretched on. A single set of footprints had led them to a cabin…where they’d spent every day of the past two weeks. Well, Vale and Nola had spent every day of the past two weeks inside the cabin. Before the end of day one, their guide had taken off to scout the perimeter, hoping to stumble upon the cabin’s owner, he’d said, but he’d never returned, and there’d been no sign of him since.
This morning, the sisters were forced to make a choice: remain in the warmth of the cabin and slowly starve to death, or set out to try to find help, and quickly freeze to death.
As Carrie—aka Care Bear, aka best foster momma ever—used to say, If you want to experience the miracle of walking on water, you gotta get out of the boat.
Better to try and fail than to never try at all.
In desperate need of a miracle, Vale and Nola had strapped on snow gear they’d unearthed in a trunk only a few days before. Oddly enough, the garments had fit perfectly, as if tailor-made for them. The coincidence had roused her suspicions, sure, but in the end she hadn’t cared about how or why, only survival. They’d set out bright and early that morning, trudging through mile after mile of snow.
Now sunset approached. So far, no luck. They’d found no hint of life, and Vale was getting worried.
Getting? Please. She’d been worried every second of every day since the nightmare had started. She wasn’t ready to die.
About Gena Showalter
Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the spellbinding Lords of the Underworld and Angels of the Dark series, two young adult series–Everlife and the White Rabbit Chronicles–and the highly addictive Original Heartbreakers series. In addition to being a National Reader’s Choice and two time RITA nominee, her romance novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan (Red Hot Read) and Seventeen magazine, she’s appeared onNightline and been mentioned in Orange is the New Black–if you ask her about it, she’ll talk for hours…hours! Her books have been translated in multiple languages.
She’s hard at work on her next novel, a tale featuring an alpha male with a dark side and the strong woman who brings him to his knees. You can learn more about Gena, her menagerie of rescue dogs, and all her upcoming books at genashowalter.com or Facebook.com/genashowalterfan
