Soul of Shadow

Soul of Shadow by Emma Noyes is the first book in a new ya paranormal series.   This book is about Charlie who lives in a small town where normally it’s peaceful and quiet. But everything changes when some teens go missing and weird symbols are carved into trees and I loved the eerie and atmospheric beginning, and I was immediately invested and wanted to know what was going on. Charlie is very likable, and her curiosity and openness took turns I didn’t expect. Sometimes I wanted to give her a hug when she was grieving her sister and I totally felt for her and loved the plot twist with that as well.   A new boy comes to town and everything about Elias is very mysterious and alluring at the same time. I loved seeing more of him with each page. He isn’t fully human and omg he was so morally grey with his own agenda and still I really liked him. He’s like a villain but not at the same time and I can’t wait to see how he progresses more in the next book.   The plot was captivating from the start, and I loved all the creatures like the vätte and the askafroa. I simply couldn’t get enough of this world and wanted to discover it with Charlie and the others. I always love paranormal books and this book totally gave me the nostalgia of series like Vampire Diaries, Tenne Wolf and Twilight and that in combination with Nordic Mythology was just incredible.   If you’re looking for books to add to your fall tbr, this should immediately go on there. I’m completely obsessed with Charlie, Elias and this world and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment. 5 stars.   (Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc.)

At the very beginning, I wasn’t quite sure where this story was going. I actually struggled a bit to fully get into it at first and didn’t feel completely hooked right away. BUT – that definitely changed in the second half. Once the story picked up, I was completely drawn in and couldn’t stop reading. The pacing improved so much, and suddenly I needed to know what would happen next. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic!? It was giving enemies so hard that I wasn’t even sure if it will ever turn into „lovers“. Vibe-wise, I’d describe this book as a mix of Teen Wolf and the Netflix show Ragnarok – with strong Nordic mythology elements – plus a MMC that definitely gives off Damon Salvatore energy!! So if that sounds like your thing… you’ll probably really enjoy this. And we need to talk about HENRY as well! Because how could you not love him?! Such a beautiful little creature – he honestly stole my heart. That being said, I do have to mention that the writing felt very young at times. I know it’s YA, but occasionally it leaned a bit too much into that for my personal taste. Overall, even though it took me a bit to get into it, I ended up really enjoying this book, especially the second half and the overall vibe.

Bei „Soul of Shadow“ hat mich tatsächlich erst der Klappentext bekommen. Das Cover ist eher schlicht und verrät noch nicht sooo viel über die Geschichte. Aber Kleinstadt, Magie und nordische Mythologie? Hatte mich direkt neugierig gemacht. Der Schreibstil ließ sich super schnell lesen und gerade die mystische Stimmung mochte ich echt gerne. Man merkt relativ schnell, dass in dieser Kleinstadt irgendwas nicht stimmt. Am meisten mochte ich aber das Worldbuilding. Die ganzen Wesen und die nordische Mythologie haben der Geschichte einfach was Besonderes gegeben. Das war auch der Punkt, der mich am meisten ans Buch gefesselt hat. Mit Charlie wurde ich leider nicht immer komplett warm. Manche Entscheidungen konnte ich nicht ganz nachvollziehen und emotional hat mir manchmal einfach noch etwas gefehlt. Auch zwischen den Charakteren hat mir stellenweise noch etwas mehr Tiefe gefehlt. Dazu blieben für mich einfach noch zu viele Fragen offen. Manche Dinge wurden angesprochen und danach irgendwie nicht wirklich weiter erklärt. Trotzdem mochte ich die Mischung aus Fantasy, Spannung und diesen leicht düsteren Vibes echt gerne.