Rayleigh

"Here lies Caelan--couldn't count. Got eaten by a dragon. Ralked it up just like Kade said not to. Well, I showed him, Caelan thought to himself."

You may wonder what flavor of fantasy Shadows of the Dark Realm is. Is it an Arthurian Quest? Portal Fantasy? Monster Hunter? Political Intrigue? You name it, the answer is simply, "Yes".

The tagline of the second book, Reapers of the Dark Realm, is "If Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, Mistborn, and Dungeons & Dragons were mixed together into a cake, it would be a Dark Realm cake." That tagline 100% sums up this series (yes, I've already started the second book).

I started and finished this book in 3 days, which is strange for me to do with a 500+ page book. I usually savor my thick, epic fantasies and spread them out over months, because I don't want them to be over, but I couldn't stop reading this. Part of that is owed to the non-stop action and the fact that there was no safe place for me stop reading. If I had left the book alone for too long, the characters might've actually died before I got back and I couldn't risk losing Caelan, Vale, and Kade.

As a big fan of The Witcher, there are several aspects of this book that I believe will appeal to other Witcher fans, the biggest being Disgraced Knight Vale Lox. He has "Geralt-inspired" written all over him, but he is definitely still his own character with his own quirks and backstory. Vale and Caelan have a "Geralt and Dandelion (Jaskier for those who have only seen the show)" type of friendship that had me laughing out loud.

Fans of epic fantasy filled with monster attacks, incredible battle scenes, and a plot that thickens around every curve, will not be disappointed by this book!

Just as with the previous book that I read by this author, The Outlands, cursing is book unique, which means the characters do curse (often) but they use substitute words that only exist in this story world. There's a glossary in the back of the book that made me laugh because it's almost exclusively a "Curse Word Glossary", though there are some other phrases you need to know. The battle scenes are intense and there is non-stop action, however, the descriptions aren't overly gory or horrific. There's no romance plot in this book, unless you count Caelan's love for antagonizing the others, in which case, the book is filled with it.

Other Trigger/Content Notices:

There are several tragic backstories that would require trigger warnings, though they aren’t graphicly described. The major ones include: loss of a child, loss of a spouse, loss of a parent, slavery, dark magic, mass slaughter, and humans being turned into monsters.

Ty Scarlet caused me to throw my "responsible reader" persona to the wind as I chose to forsake sleep on a work night in order to binge this book in almost one sitting. Even now, I need sleep about as much as Ty does, but you're going to get a sleep-deprived, caffeinated review instead.

Everything about this book was just plain fun! I gut-laughed at the tongue-in-cheek humor. I gasped in shock at every plot twist and, on multiple occasions, concerned my husband with passionate outbursts. I lived this story with Ty and will now have delusions of having a friend named "Ty Scarlet".

This book ("book": a generic statement that just doesn't seem to describe my recent experience) is about as far from what I expected as Pluto (which IS a planet, by the way. I learned the song in grade school) is from the sun. I expected a Perry Mason type of plot going into it, and what I got was a (younger) Walt Longmire-ish character thrown into a convoluted Perry Mason case with astronomical twists. Bordering on the ridiculous, I couldn't guess where anything was going, yet it was so brilliantly executed that I questioned my own sleuthing logic on so many occasions. Especially when Ty broke the 4th wall and addressed my concerns as if he'd seen my eye-roll or heard my exclamation of "Wait. What?".

One of my favorite parts of reading is getting to know the author through their writing and when I tell you that this is so excellently written that I forgot that Ty, himself, wasn't the author (though I'm not entirely convinced that they aren't the same person), I'm not exaggerating. The many (many, many) pop culture and literary references made this book feel so incredibly real (I dang near passed away when Ty made a Carmen Sandiego reference; those games had me in a CHOKE-HOLD as a kid and the greatest thief of all time is probably to blame for my obsession with noir). I didn't want to miss a single line of this book; so much so that I often back-tracked and re-read lines, highlighting them and even reading them aloud to my husband.

All that said, this book fluidly weaves in and out of the genres of Mystery and Science Fiction so seamlessly that when you're reading about the case, you forget that there are hints of science fiction until Ty reminds you. If you're a fan of classic case-cracking mysteries and the Avengers, this book should pique your interest. I had way too much fun with this book and I sincerely hope Ty Scarlet will become a series that will have as many books as Perry Mason so that I can forever binge them.

Content disclaimers: No on-page romantic scenes (only implied "good nights"), though there are plenty of out-of-pocket comments and extremely brief descriptions of blackmail photos and videos. Action/Gore: several descriptions of the crime, albeit brief, and nothing I haven't come to expect from mysteries. Cursing/Vulgarity: Lots of cursing and f-bombs would make this a rated R movie. The heated conversations, regarding infidelity, lead to some vulgar lines and insults.

How can one book be so....so...just wholesome? This was easily one of the best books I've read this year. I'll write a more in-depth review soon, but if you're looking for "cozy fantasy", look no further. You've just found one of the best I've ever read.

Content: No gore / no on-page romance / only mild cursing.

"Does that say 'bakery dragon'?" - my friend at Barnes & Noble one day, therefore beginning my obsession with this picture book.

I've already flipped through it about ten times. I love the illustrations and the cute story. Everything about this book is darling and I highly recommend it to fantasy lovers of all ages!

An instant favorite! I’m shocked that it took me so many years to read this, but it will certainly remain at the top of my list of favorites.