BOOK REVIEW: The Gateway Trilogy by Crystal D. Grant (Shadowcast, Lightshed, & Darkend)

Описание: BOOK REVIEW: The Gateway Trilogy by Crystal D. Grant (Shaowcast, Lightshed, & Darkend)

Genre: Mideval Christian epic fantasy action romance
Audience: Adult (The main characters are adults, but the story is clean enough for young adults.)

My summary: Mason Grey hopes to avenge the death of his brother by obtaining a Shadowstone and defeating the stewards and their prince, Eric Passion. After being wounded in a critical battle, though, Mason’s injuries force him to stay with a healer, Seria, who is a steward sympathizer, which annoys him. When his wounds finally heal, Seria may have changed him enough to frustrate his goal of revenge.

Positives
When the narrator said, “The end,” I yelled at the audiobook, “No! No, you can’t end like that!” The cliffhanger was so good!
Seria's donkey is a cute, old donkey. Mason was so annoyed by him. It was funny.
The romance was a side romance and greatly affected the plot, but because it wasn’t the only plot, it was based on complementing personalities, was enemy to “wow I actually need you”, was grumpy and sunshine, and was never spicy or lusty, it felt realistic, and I enjoyed it.
I love that Mason (Shadowman who wants vengeance against the Stewards) and Prince Eric (grand marshal of the stewards) each had unique struggles yet they were interwoven. Mason's story taught about wanting vengeance and how it steals your joy, life, and everything good. Eric’s story taught that living in fear of making the wrong choice is going to stop you from living and doing what is right. Syria glued all the stories together and showed that no matter what life deals out to you, you do have a choice to choose what is right or wrong.
The giftings were cool and added quite a lot to the plot.
I became invested in the characters because their problems, flaws, fears, and hopes were so relatable. They were all well developed into complex people who felt real.
The characters made some wrong decisions. That’s a positive for me because it is so relatable but gives hope of redemption after sin. That made the cliffhanger ending so good.
The action was exciting.

Negatives
I wish the main male characters were described more. I don’t recall getting a visual of Mason at all, and I didn’t know Eric was blonde until halfway through the book.
The narrator did really well with male voice distinction, emotion, pacing, clarity, and keeping my attention, but his voice sounded mature (Mason and especially Eric sounded 40 or 50 years old), and the female voices took me out of the story. They sounded like a guy doing a silly impersonation of a girl and southern.

Overall: This book is so good!

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