Review: What Hunts Inside The Shadows by Harper L. Woods
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Introduction:
Once, I fell in love with a man who deceived me.
For weeks, he stood by my side, twisting his words into pretty half-truths. He enraptured me with his smooth temptation, leaving no corner of my being untouched. He consumed my mind and my body, then finally claimed my heart for himself. But Caelum’s true identity is terrifying enough to bring me to my knees.
Then, I discovered the truth of who he is.
Caldris is whispered in the Nothrek wind. The legend we only speak of with hushed words, in shuttered rooms, for fear of drawing his wrath once again. His intentions are a mystery, his desires impure, and he seeks to shackle me to his side for all eternity. With the Wild Hunt as our guard, he points us back to where it all began: the village of Mistfell and the boundary where the Veil once shimmered in the wind.
Now, another secret crouches, poised to change everything.
The Mist Guard have been sworn to keep us from crossing into Alfheimr, and from treading Faerie soil, even if innocents must pay with their lives. They have orders to resurrect Mistfell’s shimmering barrier, but, once again, there’s a greater cost than what has been revealed. Once, the people of Northrek blamed me when the Veil fell.
Soon, they’ll want me to pay the price the magic requires.
Review:
Reviewed by Dakota Watson
I think now I have a grasp on Harper Wood’s writing style. Start the story with a bang, let it just float without anything consequential happening in the middle and end with a big reveal and a cliffhanger with no discernable plot in the view. Because just like the first installment What Hunts Inside The Shadows did just that.
I was extremely annoyed with Estrella in the first couple of chapters. For someone who boasted of having an open mind and curious about Fae lore in the first installment, she didn’t even want to hear Caldris’ side of the story. She acted like an immature pouty brat hanging on to the one lie he told her all the while Caldris was explaining why he thought appearing as Caelum was a good idea which would have given her a chance to get to know him on the level of what she was familiar with.
Caldris, calm and level headed despite Estrella’s stubbornness just like he was when he glamored himself as Caelum, was still deluded that everybody wanted to have Estrella for themselves and wanted to sleep with her and was still big into exhibitionism, wanting to do her in front of everybody. I never understood that and never will. I mean I can understand if Estrella was some sort of drop dead gorgeous beauty or someone who people idolized but she was nobody and except for that pervert Jensen, no one showed any interest in her romantically or sexually.
As long as this book was, the entirety of this installment was dedicated to The Wild Hunt travelling to Alfheimr. A few new characters, old characters that only played minor parts in the first book to be precise, were introduced into the story. Despite all the spice in the middle of the story I couldn’t wait until I got to the end of the book because I knew at least something worthwhile would happen then. Although I liked this cliffhanger, can’t say I liked it as much as I liked the one in the first book.
I am really sorry but I don’t think I will be continuing with this series anymore, though I do have the next book already, unless I am super bored with the other books in my TBR list. However if you are looking for just spice with barely there plot, then this series is definitely for you.
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