Review--The Shadows Rule All by Abigail Owen

 

King Eidolon has taken everything.

My throne, my Shadowraith, and even my kingdom. I am a queen with no one to rule, and a tattered army that's not even mine. And hope is fading fast.

Now the shadows who once tormented Reven live with me, hissing and wheedling--and enticing me to betray my friends. Which could be deadly for us all. Because without the guy I fell for, without Reven, I am all shadows...and no light.

And the Alignment is almost upon us--the culmination of centuries that have fueled a vengeful king's festering rage.

We're outnumbered. We're underpowered. And even if we could unleash the trapped goddesses, they would destroy the kingdom and everything in it.

At long last I have finally read Abigail Owen's The Shadows Rule All! Remind me to never start a highly anticipated series finale over the week of holiday! Lol. Needless to say that this one starts with a bang and ends with one too! This was a read that captivated me from start to finish, never letting up on the danger or action! From beginning to end, this was a read that held my attention!

Meren and her friends are in dire straits. Ever since Eidolon drew Reven back into himself, things have not been going well for them at all. But Meren is determined more than ever to find the remaining stone that holds a trapped goddess and put the odds back in her favor. She has Reven's shadows, all of the dark and evil parts of Eidolon and she's determined to make sure they never reunite with Eidolon at all. She's determined to stop the evil king once and for all.

In order to find the last remaining trapped goddess stone, Meren and her friends must venture into a dangerous maze filled with evil creatures that would be more than happy to kill them all. And of course, the biggest and baddest of them all sits at the center of the maze where the rumored trapped goddess is said to be. Fun times are had all around!

There was quite a bit that had to be done before we even got close to the climax of this story. At over 500 pages I worried that would mean things get bogged down somewhere, but surprisingly that was not the case at all For within the first 100 pages we get an interesting plot twist. I debated heavily about getting into this or not and have decided to allude to it as best as I can! Needless to say that this twist is a game changer! While I had expected something along these lines to occur, the magnitude of it went far beyond my expectations! Kudos Owen!

The majority of the book deals with the aftermath of said twist and continuing the path to stopping Eidolon and keeping the goddesses from escaping and reining terror on the world once and for all! I'll admit, that I did forget some of these other side characters who we met up with once again, that's on me more than anything as I apparently forgot to write little notes about them down. Needless to say, it wasn't too hard getting caught up with the whole who's who. For the most part it was just accepting said characters are friend or foe, though it was pretty much all friend!

Owen continued to keep me on my toes as I read with the occasional jaw-dropping reveal or plot twist! She pulls no punches in this book! She really wrecked with all my emotions in this one! Just as I recover from one feeling another one takes over! It was a wild ride!

You can still expect all the same emotional feels and pulls you had in the first two books here as well. If you really think things through, you get a sense of what's to come once you start it and get to that one epic moment within the first 100 pages! And despite that, we still get all the same intense and emotional pulls we received in the first two books as well! So that's pretty much all I will say to that matter. I know I am being vague, or maybe not quite vague enough, but since I haven't read any reviews or sought them out, I am not sure how much to divulge on that matter. Less is best in my opinion, but again, I suspected something like this to happen to present a smaller conflict that would need resolving before the grand finale!

And like all series finales, The Shadows Rule All was definitely grand! There were many emotions over the course of this book and while not all were happy emotions, my overall feeling after finishing it is one of peace and happiness and just all the love! It's the kind of ending you'd expect from a fantasy rife with magic and battling evil! We're left with just the right amount of closure and hope for a brighter future, even if it's one we will never see! I love knowing that my favorite characters are happy and are living their lives in the best possible way after all the hardships they went through to get to that happy moment! Truly the best way to end a series!

Abigail Owen fast became a favorite author of mine after reading The Liar's Crown and will now likely be forever cemented as one from her incredible worlds she has created! I plan to read some of her other tiles one day soon but I can pretty much guarantee any fantasy book of hers will make it to the top of my TBR pile! If you have yet to read the Dominions trilogy, I highly recommend it if you're looking for an action packed fantasy read filled with magic and a tantalizing enemies to lovers romance!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars