Queen of Shadows (A Novel of the Shadow World Book 1) Kindle Edition

~* 4.5 Stars *~She is an incredibly strong empath who can use music to manipulate others' emotions - and get relief from the press of them, but the stress of her combined talents are quickly tearing Miranda Grey apart. Her psyche can't handle the strain. She's cut herself off from people, unable to meet anyone's eyes for fear of seeing too much of the darkness in their hearts, unable to touch anyone for fear of being bombarded by all their dirty little secrets. She keeps her head down and tries not to attract any attention when she's not on stage performing. That's why she didn't see the men as they followed her down the street after a gig late one night. And when they pulled her into that dark alley, hard rain pounding down on Austin as if the city were weeping for her fate, she never even had time to scream.One of the most powerful vampires in the country, David Solomon is Prime of the Southern United States. He's also a techno geek with a Ph.D. from MIT, an addiction to ice cream...and a growing problem with insurgents, vampires chafing under the no-kill rule of his territory, among other grievances. When he first saw Miranda standing in line at a local mart, he could sense her power. He could sense her crumbling mental state. Then he went to the club and listened to her sing and realized the scope of her skills, but before he could step in to offer assistance with her deteriorating mental health, he was called away by his security team.The next time he saw her, she was little more than human refuse in that alley - brutally beaten, raped, and almost dead. Just barely more alive than the men she had snuffed out with the sheer force of emotion she wields.So begins the journey of Miranda and David, two extraordinary...people...whose destinies overlap and intertwine. So begins the Shadow World series, and an incredible urban fantasy series premiere. Original, imaginative, unique, Queen of Shadows is a breath of fresh air in the ofttimes stale genre, and is practically an homage to classic UF with characters who are gifted but flawed, broken, unsure, and struggle with their own demons just as vehemently as they struggle with outside forces.Told with a flowing, descriptive narrative and vibrant, quick dialogue, this book fleshes out the world of the series and the characters involved with just the right blend of need-to-know-now and wait-to-see-how-this-develops that enhances but never overwhelms the simple but powerful plot. Three dimensional primary and secondary characters who run the gamut from quirky to endearing to a little terrifying ground the story and imbue it with a visceral sense of significance that made me care about their fates - care about them. Made me want to keep reading about them.I loved Miranda and adored David. While there is definitely a romance between them in this book, the true nature of the story is their journey as individuals, she the victim who needs to find a way to live in this world and he the top predator who needs to find balance between who he is and what he is. With the backdrop of the threat to his territory and the danger to Miranda, their odd friendship and growing emotional connection made for compelling reading as they each travel their paths.Miranda is far from perfect, and at times very far from strong and independent - someone who occasionally takes the easier, more self destructive way out, and Sylvan allows us to see the goodness in her, the yearning for a normalcy she'll never truly have, and the steel in her spine that will help her become who she's going to become. She crafts Miranda's gifts and curses, strengths and weaknesses, and leaves her ultimately sympathetic and likable...and respectable...without sacrificing her very organic development given her circumstances. Her failures and her triumphs are keenly felt, and it's handled with an aplomb that adds realism and believability.David is a brilliant character, and I thoroughly enjoyed Sylvan's take on his personality, as well as the vampire mythos and culture incorporated into her world (Twenty-first century vamps! Yay!). The dialogue between him and Miranda and him and his Elite second was saturated with the spectrum of emotions that by nature he as Prime and as a vampire over three centuries old keeps contained. I can't wait to see how he develops as the series progresses.There are delightful touches of humor in the book that I appreciate, and subtle touches of wit and sarcasm, as so much of this book is more on the dark and serious side. Man's inhumanity to man and...well...vampire's inhumanity to man and vampire both are in unflinching display here, but gentled by the tenderness of affection and humor, the overall picture is far less grim and much more entertaining. I like bleak and tragic as much as the next girl, but it's not to my personal preference for reading entertainment. This book had a nice balance.Reading Queen of Shadows, it would be easy to see how this could be classified more as a paranormal romance than UF, but it is, actually, urban fantasy, and Sylvan will be continuing the series with Miranda and David as central characters, so there is no traditional HEA. Personally, I find that to be to the benefit of the book, which wouldn't have rated quite so high for me had it been intended as a romance. Too much of the book was centered around David and Miranda individually and independent of each other for me to have fully embraced it as PNR. I can wholeheartedly embrace it as urban fantasy, however.There were one or two spots that I thought the pace of the plot got a little slow, but nothing so bad that I was overly bothered by it. I do wish that there had been a few things done differently - and almost all are impossible to expound on without seriously spoiling the plot. It's probably safe to say I wish there had been a bit more written out about the character growth for Miranda when she was in her new apartment in Austin. That whole time was seen in bits and pieces and mostly glossed over and summarized and I think it would have been nice to see it in a more real-time fashion. So too the evolution of feelings David had for Miranda. Those issues speak more towards my personal preferences, not criticisms, but I do prefer to see those sorts of transitions written out to better enjoy the transitional stages of character and relationship growth.Despite that, there's so very much to like about this book that it's one of my favorites of the year and one of my happiest finds. It's going to be a very, very long wait until the second book in the series, which isn't going to be out until sometime in the summer of 2011. Like Miranda, I may actually pine until I get my hands on that book. I'm trying to control those sorts of thoughts with the reality that there IS a second book in the series. It helps. A little. Maybe I should try some Ben & Jerry's, too. Works for David.Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

Hmmmm...well there wasn't anything wrong with this book it's just that it wasn't terribly surprising, complex or dynamic. The foreshadowing alone was about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Hello title?Don't get me wrong though, I'm not hating on it. It just is what it is.**SPOILERS**So the book is called Queen of Shadows. We meet tortured artist Miranda Grey who within the 1st 4 chapters (bare with me now b'c this is the setup & it's a lot) we learn is an empath & in severe misery, suffering physically & emotionally b'c of this burden.She's then brutally gang raped, manages to murder her rapists while on the verge of dying only to be saved just in time by the major duomo of vampires, "Prime" David Solomon.(As an entire side note.. why the flip does almost every UF heroine bar a few, have to have had some sort of sexual assault, trauma etc. in order to have a jumping off point for their emotional growth or supposed badassery? Can't these authors find anything more original to exploit? This overused plot device leave me pissed off, esp. when I find the context gratuitous as in this book).Anyway, back to he summary, The Prime takes her in like a stray pup, nourishes her back to health & plans on teaching her how to shield so he can swat her on the ass when she's all better & tell her, "now go out there & be somebody!" OK, that's a sarcastic summary of intention b'c nevertheless, pretty much spot on.We learn a bit... that there is a Signet (a magical necklace) that alights when a new "Prime" is in the house (basically a vampire version of the voting system without the democracy). The Signet also chooses the Prime's King or Queen (think arranged marriage or as most in the book looked at it - meant to be).So there you have it. Four chapters in & can we guess what's going to happen between Miranda & David?The fact that it was so blatant, I gave it the benefit of doubt & surmised this must be more of a character driven story & therefore, it's really about watching the relationships blossom. So I just shrugged my shoulders & kept reading.However, that wasn't the case b'c if it was, their blossoming relationship would have been the focus & instead, I felt gypped of the interactions between David & Miranda, esp. from the time they were decidedly & openly in love with one another & that declaration only came approx 75% the way into the book.I'm thinking that it might be more of a case of 1st time novelist syndrome.With that being said, I think Sylvan might get better. Her prose started off pretty good. No OTT melodrama in spite of the material, however the prose turned purple as soon as Miranda was rescued & it's probably the only thing that did surprise me about the book given the tone at the start. I do feel Sylvan went into Mary Sue/Gary Stu territory. The ending I thought was pure cheese, especially the Epilogue.And thanks to that extravagant prose, there's a line that's uttered by Miranda during the Grand Finale which put it over the edge for me & earned the eye rolls.I also just didn't get jazzed about David & Miranda's chemistry although I liked each character decently enough, their pacing didn't ring true for me.Also the plot twist?...Not so much.Again - the rest of the hint dropping/foreshadowing was too much of an obvious map.And that map got drawn & re-drawn over & over for us readers time & again, pretty much a bludgeoning us w/regard to what's going to happen thereby taking all the suspense out of it.There's that sledgehammer I mentioned again. And b'c of this lack of finesse, it didn't have any of that complexity or dynamism I was expecting, esp. after the heavy hitting start. So for me, it was pretty much redundant.I won't get into all the specifics regarding the redundancies or how/why there was a lack of foreshadowing to help make it truly compelling, only b'c there are too many to mention.However, I'll just summarize a few to illustrate some bits of blandness regarding the whole set up (or lack of).about 25% the way into the book, Jonathan (another Prime's lover) predicts Miranda dying via David - make connection back to the title & then David's v. early explanation of how to turn a vamp (2 ways).About 40% the way into it, David has to kill someone who tries to infiltrate The Elite guard - make the logical assumption that this small attempt, foreshadows a larger more successful attempt & that someone has already infiltrated which we'll find out at the end.60% the way into the book & the alleged Big Bad Enemy is killed in a way too easy fashion (a compound explosion) b'c it was so immediate & took barely any plotting. In what's left of the compound, the Big Bad Enemy's sister is found who conveniently, the Big Bad hated so treated her worse than dirt. David automatically assumes it makes her fairly safe. OK right. How long has he been alive?And guess what? David takes this stray in as well...so, where do you think this is going?Not only that, but apparently we need to be reminded again that Jonathan's prediction about Miranda dying still stands even though at this point, she is all better, has been set free & making a life for herself.Then 75% the way into it, Miranda & David have sex for the 1st time & for whatever reason (er..destiny?) she can't help herself so bites David in the act & vice versa. Yet again, make the connection to what we already know... David's original explanation about how a person can be turned into a vamp (mutual biting & swapping) then add Jonathan's prediction (AGAIN) into the mix & whaddya get?Why the Queen of Shadows of course. Dun Dun DUN!Yadda, yadda, yawn, etc.. etc...neat & tidy ending.And yet, my biggest irks were two main issues I haven't mentioned yet.One being that the entire build up was wasted.The MC has an incredible talent & she's undergone intense training to control it, only to use it once (& mildly at that) on a throwaway character at the big battle scene. Sorry but that was a complete squander. So the whole kick ass heroine thing Sylvan was trying to achieve? I didn't see it.The 2nd issue being the pacing. I might have swallowed it a bit more if Sylvan just adjusted the time frame. If maybe Miranda recouped for 3 or so months at Haven & it was more like an entire year passed from start to finish.However, Miranda was only at Haven for one month & already in love with David. She was brutally GANG RAPED for Pete's Sake! Not to mention her overall emotional state even before the rape. Huh? I just didn't swallow this at all & it's also why I think the gang rape set up comes across gratuitous b'c it ends up lacking good reason for it to have happened at all by the end, IMO.What could have potentially been a deftly explored, emotional character driven novel ended up as standardly trite, maudlin' romance novel fare.I think the whole book spanned a total of 6 months maybe less. After the extraordinary gang rape, the type of mental shape we find Miranda in b'c how she's been living for a long while? Well, it left me at arms length in getting into the whole story.And with all this said, I know there is something likable about it, I can't put my finger on what exactly that is b'c logically, it didn't stack for me making it harder for me to overlook things on the whole, but I guess it's there somewhere b'c it's a popular one.

The first in a new series. Miranda is an empath on the verge on a nervous breakdown from being bombarded with others thoughts and emotions. She is a musician. Able to use her ability to influence others moods through music. One night she is attacked and raped. When she comes to she is in haven the home of David Solomon, the prime, hence ruling, vampire of the southern us territory. He is able to create a shield to protect her from accessing others emotions and teach her to build and use her shield. He is drawn to her and vice versa. She recovers and becomes embroiled in a war between opposing vampire factions. I enjoyed this book. Perhaps more than I expected. There are so many vampire/ urban fantasy series out there and some just don't draw me in but I liked Miranda and David. Miranda takes time to recover and become stronger but when she does she is suitably kick ass and David is your usual strong powerful leader with a strong sense of responsibility for his followers and respect for human life. His rule prevents vampires from killing humans. The opposing faction thinks otherwise. The hierarchy and leadership bits reminded me of the Chloe Neill series but this is less teenage/ boyfriend angst. Not overly complex but an easy enjoyable read.

I've been a fan of Dianne Sylvan's work for some years, and was thrilled to see that she's written fiction (at last)! And what a beautiful book it is. I've been making it last over recent weeks, so that I can then slip into the sequel as soon as it's been released!'Queen of Shadows' is far from the generic 'supernatural romance' genre that seems to have grown up lately. It does contain a love story, but that's far from the only plot. The protagonist is utterly sympathetic, believable and realistic, with her situation understandable and reactions (potentially) accurate - I couldn't say honestly on that final point, not having personal experience with powerful vampires! But despite the supernatural element, the suspension of disbelief is easy. The book really does grab you and hold on, creating a wonderful mood that it was a pleasure to return to.Many thanks, Dianne - do keep writing!

Just finish re-reading paperback copy and you know what😋 still f....g love it 😎 amazing book and characters 😎 order next two 😊

I was very impressed with this book. On a par with Patricia Briggs. Would definitely recommend along with the next book in the series. Could not put it down.

it was my first time reading a book from this author but i loved it .i loved how she made the characters in the book come to life .