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A review by alexiacambaling
Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
4.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen!
I loved Dark Shores and in fact, it would have been a 5-star read if not for a couple of issues I had which really shows up late in the book. This is going to be a spoiler warning but I would still suggest you read on otherwise. However, if you don’t want spoilers and would like to read the book and judge for yourself, I’ll put it in a separate section with another spoiler warning.
First of all, this was a really easy read. The moment I started reading, it was just hard to stop. I fell in love with the world and characters from the moment I started reading and why wouldn’t I? Dark Shores was very fun, full of adventure and great characters, plus it features a great fantasy world clearly inspired by the Roman Empire. Really, it’s very good.
The plot mainly concerns the Celendor Empire’s expansion into Dark Shores, a continent on the opposite side of the world, long-rumored to be legend. In this continent dwells people who still worship gods, beings long forsaken by the Celendor Empire. Teriana is a Maarin sailor who, in order to save her people, makes a deal to bring the empire’s legions into Dark Shores. It is a perilous journey since some gods are not exactly keen on bringing legions intent upon conquest. Marcus on the other hand, is a commander of one of the legions, blackmailed by a power-hungry senator who agrees to help conquer the other side of the Reath in order to protect his secret and his family.
Dark Shores features a world divided into two. On one side of this world, the Celendor Empire has conquered all lands and now turns its greedy eyes on more- or rather, a senator does. More on this later. Dark Shores is a very diverse world. It doesn’t do that annoying thing wherein there’s a country of white people (or two, or three), and there’s a country for Asian people, a country for Africans, and maybe one for Middle Eastern people. Honestly, that kind of thing gets annoying fast when authors just make kinda lazy fantasy stand-ins for POC with a clear lack of nuance or research. That’s why I appreciated the fact that in Dark Shores, Celendor was shown to be a diverse and metropolitan empire (like Ancient Rome). Its legions are filled with people of all colors and races- like Ancient Rome. POC are everywhere and are not confined to maybe one or two stand-in countries which I really appreciated.
One of the things I like the most about this book is how nuanced it is when it comes to portraying conquest, colonization, and would-be colonizers. Not everyone is a fan of never-ending conquering and war in the Empire. Many citizens want peace, for resources to be diverted to civic projects, like schools. It presents a nuanced view of what the common people may want versus what their rulers want and how those two things don’t necessarily align. As for those who do support it, I liked how the book digs into the psychology of conquest and why otherwise good people may support something like colonization.
I loved the strong characterization of Teriana and Marcus in this book. I liked how conflicted, yet politically-savvy Teriana is, and how strong yet vulnerable Marcus was. They are two characters on opposite sides of a conflict and it’s interesting to see how their dynamic evolves throughout the book. I do have to say that I’m not a fan of how quickly their romance developed near the end, especially since they have been enemies since practically the moment they met. I think I’d have preferred it if the romance was a slower burn since I really do feel like it’d make more sense for both of their characters. If it was a slower burn (like, if the romance happened in later books than this one), I think it’d make for a great enemies-to-lovers story arc.
Which brings me to why I docked half a star for this book. WARNING: THIS IS A SPOILER. Please skip to the end if you don’t want to be spoiled.
There is a gay character in this book. No, he’s not the only prominent gay character, but the way his character is in the book is significant enough to warrant a mention, I think. This character’s name is Felix and he’s basically Marcus’ best friend and right-hand man. Oh, and he’s also in love with Marcus and doesn’t like Teriana. And he gets suspected of betraying them. To be honest, I’m not a fan of this trope. I wasn’t a fan of it in the Mortal Instruments and I’m not a fan of it now. It doesn’t really show up all throughout the book, mostly near the end, which makes it more grating. I honestly hope this improves in the next book. This would really have been a five-star book if it wasn’t for that.
Overall, I can still recommend Dark Shores. No, it’s not a book with pirates as the Maarin are a merchant sea-faring people, not pirates. But it does feature sea voyages and a lot of adventure, plus strong characters. If you read the spoiler-y trope part I mentioned, I do advise a bit of caution especially if you hate the said trope, but I do still recommend it overall as it is a pretty strong book. I do hope it will get better in the sequels. It’s fun, fast-paced, has good world-building and hard to put down. Will I be reading the sequels? Yes!
This review is also on The Bookworm Daydreamer
I loved Dark Shores and in fact, it would have been a 5-star read if not for a couple of issues I had which really shows up late in the book. This is going to be a spoiler warning but I would still suggest you read on otherwise. However, if you don’t want spoilers and would like to read the book and judge for yourself, I’ll put it in a separate section with another spoiler warning.
First of all, this was a really easy read. The moment I started reading, it was just hard to stop. I fell in love with the world and characters from the moment I started reading and why wouldn’t I? Dark Shores was very fun, full of adventure and great characters, plus it features a great fantasy world clearly inspired by the Roman Empire. Really, it’s very good.
The plot mainly concerns the Celendor Empire’s expansion into Dark Shores, a continent on the opposite side of the world, long-rumored to be legend. In this continent dwells people who still worship gods, beings long forsaken by the Celendor Empire. Teriana is a Maarin sailor who, in order to save her people, makes a deal to bring the empire’s legions into Dark Shores. It is a perilous journey since some gods are not exactly keen on bringing legions intent upon conquest. Marcus on the other hand, is a commander of one of the legions, blackmailed by a power-hungry senator who agrees to help conquer the other side of the Reath in order to protect his secret and his family.
Dark Shores features a world divided into two. On one side of this world, the Celendor Empire has conquered all lands and now turns its greedy eyes on more- or rather, a senator does. More on this later. Dark Shores is a very diverse world. It doesn’t do that annoying thing wherein there’s a country of white people (or two, or three), and there’s a country for Asian people, a country for Africans, and maybe one for Middle Eastern people. Honestly, that kind of thing gets annoying fast when authors just make kinda lazy fantasy stand-ins for POC with a clear lack of nuance or research. That’s why I appreciated the fact that in Dark Shores, Celendor was shown to be a diverse and metropolitan empire (like Ancient Rome). Its legions are filled with people of all colors and races- like Ancient Rome. POC are everywhere and are not confined to maybe one or two stand-in countries which I really appreciated.
One of the things I like the most about this book is how nuanced it is when it comes to portraying conquest, colonization, and would-be colonizers. Not everyone is a fan of never-ending conquering and war in the Empire. Many citizens want peace, for resources to be diverted to civic projects, like schools. It presents a nuanced view of what the common people may want versus what their rulers want and how those two things don’t necessarily align. As for those who do support it, I liked how the book digs into the psychology of conquest and why otherwise good people may support something like colonization.
I loved the strong characterization of Teriana and Marcus in this book. I liked how conflicted, yet politically-savvy Teriana is, and how strong yet vulnerable Marcus was. They are two characters on opposite sides of a conflict and it’s interesting to see how their dynamic evolves throughout the book. I do have to say that I’m not a fan of how quickly their romance developed near the end, especially since they have been enemies since practically the moment they met. I think I’d have preferred it if the romance was a slower burn since I really do feel like it’d make more sense for both of their characters. If it was a slower burn (like, if the romance happened in later books than this one), I think it’d make for a great enemies-to-lovers story arc.
Which brings me to why I docked half a star for this book. WARNING: THIS IS A SPOILER. Please skip to the end if you don’t want to be spoiled.
Overall, I can still recommend Dark Shores. No, it’s not a book with pirates as the Maarin are a merchant sea-faring people, not pirates. But it does feature sea voyages and a lot of adventure, plus strong characters. If you read the spoiler-y trope part I mentioned, I do advise a bit of caution especially if you hate the said trope, but I do still recommend it overall as it is a pretty strong book. I do hope it will get better in the sequels. It’s fun, fast-paced, has good world-building and hard to put down. Will I be reading the sequels? Yes!
This review is also on The Bookworm Daydreamer