ARC Review: "The Rose in the Shadows" by Arcadia Rayne (House of Hyrax #1) ★★★★
ARC Review: The Rose in the Shadows by Arcadia Rayne
If you like From Blood and Ash and The Red Queen with a touch of Percy Jackson, then the chances you will like this are relatively high.I was a Descendant of House Hyrax. I was *the* Descendant of House Hyrax. And if someone was determined to end my line once and for all, I would not make it easy for them.[Contains some spoilers]
PLOT SUMMARY
In the realm of Athenia, a mysterious woman appears and starts attacking the kingdom. She is knocked unconscious and when she comes to, she does not remember anything. Interrogated relentlessly by the cold, calculative yet charming Crown Prince Clayton (Clay) Vail of House Zion, King of the Gods, who I may add can transform into a terrifying dragon, she chooses a random name Theadora (Thea).
It is discovered through a tattoo on her chest that she is a Descendant – someone who possesses the blood of one of the Gods in their bodies, giving them an advantage in speed and strength – of the House Hyrax, the God of the Underworld. The very last of her line, in fact, as House Hyrax was believed to have been extinct a while ago. The last known descendant is Zacharia Moore, so she goes by Thea Moore. She is presented to the court where Clayton’s father, aka the Dragon Vyncent, King of Athenia desires to use her as the means of bringing peace across the realms.
As Thea settles in and befriends many including Clay, her enemies are also closing in seeking her demise. As attempts on her life increase, so does her confusion. Who could be behind these plots? Can she ever abandon duty for love? And who is the stranger that frequents her dreams?
This is told from the first-person past-tense point of view of Theadora. The first and last chapters are told via Iris and Camilla respectively.
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| Clay and Thea by @wavyhues |
OVERALL OPINIONS
This was a great book. For a debut novel, Arcadia is deserving of the praise she receives! With plenty of magic, found family, enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, angst, twists and betrayals, this story never failed to keep my interest. It had the perfect blend of unique characterisation, world-building and political intrigue, as well as delving into realistic issues of abuse, objectification and grief. A lot of the description was gorgeous and sophisticated.
The romance was a more secondary aspect to the novel and the fantasy itself takes the centre stage which, for me, I would have hoped for more of the former. My favourite scenes had to be the balcony scene, Clay picking out Thea’s dress, the ballroom and the shared bed.
<< Positives >>
🠚 Visually, the rose as a paragraph divider is such a gorgeous idea, and I love the chapter heading designs with different roses too.
🠚 I really enjoyed the mystery vibes of this story as Theadora tries to uncover who is behind the plots against her life. This had to be one of the best aspects of the story.
🠚 A very clever aspect of the book is the names of the Gods begin with the same letter as their Greek counterpart: Hyrax is equivalent to Hades God of the Underworld; Zion is equivalent to Zeus King of the Gods. It is also rather fitting and poetic that Thea is from the House of Hyrax God of the Dead, when the House has been “dead” for years, believed to be extinct.
🠚 I loved the characters, especially Thea, Clay and Iris. Theadora is a strong character and seeing her growth as a character was great to see: I cannot wait to see where her story takes us next! Clayton is a sweetheart beneath the hard exterior and I love the way he looks after Thea, escorts her, and opens up to her. It’s also really cool he likes mystery books. Iris is so lovely and considerate, but it was interesting to see the different more broken side of her later on in the story.
<< Negatives >>
🠚 It was incredible having all the different Houses, it really set the scene, however I would have liked a thorough list of the Houses/Gods and what their powers were so I could understand more clearly. There was probably around a handful out of a dozen that I actually knew what they did.
🠚 The same goes for the creatures. Nearly all mythical beings are mentioned in this book but do not actually feature, such as mermaids, werewolves etc. though hopefully they will feature in upcoming books as this is part of the House of Hydrax series.
🠚 I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twists at the end and one of the betrayals I did not see coming. The main twist unfortunately felt rather obvious and I was hoping it would not be them for that very reason.Camilla constantly hated on Theadora and I would have much rather preferred someone like Iris or, had the book taken a different turn, Lorelai because both of them were incredibly kind. Changing it to someone else would have made it feel more realistic in my opinion.
FAV QUOTES
• in that moment, her fear met her memories, and together they held her in an iron grasp.
• It wasn’t hard to acknowledge that he was attractive, but attractive men weren't always trustworthy.
• The ballgown was ostentatious at best, atrocious in truth.
• “Strength is sometimes noticed, but weakness is never forgotten.”
• “The trials I go through are very different, Miss Moore, but do not make the mistake of assuming they are easy.”
• “Who did that, Thea?”His voice was like death, or at least the promise of it.
• All I could think of was how this man saw me. Clay saw me as a woman, not just a pawn or a princess. He saw me and he embraced who I was instead of what I represented.
══════════ ⋆★⋆ ══════════
I am honoured to have been selected as an ARC reader for this book, and I’d like to thank Arcadia Rayne for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.
This was a great book. For a debut novel, Arcadia is deserving of the praise she receives! With plenty of magic, found family, enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, angst, twists and betrayals, this story never failed to keep my interest. It had the perfect blend of unique characterisation, world-building and political intrigue, as well as delving into realistic issues of abuse, objectification and grief. A lot of the description was gorgeous and sophisticated.
The romance was a more secondary aspect to the novel and the fantasy itself takes the centre stage which, for me, I would have hoped for more of the former. My favourite scenes had to be the balcony scene, Clay picking out Thea’s dress, the ballroom and the shared bed.
<< Positives >>
🠚 Visually, the rose as a paragraph divider is such a gorgeous idea, and I love the chapter heading designs with different roses too.
🠚 I really enjoyed the mystery vibes of this story as Theadora tries to uncover who is behind the plots against her life. This had to be one of the best aspects of the story.
🠚 A very clever aspect of the book is the names of the Gods begin with the same letter as their Greek counterpart: Hyrax is equivalent to Hades God of the Underworld; Zion is equivalent to Zeus King of the Gods. It is also rather fitting and poetic that Thea is from the House of Hyrax God of the Dead, when the House has been “dead” for years, believed to be extinct.
🠚 I loved the characters, especially Thea, Clay and Iris. Theadora is a strong character and seeing her growth as a character was great to see: I cannot wait to see where her story takes us next! Clayton is a sweetheart beneath the hard exterior and I love the way he looks after Thea, escorts her, and opens up to her. It’s also really cool he likes mystery books. Iris is so lovely and considerate, but it was interesting to see the different more broken side of her later on in the story.
<< Negatives >>
🠚 It was incredible having all the different Houses, it really set the scene, however I would have liked a thorough list of the Houses/Gods and what their powers were so I could understand more clearly. There was probably around a handful out of a dozen that I actually knew what they did.
🠚 The same goes for the creatures. Nearly all mythical beings are mentioned in this book but do not actually feature, such as mermaids, werewolves etc. though hopefully they will feature in upcoming books as this is part of the House of Hydrax series.
🠚 I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twists at the end and one of the betrayals I did not see coming. The main twist unfortunately felt rather obvious and I was hoping it would not be them for that very reason.
@saqphirc "The Rose in the Shadows" by @Arcadia Rayne - Author (out now). fantasy. my ARC rating: 4 ⭐s contains magic, a dragon-shifter prince, a long lost descendant from the house of hyrax, slow burn, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, found family. for fans of Game of Thrones, Percy Jackson, From Blood and Ash & The Red Queen. | #booktok#booktokedit#bookstagram#theroseintheshadows#arcadiarayne#fantasy#fantasyedit#romantasy#booklover#bookcommunity#enemiestolovers#slowburn#forbiddenlove#dragon#dragonedit#debutauthor#indieauthor#percyjackson#theredqueen#frombloodandash#gameofthrones#edit#explore#viral#fy#fyp#fypã‚·#foryoupage ♬ original sound - freya⚕️
FAV QUOTES
• in that moment, her fear met her memories, and together they held her in an iron grasp.
• It wasn’t hard to acknowledge that he was attractive, but attractive men weren't always trustworthy.
• The ballgown was ostentatious at best, atrocious in truth.
• “Strength is sometimes noticed, but weakness is never forgotten.”
• “The trials I go through are very different, Miss Moore, but do not make the mistake of assuming they are easy.”
• “Who did that, Thea?”His voice was like death, or at least the promise of it.
• All I could think of was how this man saw me. Clay saw me as a woman, not just a pawn or a princess. He saw me and he embraced who I was instead of what I represented.
══════════ ⋆★⋆ ══════════
I am honoured to have been selected as an ARC reader for this book, and I’d like to thank Arcadia Rayne for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.
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