Court of Darkness by C.N. Crawford Series: Shadow Fae #2, Demon of Fire and Night #13
on August 27, 2018
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Pages: 150
Format: Digital
Also by this author: Court of Shadows
Also in this series: Court of Shadows
Can contain slight spoilers regarding book 1.
Court of Darkness by C.N. Crawford is the second book of the Urban Fantasy Shadow Fae series and continues right after Court of Shadows (Shadow Fae #1) ends.
Arianna and her friend Ciara are safe for now and hiding. To fight for their survival, Arianna is on a stealing mission.
Until Ruadan appears to bring her back.
After getting back to the Institute or facing immediate death, Arianna has to face another 3 trials to finally become a Shadow Fae Knight.
Since her escape, she isn’t as welcomed anymore as before, so she won’t get the same benefits as her other novices.
Court of Darkness Book Review
Arianna – Can’t really tell, if there’s development going on. Rather than learning from earlier mistakes, she’s repeating them.
Also, she appears a bit too focused on Ciara but that might have so far unknown reasons. If I don’t know it better, I’d ship those two.
Ruadan – I like him a lot. As a great fighter but also in what he’s doing to survive. He’s capable of fighting for sure which is a very good thing. If it depends on it, he can fight with Arianna together.
Ciara – A character who’s not around a lot but from what I know of, she is Arianna’s best friend and might become very useful in the second half of the series. We’ll see.
Melusine – She’s great, at least she can use her brain and put two and two together. Jokes aside, I like her. She’s not around much but what I know of her could be seen as funny and useful through the plot.
Baleros – I’d have liked to get more into his head, how he thinks. Not on a POV of his side but more reaction out of him. I feel like I’d be able to have more thought on him, then.
Writing Style
To get to the point: There’s not much improvement as of what I mentioned on the review of the first book. I can’t complain with the writing style, not at all. But if it’s about world building and empathizing with characters, it’s not working for me. There’s something missing here that gets the reader more into the characters thoughts. The FMC is smarter from the beginning and isn’t telling everything just yet. It’s over the plot for the reader to get more out of the character and some answers.
Themes
For the themes, it goes on as it was in the first book, as primarly mentioned parts of a traumatic past, saving friends, discovering friendship, and handling everything.
Setting
There’s almost nothing on how the world gets described. The most I got out of it are some flowers through the stone walls of the institute. And I memorized a scene were the environment was descibed a bit more detailed but overall it felt as there was hardly anything described properly.
There is a lot going on at almost the same time but it also feels like there’s nothing going on at the same time. I haven’t informed myself before and was a bit disappointed as there were only hints on some romance going on. Rather typical young adult, I’d say. But great for lovers of exact that genre.
I haven’t read the other books of the Demons of Fire and Night Universe, so I can’t tell at this point. But from other books of various authors I’ve read so far, the story is kept very similar.
I cheered for Arianna and Ruadan to happen but besides that, they didn’t get me that much. Nor did the plot or antagonists.
It wasn’t me expecting much of it, so it couldn’t reach anything besides a bare minimum.
Strengths
Good fights – The fights are keep going. It’s what keeps the reader engaging.
Character dynamics are in this one as well.
Weaknesses
The characters lack development, depth and individuality. As a reader, one might ask themself, why they exist in the first place.
Recommendation
For readers of fae stories and Urban Fantasy, I can recommend the book. There are some nudy scenes, so I would suggest the book for mature people, also, because of fighting and violence.
However, for those that are waiting for some steam romance, I have to disappoint you. Those scenes either don’t exist or get skipped.
Will I reread it? Most likely not.
Final Thoughts
It was pretty much my luck I read the second book right after finishing the first because there’s absolutely nothing to remind of what happened in the first book. So, either make some notes or make sure to read the second right after the first book.
If you need to know one thing about this book, it is that it was pretty similar to the first one. Arianna is back trying to win the coveted Shadow Fae spot while fighting for her life.
Along the way, more hints about who Arianna really is get revealed, there’s more to find out about Ruadan’s past and family as well, and secrets about Arianna’s friends to get unrevealed.
POV’s: Single -1st person (Arianna)
Tropes included
– Hate to Love/ Enemies to Lovers
– Fae and demons
– A badass female lead that can kick ass
– London setting
– A deadly competition
– Adorable and loyal friendships
– I came to kill/ steal from you but fell in love
Have you read any of the Demons of Fire and Night books? Do you like Shadow Fae more than I do? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- ABC Book Challenge 2024
