Wyshea Shadows: Divided Draghons by Geoffrey Saign : Review

From the award-winning author of the WhipEye Chronicles series comes the first book in the new Divided Draghon series, an epic fantasy thriller, with romance, action, battles, and a world at stake…

A hundred-year-war that won’t end…

Three young women sworn to kill each other…

Famere, the wyshea butcher, seeks vengeance with loyal mythic beasts called shadows;

Jennelle, commander of the Northerners, fights for her people’s survival using brilliant strategies; &

Camette, a wild divided draghon, searches for her kidnapped lover…

Famere, Jennelle, and Camette must discover who is friend or enemy, who is responsible for the hundred-year dark sky and death mists, and if the men they adore will still love them. Divided Draghons.

I was a little hesitant in agreeing to read this when I first received a review request for it, but I thought the story and cover both sounded interesting enough that I would give it a chance. Wyshea Shadows: Divided Draghons was an interesting read full of fast-paced action and interesting creatures. This was one of those books where I made the mistake of thinking I could read a chapter or two to see what the book was about and then be able to sleep afterward. I finished Wyshea Shadows in a single sitting that kept me up till nearly 3 in the morning.

There was quite a bit about this book that I enjoyed, but a lot of it I can’t really talk about without spoiling it for people. I can say that I thought the book was fairly well-written and immersive enough that I actually lost track a time or two and ended up reading much later than I had originally meant to. The characters were surprisingly well developed for the first book in a series and I found them believable and easy to empathize with. Without spoiling anything all I can say about the story wat that it was interesting enough that I always had to read one more chapter to see what happened next.

As much as I enjoyed the book, there were a few problems that I hope will be addressed in the sequel. My main issue was that I found the dialogue to be a bit stilted at times and the conversations could feel a bit forced. I’m hoping that we see these conversations and interactions smooth out and flow a bit better in the next book.

I would say my favorite part of this book was the draghons themselves. Despite the cover, I made the assumption that the book was going to be about dragons and the author chose an odd spelling for some reason. The two are in no way similar and I thought the draghons were fascinating creatures and the scenes with the draghon Camette were some of my favorites in the entire book. I hope we get to learn much more about them in the next book.

I think Wyshea Shadows has a lot going for it and I would recommend it to just about anyone who’s looking for something a bit new and interesting to read. I will definitely be following Geoffrey Saign more closely in the future and checking out the rest of his books.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.