A Twist of the Blade (Shadows & Crowns Book 2)

This book had me in a knot. I couldn’t put it down, I read it every change I got throughout the day because it was just so damn goodFirst of all massive applause to S.M.Gaither for such incredible writing, story building and the perfectly paced book that this was. Second books are hard to write especially after readers loved the first one. And the second one exceeded its predecessor.This is a spoiler free review, but the way Casia moved through the story, to find herself, to realise what she wants to do and what she is willing to do for the people she loves and even the kingdom had me teary eyed. Elander and Cassia’s relationship has also escalated so beautifully, their feelings in this book are made very clear from both points of view.Have i mentioned how much I loved Elanders chapters?! They gave us that little bit more insight into his obligations and his long life. I loved seeing his more vulnerable side.This book was more than perfect and the ending had me gripping the sofa while speed reading to the very last word and I still can’t believe everything that happened. I cannot wait for the 3rd. If you haven’t read the series yet, it’s a must.5/5 for me!

I've really enjoyed the author's previous series, Kings and Serpents (I would definitely recommend you check it out), and the first book in the series promised to be a good sequel. The story is pretty well put together, with a few nice plot twists, good world-building (which I already loved from the previous series) and nice characters. However, I really struggled to immerse myself in this second book.I think it was mostly because of the writing style, and an especially annoying habit of italicising words every now and again, to emphasise a certain point. It took me out of the story because instead of following of what the author was trying to describe, I kept stopping to stress that word in my head. It felt patronising, like I was incapable of understanding what was important in that sentence by myself. Sometimes this happened more than 20 times on one page! And when the text was already in italics (like in the case of internal dialogue), the emphasised words were in bold, like shouting! Dear author, please, please, please stop doing this, it's incredibly distracting. Also, I spotted a few spelling/grammar/punctuation mistakes that were missed.If you enjoyed the first book, I'm sure you'll like this one too. But I do hope the next one has fewer italics!

Argh I saw none of this happening.I had so many moments were I actually found myself holding my breath, what the actual.Seriously I thought The song of the marked was good this just throw it out of the park.I mean I was at the end of my seat literally. S.M Gaither is just an absolute queen of fantasy. Elander and Cassias story just gets more interesting and more complex I literally can not see how this is going to resolve itself. No spoilers here guys just you have got to read this book.

This has depth, romance, magic, loyalty, heroism and lots more. Love the plot,the storytelling and the world building. Most enjoyable. Definitely looking forward to book 3.

Good luck putting this book down, have been hooked since the first sentence of the first book and can’t wait for the next one

Excellent condition and packaged brilliantly

Brilliant book , just can’t wait 😀

It is amazing. So well written, with detailed fight scenes and elaborate world building. The relationship between Elander and Casia surprises at every turn, yet the consistency in their care for one another is really lovely to see, especially in comparison to other stories involving love triangles, jealous ex-es, uncertain dithering between the main characters etc. It was nice to read just about these two characters, here the lack of certainty has nothing to do with their feelings for one another but external factors such as upper gods etc messing with their HEA.I like the fact that Casia has anxiety/panic attacks, yet works to overcome her weakness and doesn’t let her fear stop her. There’s a lesson in that which reverberates well with our own lives and is unlike the female heroines who I’ve been reading about recently who are bad ass, fearless to the point of being reckless and have an independent streak a mile wide. Cas is someone we can all relate to - who’s afraid but does things anyway for the love of her friends and for the good of the empire.The story itself is an engaging as the first book, with Cas on a journey of self discovery and Elander figuring out exactly who she is to him. There’s no let up in the action and in the evolution of their characters. In fact, I can’t wait to dig in to the third book!Bravo S M Gaither. A wonderful wonderful sequel to Song of the Marked.