Read Along – Shadow & Flame by Mindee Arnett Part I The Prisoner and the Wilder Queen

**Disclaimer: the below is a read along post for Shadow & Flame by Mindee Arnett.  There may be spoilers as it is much more detailed than a review.  Please stay tuned for my spoiler free review.**

Title Shadow & Flame

Author Mindee Arnett

Section Covered Part I – The Prisoner and the Wilder Queen (Chapter 1 – 15)

Initial Thoughts

I loved Onyx & Ivory!  It was easily one of my favorite reads of the year.  I was extremely excited to be able to read the next book right away after finishing the first.  I think this series has a ton of potential and I was very eager to see where Mindee Arnett was going to take us in this second book.

The Prologue

What was that prologue??  What was the point of Kieran if he was only going to die?? And Bonner.  And Corwin.  Who are our characters going to be if a huge chunk of the main cast was killed in the prologue!  I was not expecting that at all!

As much as I love the surprise factor, I thought killing Kieran was a bit much.  Firstly, he’s only 7 years old.  Second, why bother to include him at all?  Why did Kate’s father need an illegitimate son?  He could have just left her the Rising as his legacy.  Why give him a son if he’s only going to die?

Favorite Part

Bonner’s big reveal.  I’ll be honest, I saw the Corwin twist coming from a mile away but not Bonner.  Not until he used his magic to manipulate metal.  I think it took Corwin too long to make the connection, but I was really happy to see that he was still alive.

Something I Didn’t Love

Gavril was a sort of “out of nowhere” kind of villain.  Where did he come from?  Why is he here now?  Where was he in book one?  He created too many questions and we got no answers so far.  I feel like he’s an unnecessary villain.

Hopes for Part II

Kate needs to get over herself.  She’s being a real pain in Part I and I totally see why her friends are mad at her.  She’s too controlling and she needs Corwin in her life to quell that.  I’m annoyed with her character right now and I don’t want to be.  She was awesome in Onyx & Ivory and she’s irritating in Shadow & Flame so far.

More of the main plot.  All of the pieces are not together yet and there is about half of the book left.  For a two book series, we have about 25% to wrap up the whole story.  There are too many questions that are currently unanswered.