Amelie's Reviews > The Shadow Wand

** spoiler alert ** “Sometimes the truth requires strong words. And even stronger actions.”

Elloren Gardner is the Black Witch of the prophecy with magic surpassing that of her grandmother, making her a target from all fronts, and leaving her with no choice but to turn to her fastmate Lukas Grey for assistance. One of the things I truly admired about the previous books in this series, was the rich, magical world Laurie Forest had created with all its prejudices and stigma surrounding characters of different races and species which really challenged the reader to reflect on these injustices both in the world of Gardneria and our own. We got to follow Elloren’s journey as she came to sympathise with those she had been taught to hate and fear. And it was only at the conclusion of the second book that we learnt of Elloren’s true power and identity as the Black Witch.

So naturally, I went into this book with high expectations, eager to see Elloren discard her fearful, overly-dependent nature and actually learn to fight for herself. I was looking forward to seeing her use her magic (after all this is a fantasy series) and I was also hoping we’d see the Gardnerians and those from other species put aside their differences and prejudices and unite to take down Vogel. Perhaps my expectations were too high, since I didn’t get any of those things. Or perhaps the author is saving that up for future books in the series. Instead, there was a nonsensical plot which revolved around a one-sided love triangle, love interests “dying,” and Elloren continuing to be whiny and useless at fighting for herself. This was such a disappointment, and reading this only made my opinion on the series significantly worsen.

“The future belongs to those who can move past their preconceived, rigid lines.”

The plot was hyped up at the conclusion of book two when the Vu Trin took in Elloren to train her to use her powers. But all that really happened was some of the sorcerers realised the extent of Elloren’s powers and hired assassins to chase after her. So they make a new plan to send her back to Lukas and the Gardnerians so he could offer her protection. What a smart decision, send her back into the hands of her enemies who want to use her powers for their own purposes which is what basically happened. Why even bother with the plan when the Vu Trin could have easily taken her to another hidden place, which was what ended up happening when Elloren and Lukas were forced to flee? Why not try glamouring her if they were going to send her away? Why not send her to the Amaz or another group allied with Elloren? Well, sadly the answer is that all of this drama allowed for romance buildup between Lukas and Elloren. *sighs*

”A heart is a thing not so easily destroyed by the shadows.”

This was one of the worst love triangle stories I have ever read, especially with the inclusion of character “deaths.” Yvan’s “death” at the beginning was so implausible. The Gardnerians never uncovered his body, and his death wasn’t even properly verified. And what was annoying was seeing how quickly Elloren moved on from him to Lukas. It felt so forced, and their attraction seems to stem from their matching affinity lines. It didn’t even feel like true love. At least Elloren and Yvan’s relationship had better build up, and was a decent slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance. There wasn’t even much development in Lukas and Elloren’s relationship, and the fact that they were sleeping with each other and declaring their love for each other so quickly, after Elloren just accepted Yvan’s death just made me so mad. The romance seemed to take up more of the plot than the fantasy itself in this book.

And do you really expect me to believe that Lukas is truly dead now? After the reveal that Yvan survived, there’s no way I’m actually going to believe Lukas died. What I would hate to find is the next book being a repeat of this scenario but with Elloren clinging to Yvan believing that Lukas is dead. And seriously, why would Vogel kill off one of his best soldiers when he can easily manipulate Lukas and force him onto his side, or use him as bait against Elloren? It seems highly likely that Vogel will just use Lukas against Elloren, while she struggles with her feelings for Yvan and Lukas. Or maybe one of them will sacrifice themselves for Elloren and hopefully die properly not like the way they both had to “die” in this book.

“A wand is like an instrument...and the magic is in the music.”

Elloren’s character annoyed me so much in this book. She has powers. She is the Black Witch. She is pretty much the most powerful person alive. Yet she constantly cowers in the face of danger, and is overly-dependent on others (namely Lukas) to save her. And she is also too afraid to use her powers. She is the world’s only hope in defeating a tyrannical ruler who has no qualms in massacring entire races and species, and yet she’s too scared that her magic might harm others. She obviously needs to work out her priorities, and understand that this is a WAR, and people are going to die either way regardless of whether or not she uses her powers, but by joining the fight she’ll be helping SAVE her world from Vogel. It was incredibly irritating reading about her whining and even breaking down and crying multiple times throughout the book. You would think that by the third book in this series, she would have grown much more stronger, but that clearly did not happen.

“When fate locks a door, sometimes it’s the most unlikely key on the ring that reopens the lock.”

While most of the narration was unfortunately centred on Elloren, we also got to view brief snippets of the lives of some of the other side characters. I would have liked to read more about them, rather than about Elloren’s dramas. These are characters that are actually willing to fight no matter the cost even if it puts them in danger, unlike Elloren who cowers at every threat and leaves it to other people like Lukas to fight for her. I loved Tierney’s chapters and reading about her struggles to be accepted and encourage others to put aside their differences to fight together. And I could definetely sense a potential m/m enemies-to-lovers romance between Trystan and Vothe which I would have liked to read more about, rather than the romance we got between Elloren and Lukas.

Another thing that didn’t make sense was those stupid trees suppressing Elloren’s powers and preventing her from casting magic. Since the reasoning behind that was to prevent her unleashing dangerous power, why not suppress Vogel’s powers as well? Elloren hardly used her powers, while he created his own demonic army, massacred multiple species, and is now after Elloren to bind her to his side. If anyone deserves to lose their magic it’s obviously Vogel, not Elloren who is literally Gardneria’s only hope against him. And I find it hard to believe that the trees are powerless against him and not against Elloren when she is stronger than her grandmother who was literally a powerhouse.

This book was such a disappointment and I don’t even know if I want to continue the series anymore. It’s hard to believe that this was actually written by the same author who wrote The Black Witch and The Iron Flower, and if anything this just felt like filler for the next two books. I guess I’ll wait and see what other reviewers have to say about the next books before deciding whether or not I should read them.

2/5 stars