Cloaked in Shadow

The Dragori #1

by Ben Alderson

Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: hunting and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart.

Heartbreak becomes a distant concern when Zacriah is taken to the Elven capital of Thessolina, where he is forced into King Dalior’s new legion of shapeshifters. But Zacriah isn’t a shapeshifter. In truth, he doesn't know what he is.

Zacriah joins forces with new friends and they soon find themselves embroiled in a clash between the three Elven continents. With war looming on the horizon, Zacriah must learn to use his latent power to fight and protect those he loves before they are destroyed.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Romance, Young Adult, Queer, M M Romance, Magic

350 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 2017

About the author

Ben Alderson is a #1 Amazon bestselling author. His stories are set in fantasy worlds filled with magic, adventure and MM romance. Ben lives in Oxfordshire and, when not writing, can be found reading, taking Winston - his Labrador - out for long walks, or obsessing over Marvel’s The Scarlet Witch.

Reviews

[Ben Alderson]

MY BOOK IS OUT IN THE WORLD
IM CRYING

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and I hope you enjoy my book. It is out now and I am literally crying into my Iced Latte! Thank you all so so so so so so so much. IM CRYING. again. ALL DAY. This story means the world to me and I hope a young boy will read this one day and see how normal being gay is!



-------------------
I AM WRITING A BOOK.
THIS IS MY BABY!!!!!!!!!

I am so so excited about this announcement. I am aiming to have it out early 2018, if not even EARLIER! I will have a better estimate on release date mid 2017!

PLEASE COME SHOW THIS SOME LOVE, ADD IT TO YOUR PAGES AND GET EXCITED!

Beauty and the Beast inspired fantasy with Dragons (well... something similar to dragons... and OHMYGOSH just you wait and see), Gay Romance and Elemental Control!
ARHHH

[Sasha Alsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclamer: Ben is a good friend of mine but let me tell you, this book, is OUT OF THIS WORLD. I knew Ben was a good storyteller before he ever wrote Cloaked in Shadow but WOW did this book blow my mind! It was as if I completely forgot my best friend was writing this book. The story took over my mind and every twist and turn that this book bestowed upon me, shook me to the core.

Plus, gay elves?? WE NEED MORE OF THAT IN YA! I loved the romance between Zac & Hadrian, it was sweet but powerful and left me needing MORE!

I cannot wait to read Found in Night and see where this story is going to go. I am hooked!

xSasha

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hey! So, I was hesitant to start this because I didn’t like the cover. Shallow, I know, but I can’t help it. I seriously thought that the dude on there was “The Adoring Fan” from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and couldn’t get that terrible image out of my brain. I was also a little scared because a few of the reviews said that they got some heat from the author for giving this a negative review. Actually, it feels like a lot of these kinds of stories have been cropping up lately, so that sucks. I can’t lie, the hypothetical situation of an author coming for me because of one of my reviews is wildly mortifying to me. But then another, smaller part of me thinks it’d be… a little funny. Also this bad boy was already sitting in my Kindle, just waiting to be read, and it was kind of short and I’m still on my fantasy kick, so I figured, why not? Might as well give it a shot. Besides, it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of activity surrounding this book anymore (it’s old af), so it’s my time to shine! Circling an abandoned battlefield like a vulture searching for leftover scraps. Yeah well, it turns out that all that worrying was for nothing, because there’s really not much to say about this book. Sorry, I know that was a lot of preamble for a rather lukewarm response. I mean, there are a lot of ways to describe this book. I could say that it’s nothing more than a sequence of loosely connected threads of vague, grand-sweeping, fantasy genre iconography, or I could say it’s a story about the most special boy in the world who, despite being generally unpleasant and boring, everybody can’t help but fall in love with. Both would be accurate. I want to say that this is the Eragon of fantasy literature… but Eragon is the Eragon of fantasy literature, so who knows what this book is. All in all, I think it’s good practice to go into books thinking you’ll hate it every now and then. It’s always nice to be pleasantly surprised.

Despite my extensive use of periods to express my flippant and nonchalant attitude, I didn’t actually dislike this book. Honestly, looking back I wasn’t even bored most of the time. As a fair warning though, you should know that this book is definitely on the generic side. Every fantasy trope, every YA trope, if you can name it then it’s probably included here. I don’t even mind formulaic fiction most of the time, but stories of this kind have to compensate for their shortcomings somehow. The dialogue has to be engaging or the prose has to be delightful, I don’t know, something! It can’t all be mid! It didn’t help that some of the characterizations of the female characters were a little dated. It’d sometimes feel like the arguments between Zacriah (actual name) and these women were squabbles had in real life, but updated in this book so the self-insert main character could come out on top. Epic clap-back, bro. Of course, this is all speculation on my part. All I’m saying is that it had those vibes. There was also a weird moment where when explaining how a girl was able to fight so well the author pulled out the “I grew up with brothers” line. I’m not kidding. Let’s move on to the dialogue though! Yay! Yeah well, it was pretty wooden. The end. And when it wasn’t dry as hell, it sounded like a sequence of sentences written just so it could be quoted. 2012 YA-core, forever destined to be plastered on a bumper sticker or a hydro flask water bottle. Thanos Speak. I could even vividly picture some of these lines being said in the trailer for the live-action Netflix adaption. You get my point. In conclusion, this book is “wish-fulfillment central,” and while I have nothing against stories like this (I even enjoy them most of the time), I would have liked it if this book hid it a little better. The real question I’m asking myself right now is if I’ll continue this series in the future. And the only answer I can think of is… maybe.

“Maybe is just a polite way of saying not a chance.”

[Kylie Holiday · Rating 1 out of 5]

BLATANT SEXISM. The female characters are portrayed horribly!!!

Saw this book in the Goodreads newsletter and noticed the impressive ratings, and I LOVE LGBTQ fiction. But please do NOT believe the hype!!! This story is sexist in the worst way, delegating most of its female characters to one dimensional 'bitchy bimbo' stereotypes while the equally one dimensional male cast of Mary Sues receive the rest of the fantasy tropes. This is NOT acceptable in 2017!!! Here's just one early example, and there are many many more. (For context, Zacriah is sitting in a wagon listening to girls gossip about having sex with the prince)

"I wonder what he'll be wearing tonight?" Illera fiddled with her deep chestnut braid, twisting it around her finger. "Something tight, I hope..."
Alerior chuckled, nudging Illera's shoulder with her own. "You're terrible, truly!"
For as long as I could remember, Alerior and Katill had followed Illera around like doe-eyed puppies, always feeding her with just what she wanted to hear. I knew steering clear of her was the best option. I'd gained her unwanted attention before and became the brunt of her boredom. It didn't end well. I felt almost sorry for whoever it was they gossiped about.
"I can't wait to see his face when he sees what you're wearing later… or what you are not wearing." Katill also had a filthy mind, it was her one redeeming quality.
Illera’s laugh was shrill, forced. "We'll see. I had to sneak my dress past father. He would drop down dead if he saw what I'd done to it." She motioned with her two fingers, "Snip, snip, snip."
My laugh even surprised me.
The snort burst out of my nose, which I tried to cover up with a cough. It didn't work. I turned away, looking back over the side of the wagon but their conversation had ceased. I didn't have to see to know Illera was looking at me, her gaze burned into the back of my head.
"Something funny?" Her voice was sweet, though I could taste the sickly undertone as she questioned me.
I looked to Illera’s violet eyes, full of intrigue. Her sharp brows pinched above her sinister smile.
Here we go.
I shook my head and held her gaze, biting my tongue.
Don't fall for it. Don't fall for it.
"No?" Her cackle pierced my ears. “Well, let me see… you must have been daydreaming about your father, who will no doubt fail miserably at the hunt this evening," she drawled.
My canines bit into my bottom lip and my mouth filled with salvia and copper.
"Oh, I know, I know." She jumped in her seat, raising her hand in the air. By this point, the entire cart was listening, watching. "Was it the thought of your mother having to beg yet again for food? Yes, that must be it. Because that is hilarious” She threw her head back and roared with laughter. If that was not enough of a kick to the balls, she clenched her fists pretending to rub fake tears from her eyes.

Nyah is partially the exception and maybe this gets better later in the book, but I can't stomach another page and first impressions matter!

As if the misogyny wasn't enough to rate it one star, let's take a look at the writing itself. Purple prose, grammar errors, very weird metaphors on every page, especially when magic is being used, modern words constantly peppered throughout that break any sense this is supposed to be a fantasy world. It feels more like a series of roleplaying posts or a fanfic. Also, there's a complete absence of anything resembling story or compelling character motivation. An example: the first two chapters the main character is just sitting in a cart. Literately!!! He's just a camera describing everything in purple prose, every irrelevant detail that had nothing to do with his (lack of) motivation or personal conflict. The plot instead seems like a lot of absurdly random coincidences the characters stumble upon rather than driving things through their own actions.

DNF and will NOT come back for the sequel!

[JD · Rating 1 out of 5]

An Elf nicknamed "Zac". That's enough to DNR for me right there. Let's break down the synopsis now: the author puts "feeding his family" and avoiding a love interest into the same priority category. Seriously?

Wtf is with the cover art? It looks like something that would belong to gay fantasy fanfic featuring an Elf that works part time as a go-go dancer in a gay club in Orlando. And I say that as a gay guy living in Orlando. YA- can't we demand better than this garbage?

EDIT: Okay gang, I need to add a postscript to this review, months after I wrote it.

I know I'm getting huge hate, but I'm not changing this review. At the time it was written, I reviewed not the book's contents but what we knew about it: The cover art and the synopsis. While I wrote a review based on things we knew about an unreleased book, others were giving this thing high starred reviews... just because. Those same people then attacked me for reviewing a book before it was released. Hypocritical much?

First of all, I still hate this fucking cover. Seriously, this guy got totally swindled with it. Critiquing a cover is of course legitimate. If you're turned off by a book's synopsis and cover, are you more or less likely to buy the book? Give me a break.

Soon after I posted it, the author himself put me on twitter blast and got his social media acolytes to come and harass me on here. Then *THE AUTHOR CHANGED HIS OWN SYNOPSIS ON HERE*. It used to read:

"Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: feeding his family and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart."

and now reads:

"Zacriah Trovirn is concerned with two things in life: hunting and dodging Petrer, the boy who broke his heart."

So this guy attacks me on twitter and gets his foolish Jonestown clan to go after me, then takes some of my criticism. WTF?

Also on this point, let's discuss the synopsis quotes on the cover: "A world in ruin." "A kingdom of lies." Okay... so why is that shit not in the main synopsis?! Instead we're spoon-fed this silly over-prioritized gay romance meanwhile the world is in ruins? In YOUR MAIN SYNOPSIS. This whole thing is just a poorly executed mess.

Next, let's get rid of the notion that anything about this is original. Elves with light hair, pointy ears, magic, and different colored blood is not original. It's a straight-up Lord of the Rings/Eragon ripoff. The only "original" thing about it is it's almost exclusively gay characters, which is the primary thing being marketed about this book. Not the story, not the personality of the mains, not the conflict-- the sexuality. I'll discuss my issues with this next.

Taken from the author's own twitter page, here are some more blatant rip-offs:
. 'Alorian elves' have golden blood.
. 'Morthi elves' live in underground caverns. (Mirkwood elves, anyone?)
. 'Niraen elves' ride elks. (Again, Mirkwood infringement).

THIS. SHIT. IS. NOT. ORIGINAL.


My final enormous critique of this book is the marketing, and I need to elaborate:

I love YA. I love LGBTQ fiction. I love YA LGBTQ fiction. My top YA favorites is the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. They feature queer characters. My issue with Ben Alderson is that he exploits his (and my) sexuality to sell books. He knows his fan girls will go crazy if he shells them some queer romance. He uses gay characters as blatant tropes to market his book. Six of Crows isn't a story constructed around gay characters. It's LGBTQ characters constructed inside a story. Its seamless and not abused. This is how you do queer in fiction, not my trumpeting your work as having gay characters, and oh yeah, some other stuff too.

How YA readers, who apparently are offended at anything and everything, can tolerate blatant gay exploitation is beyond me.

[Shauna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few disclaimers before I get into what is probably going to be a very lengthy (and spoiler-filled) review:

One of the main things I think is important in a book review, or in any review, is honesty. So I’m going to be honest, I was a little bit sceptical when I started reading this book. The main thing that led to my scepticism was the amount of time that appeared to pass between the book being finished and its publication. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are good books.

The edition of Cloaked in Shadow I own is the Kindle edition. It’s possible that some of the things I’m talking about are different in the print edition. That doesn’t make some of the stuff I’m going to talk about fine. Every edition of a book you put out should be as perfect as possible.

I am in no way trying to trash this book. Writing and publishing a book is a tremendous achievement. There are some people out there who seem to love this book, which is great. It just wasn’t for me. What I’m hoping to give here is constructive criticism. As a writer myself, I find criticism one of the best ways I gain experience and improve as a writer.

I’m going to include quotes to back up some of the stuff I’m saying, just so anyone reading this can see exactly what I’m referring to.

Another point I want to make is that I wrote this in the midst of writing my thesis proposal, so I may have been a little cranky at the time. I’ve tried to look over this review a number of times to make sure my cranky thesis brain wasn’t clouding my judgement.

These are my own opinions. If you loved the book, then great. Nothing is better than reading a book and liking it, and I’m glad you had that experience.
Okay, with that beast of a disclaimer over, let’s get into the review.

The Good:
The LGBTQ+ aspect of the novel: Incredibly well done. The author himself posted on here saying he hoped that someone would one day read this book and see how normal it is to be gay, and I think he has really achieved that. I’m a straight white girl and I cannot tell you how tired I am of reading books about straight white girls. Representation of minority groups in fiction has been so problematic in the past, so it’s wonderful that now that more and more readers have access to characters who they can relate to.

The pacing: Stuff was constantly happening. Sometimes it was stuff that confused me, but it was stuff nonetheless. There weren’t any moments where I was bored simply because nothing was happening (except for the grape saga - more on that later). The time between events seemed reasonable enough (even though sometimes things did seem to be conveniently timed to progress the plot). The author knows how to keep a book moving and this is definitely a skill that will help him when writing the rest of this series.

The font: I thought the font used on the chapter headings/cover was delightful. It really fit in with the vibe of the whole novel, which is a very important aspect of any book for me.

Those are the main things I liked about the novel. The next part you’re going to read is under the heading of bad. I am quite hesitant to use the word bad because, to me, that comes across as me trashing/dragging the book and that is not what I want to do. So, although I kept the heading of bad for the sake of simplicity, I’d rather the next few things I talk about be considered areas where there is room to improve. (Sorry for the plethora of disclaimers in this review. Dealing with a book by someone who is really popular on social media can be quite daunting because it can sometimes be met with quite hostile reactions, which are never the creator’s fault).

The Bad:

Spelling and Grammar: Maybe I’m just particularly picky about grammar and spelling, but there were a number of mistakes in the Kindle edition that I found hard to ignore. I’m one of those lucky people who find spelling and grammar easy, and I’ve studied English literature for almost four years. Some people aren’t as lucky and find it hard, and that is completely fine. However, editing and proofreading should get rid of as many of those mistakes as possible, and several rounds are needed to really iron out the creases. I’ll leave a few examples below of things that particularly bugged me so you can see what I’m talking about:
“I’d kill double the pray.” (Instead of prey)
“curly black hair nestled between his pecks.” (I believe the ‘proper’ spelling is pecs - correct me if I’m wrong).
“her adored hip.” (Instead of adorned).
“I promise I won’t peak.” (Instead of peek. This one came up quite a few times).

The cover: It just wasn’t for me. Some people love it, including the author, which is great. It just wasn’t my thing. We’ll leave it at that.

The plot: Some things just didn’t make sense, or were too convenient. For example, the king invites a bunch of elves to his castle, without giving any reason and they all just go without asking any questions on the ride there. But when they arrive at the palace, the king seems sure they must have questions. The whole duel situation was also confusing. I was of the belief that Zac only had to enter the duel so he would no longer have to work in the kitchens (again, correct me if I’m wrong about this). But the King later decides that Zac no longer has to work in the kitchens because he saved Hadrian’s life. Yet, the duel is still on. So Zac, who no longer has to work in the kitchens, is duelling so he no longer has to work in the kitchens? Early on in the book, Zac seems worried about showing off his powers, but less than a day later he throws himself out of a window in the king’s palace which I assume is very heavily guarded and observed. The further into the plot I got, the more consistent things did get and I could see improvement as I was reading, mostly towards the very end of the book. Also, why elk? Have you seen elk? Their legs/frames don’t look like they can support a lot of weight. The antlers are also an issue because with any animal you ride on the back of, you are at risk of being thrown off. Often forwards. Being thrown into those antlers does not look like fun to me. The whole ‘moons’ as years thing. How does that work? Are we following the typical cycles of the moon that we have? I’m assuming so because the author mentions Orion, so the sky/space situation seems to be the same as ours. But if that’s the case, is Zac like one and a half years old? Because, if it’s following our moon cycles, that is around how old 18 moons is. There were other things about the plot that confused me, but I’ll leave it at those.

The writing: Some of the descriptions are strange, and felt clunky to me. A sound is described as soundless. A character’s hands are covered by a lack of something. I’ll have some examples below. There were some problems with continuity at times, again I’ll put examples down below. A lot of telling and not showing. On one page alone I counted 14 instances of where the character’s movements were shown through “I *include action here*” sentences. “I turned/I tiptoed/I stepped/I heard, etc.” The grape saga was a particular issue for me. Several paragraphs in two scenes dedicated to grapes, when the time could have better been spent describing the characters or places to get a better image of the world. The king’s emblem constantly being described as being on things was also not a good point for me. Thankfully, this ceased after a few chapters. There were also a lot of scene breaks where I felt there didn’t need to be scene breaks.
Some examples of issues I had with the writing:
“I didn’t blame their silence.”
“Finally realizing the smell was smoke”, followed shortly by, “The air was thick with smoke.” (So the smoke filled air didn’t smell of smoke?)
“Hands rose to blocks eyes.”
“Jumping from the wagon with a soundless thud.” (Sound being described as soundless).
“The lack of jewels covering his hand.” (Covered. By. A. Lack.)
“Drips of sweat broke away from my hairline to drip down my neck.” (Drips dripped).
“I know whose blood this belongs to.”

The dialogue: Dialogue is one of the things I struggle with most as a writer. Some people find it easy, but I know how hard it can be. The dialogue in this book wasn’t great. Stiff in many places. A lot of the humour fell flat for me, which I think led to my poor impression of the characters. Zac delivers what are supposed to be ‘sick burns’ at a few points, which I just found uncomfortable to read. There was also a weird mix of formal ‘old-timey’ language like “shall” and “for” and slang that seemed oddly modern and out of place. This was jarring for me, because it didn’t allow for a proper pattern of speech to be established. I’ll put some examples of that below.
“Clearly bugged from my lack of response.” (Bugged just seems out of place with the rest of the language).
“Leave it to me, sweet thing.” (Maybe Zach of Zach and Cody has corrupted this particular expression for me, because it stuck out like a sore thumb).
“Everything is just so fucked up.” (Fucked up feels out of place in relation to the rest of the language, especially because the word isn’t used a lot in the book by characters).
“BITCH!” (Again, not used by characters much and therefore seemed out of place).

The characters: I either didn’t like, or didn’t really care about, a lot of characters in this book. I’m going to break it down by a few of the main characters in this book I have opinions about.
Zac: Too much of a special snowflake for me. He has powers no one else has. He has pierced ears and no one else does. He can climb stairs with ease, and no one else can. Maybe I’m just over the whole ‘chosen one’ thing. He also seemed to know things he shouldn’t have known. There’s a good bit of ‘somehow, I knew already’ with Zac. That being said, I did love how cool Zac is about his sexuality, and he really did show that being gay is completely normal, which is so vital in literature today.
Hadrian: This prince seems to have a personal vendetta against doors. Keeps kicking them down. He seems like a relatively nice guy, though the dialogue that was supposed to show him as kind of snarky and funny fell flat for me, so I really didn’t think much about him. He seems like a nice guy, and it’s clear that he cares for Zac, which is nice.
Petrer: This guy confused me. He cheated on Zac, yet doesn’t seem to know they’re not together anymore? I know he wasn’t aware that Zac knew about the cheating, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. I honestly have no real impression of Petrer other than he was a guy who Zac used to have a relationship with. The twist at the end with him becoming evil was unexpected, which is always a good use of character.
Nyah: I don’t really have much to say about Nyah. She seems like a good friend. Her and Zac don’t spend a phenomenal amount of time together (or at least time we get to see). Similarly to Hadrian, she’s supposed to come across as witty and funny, but the flatness of the dialogue kept that part of her from me. I did like how she was a strong woman who was ready and very capable of fighting.
We seem to get to know a lot of characters only through their relationship to Zac and not as actual individuals. All of your characters should have goals other than interacting with the MC, just like everyone in real life has conflicting goals.

Final Thoughts:
Did I hate this book? No. It annoyed me at times, but I didn’t hate it.

Did I love it? Also a firm no.

To me, this reads more like a draft than a finished product. There are indications that this could actually be well written. While I wasn’t a fan of how a lot of things were described, here and there were some lovely descriptions that show a lot of potential. I think a lot of the issues I had with this book could have been ironed out if the release date had been pushed back. The amount of time between the first draft being finished to the book being published seemed really short from what I have heard. Editing takes time and has the power to work miracles. I know the prospect of getting your book out into the world as soon as possible is thrilling. What is even more thrilling (to little old me at least) is putting out a well edited book because you know you’re selling the best version of your story. First word is sometimes not best word.

However, writing a book is a phenomenal achievement, and Ben should be incredibly proud of himself. It’s something I still haven’t managed to do.

I was actually happy to hear that Ben is writing more. He has a lot of potential and so much room for improvement. Getting better is never a bad thing. Seasoned authors get better with every book they write, so I see things only improving from here.

Also, I am thankful that this book brought Ben’s channel to my attention. I follow a few different booktubers and have been aware of Ben for quite a while, but for some reason I never thought to look at his channel. Now I have and I have seen a few of his videos, which I really enjoyed.

I will be reading whatever comes next in this series, and I am looking forward to seeing Ben improve as a writer.

If you made it this far, good job you. This is more of an essay than a review, I know. The English scholar in me doesn’t know when to stop. I hope anyone reading this found it insightful, or even just a good waste of time.

And as the saying goes, that’s all she wrote.

[Nemo ☠️ (pagesandprozac) · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was nice, but underwhelming. it just felt like every other YA fantasy i've ever read, including the romance. the fact that it was an m/m romance was great, because we don't see that enough in YA (especially fantasy), but even so it was just all stereotypical.

[Rachel E. Carter]

Elves, shifters, and elemental magic, oh my! Ben's debut gives fans of the Shannara Chronicles something new to fangirl (and boy :D) over in young adult fantasy.

Okay, so I have to say First Year fans will love this one -I sent countless messages to Ben as I was reading saying things like: "OMG Priscilla's twin!" "Nyah is LIFE (Ella fans will love her)" "Your princeling is waaay nicer than mine (because Darren haters/those who love Ian will like Ben's book more;P)" >> Clearly Ben and I like the same stuff because his book takes place largely in a castle with a hot prince who trains Zac in fighting (and who doesn't like fight/training scenes and duels!) and then there is the sassy bff and the protagonist who is NOT PERFECT and WORKING ON LEARNING HIS POWER/FIGHTING SKILLS. Seriously, I appreciate a flawed protagonist and Zacriah is that for me! But mostly what I enjoyed about this book? The way the protagonist's homosexuality was handled -Zac already knew he was gay at the start, he didn't struggle with anything relating to his homosexuality in this book, the story just flowed naturally and we could have a main character that was openly gay from page one and have it not be a big deal or huge plot point, just a natural element that went along with the rest of the fantasy storyline. Well done.

I'm not going to drop spoilers or quotes in here because I was reading an ARC and it's not release time yet so I don't want to ruin the book for the rest of you guys, but you should definitely check this one out!

[tappkalina · Rating 3 out of 5]

August 07, 2023

Finally decided to finish the series. I just had to revisit book one because I read it a long time ago.


April 5, 2019

This was everything. The whole time it felt like I was reading an ancient storybook because of the wonderful atmosphere and the breathtaking landscape. BEAUTIFUL. No wonder it is about elves.
And this book is about a lot more than you would think. Oh boy, the magic and the mythology/history... Let me tell you, it was smart and interesting.
I really need to get my hand on the next one.
The game has just begun.

I thought about this meme the whole time:

THE THEME IS A-MAZING.

Also, my only complaint against it (I know it's childish) is that there is a LOT of purple and I hate purple with a burning passion. lol

[Taran Matharu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why isn't there more YA fantasy like this?
Wish I'd got to this sooner.

[Shawna Finnigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

11/16/20 update: This book is free on Kindle today and it’s one of my favorite books of all time. Go download it if you haven’t read it yet!! :)
https://www.amazon.com/Cloaked-Shadow...

I am speechless. This is one of the best books that I’ve read in a really long time and I’m in love with all the characters. While reading this book, I’ve found myself less depressed. It’s not often that a book actually helps with my mental health, but the world that Ben has created fills me with so much joy and positivity. I have to wait for the next book to arrive in the mail, but I’m super excited to read it.

[Christine Spoors · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't been reading much fantasy recently, but Cloaked in Shadow has definitely reminded me why I love the YA fantasy genre so much. This is Alderson's first book and I absolutely love the world he created.

I really liked the main character Zacriah, it's always interesting to read from a male POV in YA fantasy as it's not something we see as often. He is such a likeable character and I liked that he is flawed, and remains so throughout the book. He is gay, and I won't say who he becomes involved with, but I couldn't help but love the two of them. At the start I wasn't sure if it was going to be a case of insta-love, but their relationship grows so organically (does that even make sense?), I loved reading about them. It's always amazing to read a book where sexuality isn't a source of discrimination.

In this world some of the elves are shifters who can take an animal form. Zacriah doesn't know what he is, as he certainly isn't a shifter, and I always love stories where the main character finds things out as the reader does. I loved the world of elves and shifters than Alderson created. Most of the story is set in the one city of Thessolina but by the end we start to see more of the world, which has me so excited for future books!

The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was how often we got fighting and training scenes. I do like to read about training in fantasy novels, but I get to a point where I lose track of all the limbs and start to gloss over the fights. This was only really in the first half of the book though, and just comes down to personal taste. It was great to see Zacriah grow stronger and learn more about his powers throughout.

Ben is one of my closest friends and he kindly sent me an early copy of his book to read, but that doesn't change the fact that I loved it. I'm not the kind of person to lie if I hated a book, so TRUST ME when I say that fans of YA fantasy will adore this book. I can't wait for the next one!!

[Galadrielė · Rating 2 out of 5]

☆1.5/5☆

▪Plot 2/5
▪Details 2/5
▪Characters 2/5
▪Romance 1/5
▪World building 2/5
▪Magic system 1/5
▪Logic 2/5
▪Writing style 1/5
▪Enjoyment 2/5

1. Almost all female characters are portrayed horrible.
2. It feels like author was trying to write down all his sexual fantasies.
3. Magic system is weird as hell.
4. Writing style is awkward.
5. Romance is way too AWKWARD.

Still gonna read a second book. Why am I doing this to myself. Really, why?

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this romantic Elf fantasy - a real treat to read. The romantic leads, Zacriah and Hadrian are well-drawn and really sparkle on the page together, to the point where I couldn't wait until the next scene with both of them in it. I also enjoyed author Alderson's obvious love of the visual aspect of his world - especially the color. There are some wonderful details in this book - the claw weapon (LOVE), food details, the riding Elks - and I must say, I adored the idea of a moth shifter. But in the end, it was the romance that clinched it for me. I adore creative romantic details, and there's several that really charmed me. There are also some moments of just damn fine writing - "The view was dotted with buttery dandelions speckling the ground like the stars in the night sky." Looking forward to reading more in the series.

[✨ jami ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Our only enemy is within and once you conquer it ... you can overcome anything.

I have had this book in my kindle library pretty much since it released, because I was really highly anticipating it. When I used to watch a lot of Booktube Ben was one I watched a lot and I was really interested to see what his debut novel would be like. Also, the premise of this was so interesting to me. It's a high fantasy featuring elves and a central m/m relationship, which is ownvoices representation.

This book follows Zacriah, who is transported along with all the other elves who are eighteen to the capital to meet the king, though no one knows for what purpose. Zac is forced to join the kings new army of shapeshifters - but Zac cannot shape shift. He has another magic entirely, that he doesn't understand, but must keep a secret. But a war between the three elven continents is brewing, and Zacriah finds himself unwittingly thrown into the middle of it. Cloaked in Shadow is, to me, a mix of Throne of Glass, The Lord of the Rings and Avatar: The Last Airbender

I have many mixed feelings on this so lets break it down

+ positives

🌱 romance & representation For me the highlight of this book is definitely the romance. This book nailed angsty, slowburn romance. I was really rooting for the main romance and the build up was so good. This is also ownvoices gay representation which is something I always love and support in fantasy. It was nice to see a normalised m/m relationship and I just overall thought the gay rep was really great in this book.

🌱 plot the plot was super fast moving and a lot was happening. The first two thirds flew by (more on the last third later) and the book mixed drama with intrigue and politics really well. The mystery elements were compelling, and I really appreciated how fast moving this book was.

🌱 characters I thought the characters were overall a positive. Though I don't feel super strongly about them, they were well written and had logical character arcs. Zacriah had some character elements that reminded me of Aang from A:TLA which I loved because Aang is one of my favourite characters. I also LOVED Hadrian.

- negatives

🌱 the writing I ... really didn't love the writing in this one. Ben is a good writer but this really, really could have benefitted from some more editing. Some of the metaphors and phrases used were confusing, pointless or didn't actually say anything. The dialogue blended fantasy and modern speech in a way that didn't make sense and pulled me out of the story because it disrupted the narrative flow. Also, there were spelling and grammar mistakes throughout the book and pretty frequently. I am not such a *huge* stickler for grammar/spelling and usually let it pass, but it was A LOT here and the thoughtless editing was distracting from the story.

🌱 the last third The end of this story needlessly DRAGGED. The conflict climaxed and then .... the story kept going? The new story thrown in came out of nowhere and didn't have the necessary build up to keep me interested. I skimmed the entire last 20% of this book and nothing really happened, which was unfortunate since the rest of the book was well paced.

🌱 plot inconsistencies Some parts of the plot didn't add up. Conflicts were set up that weren't resolved, or which had confusing endings. Basically, it felt like the entire middle section didn't necessarily line up correctly with the beginning and endings. Again, I think this is an editing issue and it's a shame because it could have easily been resolved with more beta reading.

🌱 side characters This is not a strong negative but .. I didn't love the side characters? Most felt one dimensional and the portrayal of a lot of the female characters was .. sketchy. Not necessarily problematic or bad, but not great either? Like I said this isn't a super negative it just didn't sit right all the time.

Overall I do recommend this book it's a fun and fast paced fantasy with a well written m/m romance that really got me with the slowburn angst. I do plan on continuing this series, and I hope the next books are just edited a little bit better, to really tighten up the elements that let this book fall down.

This was my first read for UnsolvedAThon (read a book featuring mythical creatures) and Magical Readathon (Herbology - read a book with plants on the cover)

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

actual rating: 2.7

Disappointing. I've been looking forward to this book ever since it was announced but no. I'm not going to write a review on it, not going to say any more. I hope others enjoy it but I honestly didn't and won't pick up the sequel.

(I should add though that despite everything, I'm glad this book had the LGBT character. As someone who's LGBT herself, I'm always hoping for more LGBT books and characters. I'm also certain Sarah J Maas fans will love this book. I think my tolerance of YA books and their tropes has just given up, unfortunately)

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Dharma · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I'm going to preface this review by saying that I do not intend to bash this book. As a writer myself, I would never want anyone to drag anything that I write, and I do think that Ben is appropriately enthusiastic about the publishing of his book, because it is quite an impressive accomplishment and he has a right to be excited about it. I don't intend to take that excitement away by expressing my opinion on his piece of work.

That being said, I will be honest with my opinions here. I will not sugarcoat anything, nor will I be unnecessarily harsh. This is just my opinion, and I wish for anyone who can actually stand to get through what I'm certain will be quite a lengthy review to be aware of different viewpoints on the subject before diving in themselves.

So, now that I'm through with that disclaimer, let's dive in.

So I follow Ben on Instagram, and it was there that I became aware of this novel. Understandably, I was quite excited to dive in, as I do enjoy supporting new authors within the bookstagram/booktube community. I really, really wanted to like this book, and I tried so hard to enjoy it.

The first few chapters were slow, agonizingly so. In fact, Zacriah was literally just sitting in a wagon observing everyone around him for two chapters. However, I was willing to look past that as I know it is quite hard to start off a novel, and I thought that it would pick up in just a bit (spoiler alert: it didn't). As well, there were a couple of typos in the first few pages that I chose to ignore (i.e. "The wagons wheels" instead of "the wagon's wheels" to indicate the possessive) because I was reading the Kindle version and from my experience, Kindle versions tend to have just a wee bit more typos than the physical copy. However, the number of subsequent typos was astounding (more on that later).

So let me break this down section by section.

CHARACTERS

Zacriah: Zac was a character who almost immediately got on my nerves. The absolute lack of drive in him is something that grated on my nerves in every way possible. Much like Hamlet, he is a man of inaction, except where the two differ is that Hamlet eventually went out of his way to take initiative, whereas Zac seems to be led by the story. His actions are not those of a protagonist, but rather those of a character whose every movement is little more than a way to progress the plot. Moreover, if I had to read about him crying one more time, I might have thrown my phone across the room. Honestly, I get that you want your character to be relatable and realistic, but you've missed that mark already, so don't bother trying to go for it through an "emotionally-open" protagonist.

Hadrian: Hadrian is the trope of all Prince tropes: he's devilishly handsome, snarky (though it did not come across-- more on that later), full of sexual innuendos, and ready to sweep the protagonist off his feet. He's another character of convenience, one that I don't feel as if I know anything about besides the fact that he's a Dragori and he cares for Zac. He instantly falls for Zac for reasons unbeknownst to me, because other than the fact that he did not shift, what was so remarkable about him that made Hadrian oh so desperate to spend time with him? The fact that he's a Dragori just seemed to work as a plot device to drive he and Zac together, something that they could bond over (though they hardly did), and set them apart from anyone else and make it out to be as though they were "meant to be." Resultantly, it ended up feeling incredibly cheesy and very cheap.

Alina: Of all the characters, I think I understand Alina the least. She immediately comes off as a bitch who seems to have it out for Zac just because he quite obviously can't do what she's asking of him, and then seems to have free reign to do whatever she wants to him without having to answer to anyone-- not even the king or the prince. She is the typical bad guy who's bad for no other reason than she just is. When she was outed as the big bad villain, we never got any reasoning for why she did what she did. Zac exclaimed that it was her, asked her why she did it, and she just smiled in response. No justification or anything, just a smile and then bam; two seconds later she's dead. In essence, she's just another flat one-dimensional character lacking any real motivation as to why she does what she does, which is simply no fun for anyone.

Petrer: I honestly have no idea what to think about Petrer. Yes, he cheated on Zac and yes it's horrible that he acts like nothing's happened for the majority of the novel, but other than that there was nothing to add to his personality. He shows up a handful of times in the novel as a whole, as it's like he has a split personality concerning his behaviour before and after Zac shoots him out of the sky. Before he's trying to be slick and get on Zac's good side again-- meaning that he's aware that he's done something wrong but still manages to be surprised when Zac reveals that he's known all along that Petrer is a cheater-- and after he winds up jealous and petty about Zac's growing closeness with Hadrian. Petrer's sudden and inexplicable jump to the dark side at the end was the biggest surprise for me, and not in a good way. One minute he's brooding over a lost love and the next he's breaking his love's arm with a gold bracelet. I thought that he was acting so because the king had possessed him and was working some dark magic around him, but in the midst of the battle, he's still acting like a monster and Zac seems to believe wholeheartedly that Petrer was in his right mind while torturing him. There was no believable lead up to his change in personality and very little believable reason behind why he would do so, which ultimately left me confused and irritated with his character.

So as a whole, the characters simply ended up as little more than walking archetypes (i.e. the Chosen One, the handsome and sassy prince, the evil-for-no-reason villain, the jealous and controlling ex) with largely no character development or driving factors to their actions throughout the novel. This made them boring, forgettable, and annoying-- all things that a writer should attempt to avoid at all costs.

PLOT

This plot... it was just all over the place. First the elves are brought to the castle to fight a war beyond the kingdom's boundary lines, so we're led to believe that the story will be focused largely on the warfront and the issue of the Morthi. However, almost immediately the story takes a turn to focusing almost entirely on Zac and Hadrian's budding relationship: Hadrian gets him out of kitchen duty, he inexplicably winds up "mentoring" Zac on how to access his powers when all they really do is walk around the kingdom, and then they talk and suddenly about a hundred pages later they kiss and then bam, they're in love. Hadrian gets Zac into a duel with an "unknown" duellist (we all knew it would be Illera, I mean, who else could it have been?) and then they spend like two seconds training him even though he's supposed to be complete rubbish at fighting. Then it jumps to this issue with the King and he's apparently hiding something, but then the duel comes and gasps Alina's the bad guy! But then five seconds later the king is found to be the real bad guy, and then some type of battle ensues that I really can't remember because the writing there was very messy and confusing, making it hard to follow-- but more on that later.

While on the issue of plot, let's just get this cleared up here: is this an LGBTQ+ love story, or a fantasy novel? I know that this is YA and the two are supposed to intertwine so that it's a fantasy novel that just happens to have a largely LGBTQ+ cast, but it does not come across that way at all. I know that Ben was primarily marketing this as a queer book, but when the cover has the phrases "A kingdom of lies. A world in ruin." in order to bring in audiences, it leads the reader to think that this is going to be a politically-charged fantasy novel, not an LGBTQ+ love story with a dash of fantasy. That being said, I will give Ben credit for normalizing queer characters and integrating them into a ~fantasy~ YA novel as the mains while attempting not to make them be the focus.

However, I did have problems with that particular relationship. The way that the characters are portrayed just makes the whole Hadrian/Zac pairing seem cheap and awkward. It was very insta-love, as there was really no conceivable reason as to why these two characters should be together beyond advancing the plot (honestly, why would a prince suddenly be so interested in a nobody elf that he would make such a ruckus about "training" him?). The dialogue (more on that as a whole later) seemed so forced and awkward, and the way that the pairing worked just seemed so... convenient? Forced? Cheap. It felt as if Ben had forgone any type of realistic way that two people would fall for each other in favour of just getting the ball rolling on their storyline to satisfy his craving for "gay elves" (his words, not mine).

DIALOGUE

And now down to the real nitty gritty of it. So the main issue that I had with this novel was Ben's complete lacking of showing. Anything that happens, he felt the need to state it outright rather than show the reader what's going on, what a character is feeling, the setting, etc. "Show don't tell" is pretty much the golden rule for writers, and he can't even abide by that. The narrative is so much more powerful and interesting when you trust yourself and your readers and give descriptions rather than plain sentences.
For example, "We were outside. I felt the fresh bursts of sea hit my face and head the loud clash of water against the rocks." There is no reason at all for him to have stated the fact that they were outside when the description of the sea breeze and waves would have given it away.
Apart from giving his writing a very elementary and basic feel, it also insinuates that 1. Ben doesn't trust himself as a writer to provide accurate descriptions, and 2. he condescends to his readers because he doesn't trust them to understand more complex sentence structures.

In that same vein, Ben has a horrible habit of just writing dialogue without naming the characters who are speaking.
I.e. '"I have to go," I said, knowing that the horn was my signal... I placed a longing kiss on his forehead and moved for the door.
"They say that fire is nothing without the air that fuels it... I will get better and be there for you."
I swallowed back the lump in my throat... wishing I could jump into his arms and have him hold me.'
This was a really cute passage, but my problem here is that I have no idea who said the portion in bold because Ben never states who said it, Zac or Hadrian, and the lines preceding and following that passage don't really give any indication, so it left me confused when I was meant to be feeling sappy.

One reason why Hadrian's supposedly snarky attitude never came through was because Ben doesn't write dialogue with adverbs to express the emotion with which a line was said, so many of the sexual innuendos and jokes just ended up falling flat.
I.e. "Ask away, I'm all yours."
"When did you find out you were a Dragori?"
Hadrian's little suggestive comment doesn't come across as such because Ben doesn't add in something along the lines of 'said Hadrian suggestively, a smirk curling up the corner of his luscious lips.' Ben needs to take the time to add in adverbs such as suggestively/reluctantly/wearily/excitedly/furiously/etc. as well as verbs themselves such as "exclaimed/snickered/whispered/murmured/etc. in order to set the tone for the dialogue. We as readers take these for granted, because of course authors use these while writing dialogue, but without them we're lost as to how a character is feeling in the moment and it just feels confusing and awkward when the next moment a character bursts into a bout of action that feels really sudden given what had been said previously because their feelings weren't put into context.

The dialogue as a whole just seemed really off to me, mainly because it didn't feel authentic. It was as if Ben had completely forgotten what a real conversation between people sounds like, and then just mashed a whole bunch of words together and assigned them to different characters at random. One particular section nearly had me pulling out my hair in frustration at the dialogue:
(Nyah) "...Stop running off and acting like the world is against you and help us sort this out. I swear if we weren't friends, I would have punched you by now!"
(Zac) "Goddess, I am. I'm so stupid."
Nyah laughed. "Zac, you're doing it again. Honestly, you drive me nuts."
"You're right. I should get back," I said, overly aware of how I responded.
"Well, hold on. I've just got here, let me at least catch my breath," Nyah responded.
This entire section just feels so stiff and rehearsed, not at all like an actual conversation between two people. Nyah starts off this scene angry and frustrated with Zac, and then not two seconds later she's laughing and joking around with him, which firstly doesn't line up with the anger she was feeling at the start, and second does not line up with what I've seen of Nyah's character thus far; if Nyah was angry with Zac, she would ride out that anger, or at least make a snarky comment, long after he admitted to his fault, because that's the type of character Ben set her up to be. Nothing in this section reflects that. As well, the last bit of Nyah wanting to just stay in that spot was blatantly just added in as a way to keep the two of them in that spot when the King finds them. It was purely added in as a way to advance to plot, which is fine in and of itself, but there's no need for Ben to state that they would stay where they were; he could have just carried on the conversation and we would have assumed that they didn't move. Again, it all ties back to showing and not telling.

WRITING

There are a number of other little things about his writing that bothered me, so I'll just list a few examples here:
I.e. '"I..." I croaked.' -- This line sounds so juvenile. Instead, he could have written something along the lines of "I shook my head in disbelief, unable to articulate anything other than sheer surprise as I looked back out over the crowd." Showing the readers Zac's lack for words rather than telling them is much more impactful, even if it does end up taking a few more lines to write.

Giggling. For some reason, Ben uses "giggling" a lot in this book it just feels really out of place.
ie. 'I giggled, watching her flailing body slam into a set of guards...' (undermines his anger in the moment)
'I fell into a fit of giggles, my entire body shaking in the chair.' (doesn't correlate to anything else in the scene. He was completely serious two seconds before this line and then out of the blue he starts laughing?)
The connotations behind the word "giggling" leads the reader to envision a child or a little girl, not a teenage elf. I don't care if the character has literally gone mad or if they're just having fun, because there are numerous synonyms for laughing that can be used to avoid the awkward picture this word lends itself to. Not once in the many times Ben has used it has it sounded right.

It seems like Ben has a weird attachment to ellipses and I am not here for it. It felt like every chapter, there was a new and useless way that he was using ellipses, and never once do I think that they we used correctly.
i.e. "Zacriah, I know whose blood this is..." (Makes the statement sound less important than if it had been closed with a single period, especially as a chapter closer.)
There was one page where Ben literally used ellipses in four successive paragraphs. Granted, Zac was in a delirious state, but even still, there is no use whatsoever for such an overuse of ellipses. As is a common theme with Ben's writing, his point that Zac was delirious could have come across a lot smoother if he had shown the readers Zac's mental state rather than basically telling us with all of these ellipses. In essence, they just tone down the seriousness of the situation and make it seem less dire.

There was one specific passage in the book that literally made me stop reading and contemplate why any good editor would ever let this be put into print:
"Something about it being painful to a Dragoreee."
"Dragori," I corrected her...
So I thought that "Dragori" is actually pronounced "Dragoreee," wherein the "i" makes the sound of a hard "e." But that's beside the point because readers often pronounce words differently from the author. However, if Ben wanted the readers to pronounce Dragori the way that he pronounces it, the correct thing would have been to have Zac explain phonetically how the word is pronounced, thereby phonetically spelling it out for the readers to understand. But Ben just corrected Nyah's pronunciation-- which sounds completely correct to me, mind-- by just saying Dragori without any emphasis on any part of the word to indicate a differing pronunciation. That's what JKR did with Grawp and the pronunciation of "Hermione" because the readers kept getting it wrong, and Rick Riordan even has a glossary at the back of his books to help with pronunciation! So I don't know if this was just meant to be a funny little quirk or if it was Ben legitimately trying to establish the correct pronunciation of his made up word, but either way it just comes across as awkward and completely elementary in terms of his writing ability.

TYPOS

And lastly, we have the typos. As I mentioned before, one of the first typos appeared within the first few pages of the book, which I initially dismissed because I was reading it via the Kindle app, and I have noticed that there are, generally speaking, more typos in the ebook format than in the finished print. However, once it started to occur more frequently, it annoyed me more and more each time I found one.
ie. "Close" instead of "closed"
"Your" instead of "you're" -- that one really irked me!
He even managed to have a typo in the acknowledgements. Pro tip: the phrase "joke's on you" has an apostrophe, and is not spelled "jokes on you" as you spelled it, Ben. I mean, come on. I know the novel was self-published but you could have at least taken the time to get a proper editor to comb through it a few times before putting it into print.

So again, I just want to reiterate that I don't mean to bash this book or Ben as a writer, because I myself am a writer and I try to make it a habit not to insult anyone's intellectual property. I know how hard he worked on it and I honestly do want to see him improve. This review was purely for the purpose of informing other readers of Cloaked in Shadow on a different perspective on the novel.

So congratulations if you've made it this far because you really do deserve a medal. And once again, this was all purely constructive criticism!

[Anali · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ★★★★

“They say that fire is nothing without the air that fuels it. You are my air, without you I would just stop. I need you, I want you and I will get better and be there for you.”

Cloaked in Shadow es la novela debut de Ben Alderson. Había leído un poco de él antes en Because you love to hate me, pero con este libro creo que ha hecho un maravilloso trabajo. Al ser su primer libro, creí que encontraría muchos errores e inconsistencias, pero no, encontré exactamente lo que estaba buscando: Un retelling de la Bella y la Bestia, magia, dragones y un romance LGBT que no fue soso o estúpido. Creo que la novela tiene una combinación perfecta entre todos estos elementos, más una trama concisa, un mundo fantástico bien construido y unos personajes bien caracterizados.

Trama: Es una trama bastante simple. Puede incluso parecer un poco cliché, pero creo que es aceptable porque la novela está bien escrita. Es interesante, divertida, está llena de acción, magia y misterio. También me gusto mucho la construcción del ambiente y de todos los elementos y criaturas fantásticas. Hubieron varios detalles que me parecieron novedosos, como la forma de diferenciar la raza de elfos de acuerdo al color de su sangre.

Personajes: Zacriah “Zac” y Hadrian son los personajes principales. Conecte con ambos desde el inicio y sentí que tuvieron una evolución concisa y auténtica. Zac y Hadrian son personajes muy diferentes, pero que se complementan bien. Zac me demostró que no era un elfo inútil y frágil, sino alguien fuerte, valiente y leal. Sin embargo, mi favorito fue Hadrian. Me encanto. Su actitud con todos, su forma de comportarse con Zac, su valentía, su fortaleza. Todo.

Por otro lado, Nyah fue uno de mis personajes secundarios favoritos. Su actitud me pareció muy refrescante y badass. Y, en cuanto a los villanos, fueron acertados. Los sentí muy reales y los odie a todos. Así que eso es una buena señal.

“So that is why I care. I care because that is what you deserve. I care because every morning I have woken up and my mind passes to you. It also helps that you are one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever had the pleasure of standing before.”

Romance: Zacriah y Hadrian fueron simplemente adorables. Al principio, pensé que su romance sería un desastroso insta-love, pero NO...fue absolutamente genial. Hadrian fue tan perfecto con Zac. Me fascino la evolución de su relación, desde cómo se convirtieron en amigos hasta volverse amantes. Creo que hubo la dosis necesaria de romance para no sobrecargar la novela, pero igual me quedé con muchas ganas de leer más sobre ellos.

En general, creo que Cloaked in Shadow es un debut muy prometedor y el inicio perfecto para la saga The Dragori. Sin dudas, continuaré con los siguientes libros para conocer más sobre las aventuras de Zac y Hadrian. Muy recomendada.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 STARS *****

A beautiful fantasy story from the first person perspective of a gay, male, mysterious and magical elf! Our main character, Zacriah, is so original and complex, I have never gotten so attached to a MC so quickly. As a reader, we discover his story right along with him. By learning about his powers, meeting other elves, and discovering more about the world around him we discover as much as he does.

Ben Anderson has built a wonderful cast of characters but most importantly beautiful relationships with Nyah and Prince Hadrian. It is so nice to see healthy and organic relationships evolve from the beginning, and that is exactly what happens in Cloaked in Shadow. While reading, you can’t help but get attached to these characters which is something that I need as a reader.

This is an adventure story, a love story, an lgbtq+ story, a fantasy story, what more could you possibly need?! This will be your dream book, the one you’ve been waiting for without knowing it! Boy, you are in for a treat! And brace yourself, because Ben is not afraid to bring the wrath to his fictional world…

__

So thankful to be working on this gem with Ben, he has written such a wonderful story filled with so many unique characters that I can’t help but get attached to (Nyah is my baby, I can’t wait for you guys to meet her).

This is an adventure story, a love story, an lgbtq+ story, a fantasy story, WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?

More in-depth RTC when it’s released! Seriously, add this to your tbr immediately so we can all gush about Zac and Hadrian together.

[Len Evans Jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book deserves at least 10 stars... it is the best epics fantasy novel that I have read in the last 5 years. The world-building is astounding, the characters are more real than some flesh and blood people I know. The story is on par with the writing of the very top level of epic fantasy. I cannot say enough about the journey this book took me on. I cannot wait till the second book is published, but till then I will have to reread this one at least several times, cuz there is so much more to feel and experience. If you love incredible, character-driven epic fantasy you MUST read this book!

[Vicky (What Vicky Read) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! A fabulous debut from Ben and such a unique story. I loved that the main character was a male as I haven’t read as many books with a male lead, plus the main character, Zac, was also gay! I really loved seeing his relationships emerge and how they changed and developed.

I will be writing a full review of this on my blog (it will be up just after the 16th!), but for now I just want to say that I loved this book. It’s diverse, it’s action packed and it’s just all round fabulous. Oh, and the cover is GORGEOUS.

[vatana is trying to read]

Gay elves are yay elves, y'all.

I'm SO PUMPED.

[Jo Painter · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I would just like to say a massive congratulations to Ben!

'Cloaked in Shadow' is being officially released on the 18th Dec, ( get your pre-orders in now, guys), but I was lucky enough to be sent a copy to read early and let me tell you, this will fill all the Elven voids in your life. Ben's ability to create a world of Elves where they are of all different races, shapes, sizes, personalities and strengths is what the fantasy genre is desperately in need of. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of Legolas, but what I loved the most about this book was the versatility amongst the characters - it made for a refreshing take on a classic and well loved fantasy race!

As an artist I tend to be a very visual person and so I judge a book based on how it plays out in my head. If it plays out like a film, then we are onto a winner and this world that Ben has so carefully weaved together is bursting with vibrancy, colour and sass that soared through my imagination and tickled my creativity. It made it a joy to read and I so easily fell in love with the characters and the story because of it! The main overarching romance is enough to make you jealous, but if you're more of an action lover than you will love the adrenaline fuelled elemental magic, duels and all out scraps that ensue.

Pick this one up and I promise, you won't be disappointed!

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

reread this gem in order to be better prepared for its sequel, found in night.

this reread was just as amazing as the first time i read it. zac, hadrian, and nyah have such a special place in my heart. i love them all dearly and cannot wait to continue on this journey with them!


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this book was so magical and pure. i loved the characters and not once did i feel bored with the plot. cloaked in shadow will definitely be a book that stays with me for many moons to come.

if you have not picked up this wonderful novel, please do so right now. you will not be disappointed!

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much suspense, shocking twists and sexual tension makes cloaked in shadow a must read for the YA book fans.
Every chapter includes stunning imagery and characters which take you to far away lands and it feels as if you can see, touch and smell everything right there in front of you.
A brilliant example of LGBT writing breaking the mold.

[Kristofer Pidgeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was awesome! I’m sad I found it so soon because now I’ll have to wait for the next book. I rarely find an authors debut book to be so good, but this one was stellar. 😍

[Claire - The Coffeeholic Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was astonishingly beautiful!!

Zacriah Trovirn has got a lot in his hands: a kingdom reigned by an elfin King who's got skeletons hiding in his closet. a prince in love with a Niraen shifter, only he isn't really a shifter at all. A friend turns into a foe and a best-friend in the shape of a moth. Zac doesn't know anymore who to trust; even his magick plays tricks on him. When bloodshed rules the land, he must find a way to protect the ones he love and unleash his powers before he gets killed.

It's been almost two months since I last read a fantasy/paranormal story, so you can imagine my craving for a new fantasy read this time. When I finally got my hands on Cloaked in Shadow, I screamed alongside Ben of Tomes and knew that it would be a blast. And I was not disappointed!

Now, where do I begin? Hmm.. The cover... OMG, that book cover! It's so freakin' beautiful! Fell in love with elfin Zacriah right away. With his purple bow and arrow and his enigmatic pose, the cover definitely captivated me.

Now on with the story. I love love love Zacriah and his pure heart. It's my first time to read a gay love story in a Fantasty genre and it's s big win for me. I love how the elven commmunity readily accepted Zac and Petrer and Hardian's sexuality. Like it's the most natural thing in the world and there was no prejudice and judgment at all. I love that! At first I liked Petrer the raven shifter, but when I finally got to meet the enigmatic Prince Hadrian, I am floored. Hadrian is indeed swoonworthy and dashing! The romance was palpable but mild, tender and sweet!

“They say that fire is nothing without the air that fuels it. You are my air, without you I would just stop. I need you, I want you and I will get better and be there for you.

Learning about the shifters, (my first time to read about a moth and a spider shifter - so cool!!), elven kingdoms, the Elementals, the magick, the Dragori - it was all enthralling and captivating. I am in love with how their worlds collide. I love how there was never a dull moment in the book. I'd love to say a lot more, but I don't want to spoil all the fun. But if you're in for something high fantasy and magical and adventurous, then this book comes highly recommended for you!! Thumbs up and kisses for you, Ben!

[Peyton Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This book definitely captured my attention and was a fun ride all the way through. No single page was boring in my eyes. Cloaked in Shadow being Alderson's debut has left me feeling quite impressed. The writing was pretty good though there was an awkward sentence here and there and many misspelled words. The plot was predictable at times because of some common tropes, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel. It was definitely a fun novel through and through that sets up a series of books that I can't wait to read. I have a feeling that each installment to the Dragori series will be better than the last. The romance was probably my favorite part of this book because it wasn't rushed or forced and it was truthfully my first time reading a book with a homosexual romance between the main characters. I'm excited to read more of these diverse books.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know what else to say about this book except holy shit. This book is amazing. It’s so difficult to tell that it’s a debut novel, and Ben has done an amazing job in building up such a unique world.

The characters, wow. Zacriah is so sassy and sarcastic, as is Hadrian. They are incredible. This is a MUST READ if you like adorable OTPs, fantasy and plot twists! Can not wait for book 2! I need it NOW!