Review Detail

Okay, I'm usually not the biggest fan of vampires, unless they're the ones in Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Cold Town. But these ones were *chef's kiss*.

Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell is a YA fantasy novel that is a queer vampire fantasy. Once long ago, a girl named Favre sacrificed her wings for love. Thana, the young goddess she so willingly gave them up for, sacrificed that same love for power. But everything has a cost. Favre never got over the loss of her wings. And Thana’s choices led to a life of eternal night, and later, their destruction. Favre has bided her time ever since, waiting for the chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates. Now, a thousand years later, Leyla, the crown princess of the malichora—an ancient race that survives on human blood —must travel to the Island of the Dead when her best friend is captured during an attack on her nation’s capital. Along with Najja, a fierce, beautiful seer, and the last person she expected to help her, Leyla forges down a dangerous path, intent on saving her friend. But nothing is as it seems. The closer she gets to her goal, the more she risks awakening an ancient evil and destroying everything she holds dear. Set in the aftermath of a war between vampires, humans, and the gods that created them, Patrice Caldwell’s devastatingly romantic fantasy debut, Where Shadows Meet, centers the heart-wrenching pain of loss and the struggle of self-discovery to ask: do we choose our fates, or do our fates choose us?

The thing I loved most about this book, was the way Caldwell combined her love for mythology and vampires, which you don't often see in any sort of book, much less a romantic fantasy. I just thought this was utter perfection, in that the reader got a dichotomy of vampires and gods and the mortals trapped between them. It was really cool worldbuilding that I wish more authors would pursue.

Regardless, one little thing I had a problem with was the general pacing. I feel like the story slowed a little too often, or sped up to a pace that made it a little too hard to discern what was really happening. But that's really the only thing I had a complainant about.

Overall, this is a fantastic book. I loved every second of it, and I can't recommend it enough. Read this book now!