Scales of Ice and Shadow - Emily Schneider

★★★★☆

Character driven and a ruthless tyrant I love to hate.

Kaida and Prince Tarrin flee to the outlands beyond Eklos’ reach and prepare to destroy him … or so they think

Narrative Voice: 1st person (multiple)
Cussing/profanity: 0/5
Drug/alcohol use: 0/5
Kissing: 3/5
Sex/nudity: 0/5
Violence/gore: 3/5

First of all, I put off reading the sequel after finishing the first book. I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance in Ash and Smoke, not because it didn’t work but because I felt their physical affections slightly bordered more on lust than love. Ice and Shadow is still that way, but now Kaida and Tarrin are no longer enemies, and 80% of their relationship is quite sweet and works well, and I enjoyed it more than book 1. Eklos is such a hateful villain with no problems being violent in everything as he wants to watch the world burn.

The plot is very simple: stay hidden, get to this place and overthrow Eklos, and lots of traveling. But SOIAS clearly has its own story and does not at all feel like a filler book like some trilogies suffer from. While I prefer wilder goals and quests, the character-driven aspect makes up for it. We get more than just two POVs this time around—five, in fact—so the characters really deepened for me as I read from their perspectives. And I still didn’t get lost in who I was reading. Big plus.

There were two points my mouth dropped open in shock, which is always a pleasant surprise.

Again, while I’d consider this a clean romantasy, I could have gone without the subtle lustiness.

4/5 would recommend