Hello Blogging World!

Jonny

Howdy folks! I’m Jonny and I want a baby Valderex all my own. Is there a baby Cthulhu I can adopt? It would be sooo cute!

Misty

It’s me again, Misty. I think I’ll leave the Valderex in their own world thank you!!

This buddy read and rant is for Shadow War (Shadow Walker #4) by Jina Bazzar.

Blurb:

The stakes have risen, and I don’t think I can pay the price.
Not only am I wanted by every faction, but the Resistance is closer than ever to reaching their goal.
Not. My. Problem. My plans are simple: run and hide. I have no dillusions of grandeur, nor do I care enough to help.
But when I’m offered a clean slate in exchange of completing one task for the Coalition, I can’t help but fall for the temptation.
What I find, however, is so far from what I expect, it is not even on the list of possibilities.

Don’t miss the explosive conclusion to Melaina’s story! Perfect for fans of K. M. Shea, Lindsay Buroker, Jennifer Estep, Shannon Mayer and many more!

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Bookshop.org

***Brief disclosure***

Jonny is an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate and earns a tiny commission for purchases made through the links in this post. It’s a great way to help him keep things running on his blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

Buddy Read Book Rant:

Jonny

Thanks for finishing out this series with me, bestie! What’d you think overall? I think what we got was a satisfying ending, though I do think that the last two books could’ve maybe been just one book.

Misty

Thank you for suggesting it in the first place. Overall it was enjoyable. I had a great time being in this world and getting to know the characters. The romance was probably the best part for me.

I do still stand by what I said I believe in our previous discussion about how I think it would have been better as a duology because everything was kind of a little to same same in some aspects. But despite that I was still invested in the story as a whole.

Also it was action packed from page one of the first book all the way to the end of this book which made them very quick reads. The ending of this one did feel a little bit rushed and I would have liked more of the after but again still had a great time with it.

Jonny

No problem. I really wanted to read something that had been on my TBR but got overlooked.

I agree with you! The romance actually kept me going, that and the nonstop superpowered battle scenes. The combo of both kept things interesting for the most part, and I’m definitely not going to forget this series anytime soon. I like that this series has appeal for action and romance lovers.

Yeah, I felt that way about the ending as well. It felt very quick and I was kind of taken aback. Maybe a couple more pages at the end would’ve helped, but it did end on a good note and that made me pretty happy.

How did you feel about the Valderex? We don’t get to see much of them until this book. I actually really loved the inclusion of them. It gave the book a creature feature feel, but they were sentient and smart, which kind of set them apart. I also loved how creative Bazzar got with their bizarre anatomy and abilities.

Misty

Yeah the first book had been on my TBR for a while and I just kept overlooking it for other books. I’m glad I’ve finally read the whole series.

Yeah I’m glad it ended well n a happy note. I actually kind of figured it would I just didn’t know what it would look like.

As for the Valderex I both felt sorry for them as well as hated them. Like I hated the way the humans were treating them. No one deserves that but I could say the same thing about what they did to the humans. I did enjoy getting a glimpse into them in this book.

Jonny

Same! Every time I see a nice cover I get totally blindsided. 😵

Oh me too. A bad ending would’ve been way too sad after all Mel and Brad have been through. That and the world would pretty much end with the super high stakes.

Right! It was tough because you could understand both sides of things. The humans were awful, but so were the Valderex. I feel that this last book just showed that the two worlds aren’t compatible and it’s just best to let the Valderex have their crazy world and the humans have theirs.

Oh, something else I really liked this time was the connection between Mel and her “beast”, especially near the end. I felt that that part of her was fully explored and them coming to a sort of understanding gave a sense of finality to her understanding her powers. I also loved the hint that the Umbra can have different versions of beasts. It’s not uniform but unique for each person.

Misty

Oh for sure the same!!

I agree and to be honest I probably would have hated it if it didn’t end in a happy way.

They definitely should both stay to their own worlds and leave each other alone.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. I like that she embraced her beast and her beast embraced her and it didn’t end up being as bad as it was made out to be from the past.

Jonny

Yeah, bad endings just don’t inspire hope and can be a real bummer.

Yes! They can each have their own worlds, but just need to leave each other alone because they’re gonna destroy everything otherwise.

Right. We had all these scary stories that Mel was told from the past and she only had inklings and slight feelings from her beast form to go off of. I’m glad it ended up okay and they had more in common than they thought.

What do you think her future will be like? I can see her and Bradley having a family and her running her own house and promoting peace among the breed and mundanes. Maybe that’s what we were missing. A flash forward at the end to where she currently is and how the world is heading towards a better direction. It’s implied, but it would’ve been nice to see a glimpse.

Misty

Yeah she was just going off of what has been said about Umbras from the past and she didn’t want that to be her outcome but I’m glad it was revealed that not all was what it seemed.

I see her running House Umbra, her and Bradley at of course end game and they have a family of their own. Yeah I would have like a little bit of a flash forward just to see if the changes that were eluded to in this book actually made a difference.

Jonny

It was just more myths and superstitions messing with her head, ugh! I’m happy she was able to prove it false and hopefully she can get the word out about her experiences so people stop demonizing Umbras so much.

That’s what I’m hoping for too.

I really enjoyed reading this with you. I’ll probably have to take a break until July with my crazy June schedule of author events, but I’m excited to see what we pick next!

Misty

Yeah I think she’s a very determined person so I see her getting more and more people on her side.

I had fun as well. Thanks for another great buddy read. Honestly I might have to take a break from buddy reads until September with all of my crazy summer reading plans.

Jonny

Oh, for sure. She’ll have people with all kinds of abilities in her house and definitely most of the Umbras.

No problem! Yeah, that’s totally understandable. Either way, I’m happy to live vicariously through you!

Misty

Thank you for another great buddy read. I have so much fun doing these with you. Whenever you’re ready again just shoot me a message and I’ll let you know if I can fit one in.

Jonny

Anytime! I’ll be in touch. Until next time, bestie!

That’s A Wrap!

Thanks for joining us on our buddy read and rant of Shadow War! We had a lot of fun, and hope you did too! We will definitely be doing some more buddy reads in the future, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, why not check out Misty and Jonny’s other fun buddy reads?

Buddy Read: Shadow Flames

Buddy Read: Shadow Pawn

Buddy Read: Shadow Walker

Buddy Read: Slewfoot

Buddy Read: Cemetery Boys

Buddy Read: Ravensong

Buddy Read: Wolfsong

Buddy Read: Magic Bites

Buddy Read: The First to Die at the End

Buddy Read: They Both Die at the End

Buddy Read: Under the Whispering Door

Buddy Read: The Burning World

Buddy Read: Warm Bodies

Buddy Read: The Wicked Deep

Buddy Read: The Locke & Key Series

Buddy Read: Dark Lover

Buddy Read: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Supervillain

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