Gold Shadow by L.C. Perry

Rating: ⭐⭐

“... there was no way she could go back. In her mind, there were only two choices: Escape alive or die trying.”

The only life eighteen-year-old Ebony has ever known is that of a slave. Living in what they call a root city, she spends her days underground, having seen the sun only a handful of times. Only being able to stomach the life she leads for so long, she devises a plan to end it all. Ebony gets the surprise of her life when, as she’s enacting her plans, she encounters rebels from the world above. Originally thinking her only choices were a life of misery or death, she’s suddenly faced with an option she never thought she’d have: escape to freedom. 

Honestly, it was a struggle to make it to the end of this book. If it were only the countless grammatical errors appearing on every other page, I could maybe look past them. Sadly, there are many other issues. The writing, for one, is completely contradictory between the narration and the dialogue. The conversations between characters is almost embarrassing to read because of how juvenile and ridiculous it sounds compared to the more sophisticated prose of the narrator’s voice. Additionally, the plot is static except for the beginning when she escapes and the end of the book. It also doesn’t help that there’s virtually no world-building to give the reader a sense the world and society in which the characters are living (very angry, shallow characters I might add). Oh, and because the story does this, let me randomly throw in here that there’s a second perspective told from Princess Irene whose role is confusing at best and irrelevant until the very end of the story. 

The only reason I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 is because the underlying concept of the story makes a thinly veiled attempt at being somewhat interesting. Otherwise, my overall opinion of Gold Shadow falls as flat as the characters.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.