I struggled with this book and didn't end up finishing it. I don't think it was necessarily the writing or the story itself, it just didn't grab me and I couldn't keep going with it. Unfortunate because I was really anticipating it and have heard excellent things about this author.

I respectfully DNF @ 17% / 56 pages.

I very much liked the idea and was very intrigued by the magic system, but to be quite frank: Everything was so utterly confusing explained. Especially considering this is supposed to be YA.
I was hoping to understand more as the book progressed, but my confusion kept on growing because the plot was so hectic (the whole first chapter I was so lost like ?!?!) that nothing made sense for me. On top of all of that, the writing didn't really make it easier either.

I have no idea what's going on, who is who and what is what and to be honest I don't think that if I were to continue to read something I don't understand, it will magically make sense.

BOOK: UNTIL WE SHATTER
AUTHOR: KATE DYLAN
PUB DATE: OCTOBER 2024
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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I think this is the first time I'll like a book, but I didn't really like the main characters. I liked almost everything about this book. The MCs (although it was mainly one), Cemmy was understandably selfish, she was going through a lot on her own. But I admired that she would do anything for her mom and her friend. But, i still like her better. But Cassiel? I didn't like a thing about him. He was my least favorite character. I can't ever forgive him for what he did. My favorite characters were side characters, Eve and Ezzo.
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I like the world of Isitar, Shades and Hues. Some people had magic based on colors like Red, Orange etc. While Hues consists of people with mixed parenting of magic and typical parents. I loved the world building, but i didn't really understand it. This is not a fault of the author's because she talked about it extensively in the book. I just didn't get it. But, I liked that it was different. The main villains were the Council and the Church because they were all out for the Hues. Hues were the main characters in this book.
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And the main theme of the book, the heist. That was my favorite. It was well thought out, fast-paced, and engaging. I really liked it, how the team executed it and the ending. It was perfect, really.
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I liked this book. It was different. I also liked that there was nothing special about the FMC, Cemmy. She was just a girl dealing with the hand life dealt her, I might not have liked her, but I understood her.
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This was a very nice book, but i hope there's more to Isitar and Cemmy, I feel like there's something more to uncover.
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**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Until We Shatter is a book that has a whole spectrum of interesting ideas but is a bit too ambitious with just how many were thrown in so unfortunately missed the mark for me.

It takes place in a city split between those with magic (Shades/the Council) and those without (typics/the Church), where both parties are prejudiced against half-Shades (Hues). The protagonist Cemmy, is a Hue with the ability to manipulate physical objects in the incorporeal dimension – the Grey – that all magic users can phase in and out of. Thus in order to make ends meet for her and her ill mother, she works as a thief. On one particular job she gets caught and is coerced into partaking in a heist with another mysterious Hue called Chase to steal a powerful relic from the Church.

Now there are a lot of details to the worldbuilding and magic system, the latter involving different types of powers that are associated with colours which I was fascinated by but also confused with for a lot of the book. What each colour represents is very broad and there is a fair bit of info dumping. There is a part in the book where the specific Hue powers are categorised better but until that point it was quite hard to keep track of what was what. Additionally, I was just as confused about the whole jumping into the Grey aspect and by the end I still couldn’t fully grasp how exactly it worked.
That being said this in-between dimension was still really interesting especially with how Cemmy used it for her own little acts of thievery and it was quite a fun addition to a heist storyline too.

There was a nice found family in the book but I found I sadly wasn’t able to connect to all of the characters. We get to know Cemmy really well and aside from the fact that I was constantly facepalming at her decision making she was a likeable character. With regards to her rag-tag group of friends while there are backstory moments of how she met each person, I felt like more attention was given to their specific colours/powers than anything to really flesh out their individual personalities. Plus the pacing of the book is quick so scenes that show these already established relationships go by in the blink of an eye.
I found this was different with newly introduced characters though as I somehow felt more connected to Lyria (absolutely loved that there was deaf representation in this and the use of sign language!!) and even Chase had more on page characterisation. I personally think this came down to the single POV narrative and that we only see the characters through Cemmy’s eyes.

Coming back to Chase while I really liked his character the romance between him and Cemmy was not convincing at all. Their dynamic definitely worked but for the time frame of the story and the fact that the words “close proximity” were actually mentioned in the text to refer to their relationship (if I remember correctly) made it all feel superficial.

The whole Church vs Council thing while again an interesting concept wasn’t really explored as much as I thought it would be, it felt like background noise that piques your curiosity but didn’t fully become relevant to the plot until the big heist came about towards the end. And while the heist was good it was easy to guess how and what was going to happen.

Dylan is still a brilliant writer though, the atmosphere side of things and how she captured the different settings in this were the highlight for me. And my love for Mindwalker and Mindbreaker still stand so I look forward to reading what she puts out next!
Final Rating – 3.25/5 Stars

Until We Shatter by Kate Dylan is a captivating fantasy set in a unique world filled with colour magic, high-stakes heists, and intriguing lore.

Told from the POV of Cemmy, our fierce FMC, we follow her journey as a “hue” - the child of a Typic (mortal) and a Shade (a magic wielder).

Due to difficult circumstances, Cemmy often has to steal to get by. One day she’s approached by Sarivan, a rogue Shade who has tasked her with stealing from the Governors manse. What Cemmy doesn’t realise is that this heist will change her life - and her friends’ lives - forever.

The characters are skillfully written, and their vastly different personalities shine through beautifully, though I did wish for a bit more page time for some of the side characters to make me feel fully invested in them. With that said, the characters balanced each other out, and their personalities complemented each other really well.

There are a few poignant scenes around consent which I think is such an important topic and something that isn’t discussed enough beyond romance. This is definitely a rare and valuable theme in fantasy that deserves more attention!

60% of this book is the build up to the main heist, where the reader learns about the lore, magic systems and each of the characters power. But when I say, the last 40% was an emotional rollercoaster which has my heart in my throat, I mean it - I don’t know what Kate put in the last section of this book but I could NOT put it down!

If you’re into action-packed fantasy with themes of betrayal, found family, and a non-spicy enemies-to-lovers romance arc, Until We Shatter is a must-read!

This was my first Kate Dylan book, and I’m officially a fan. Her fast-paced style, complex characters, and worldbuilding brought the story to life - I’ll definitely be adding her other works to my TBR!

Well it wasn’t what I expected to be honest. I thought it was a longer book and it took me a while to get into it. I nearly DNF because of the informations dumping, I was lost a few times. And let’s talk about the magic system to this day I still don’t think I understood everything. For a book that was only 300 pages the system was way too complicate.
The characters were just meh nothing to really connect to them, to the point I couldn’t feel anything if one of them got injured or worst.

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy this book at all. The start of the book was very confusing and you just get thrown into the story with (for me) not enough information to understand completely what's going on. It didn't get much better further into the book, so unfortunately I didn't finish the book until the end, but stopped around 75%

i’m sorry this was just not my cup of tea 😭 why compare this book to six of crows when the only thing the two have in common is a heist 😔 the premise for the heist wasn’t very intriguing so i found myself bored until the 75% mark. throughout the book none of the characters have any real motivations imo. they’re just being threatened into complying so it was hard to be invested. only chase has a secret motivation which is revealed towards the very end.

the magic system is interesting but just kind of tedious imo 😔 the only character that feels developed to me is cemmy and she was so stupid sometimes i was so annoyed 😭

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley, however all opinions are my own.

So the reason I wanted to read this book is because I saw it on Netgalley and the story sounded really cool. Friends, I'm so glad I got chosen to read this. I loved almost everything about this book. First of all, the magic system was really cool and I'm really glad that there was a guide to explain each magic at the start (even though I didn't need it very often as the author kept explaining what each of their magics could do). The found family aspect book was incredible and made it all the more easier to empathise with each of side characters as well as Cemmy. The twists and turns of this book had me in a chokehold for most of the way through and I honestly think if I hadn't of been so sick this past week I would not of put this book down. The only downside to this story is I did feel like there were some parts which were a little drawn out for longer than they needed to be but the moment those parts were over we got back into the action - packed story. I would 100% recommend this to anyone who wants a good heist fantasy story and I will definitely be picking a copy of this book up!

(If you'd like to see more of my reviews please go to my blog:
https://doesden.blogspot.com/)

Thank you NetGalley and Hodderscape for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

2.5!

I have head a lot about Kate Dylan’s previous series, and so I was excited to read this one. There was a lot to like in this one—Cemmy is a competent main character and the crew itself is a band of misfits and the vibe is very fun. The magic was really neat and it’s a fast read. It feels rather nostalgic, and I think people who cut their teeth on YA fantasy from the early 2010s and miss books with that vibe will eat this up. The stakes feel pretty high and although the heist itself doesn’t take place until much later in the story than I had expected, the tension is well done.

However, I didn’t particularly feel attached to any of the characters—if anything, I thought the side characters felt underdeveloped compared to Cemmy and Chase (and I felt that Chase felt pretty underdeveloped compared to Cemmy). I cared little for the romance aspect and there is one scene where I can tell it’s supposed to have a big emotional impact but I struggled to feel strongly about it. The magic is complex but not super well explained, and while I was okay with that, I think people who like to get into the weeds of world building will be frustrated. While I found the book easy to read, I struggled to feel engaged with the prose. I don’t think this was poorly written or anything, but it felt like a mismatch between the author’s style and my personal preferences (I also struggle with first person a lot of the time, but alas). I’m sure there is an audience for this (I know a couple of people I would definitely recommend this to) but there wasn’t enough here for me to chew on, and at some point it became really annoying to be in Cemmy’s head.

I am the violence the world made of me.

Until We Shatter is essentially a heist story that has the benefit of magic. The main character, Cemmy, is stuck between two magical forces who want to kill her for her magic. She is dragged into a heist to help her sick mother, but the situation is much bigger than all that, and everyone's safety is at risk. The involvement of a man with questionable loyalties and motives does not make anything easier. What can she do to help the situation and survive?

The magic system, named by color designations, felt interesting and new, but I do think that I never fully understood how it worked and should have made myself some sort of cheat sheet. On several occasions when there was heavy magic use, I felt myself thinking, "Okay, so I guess that's how it works?

Thanks to Kate, Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape, and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

The premise of color magic is intriguing and fun. Yet, I think the author was trying too hard to elaborate on the complexity of that magic system that it made it too confusing to follow. I was lost about the shades and the grays; it wasn’t explained in a way that was comprehensible. I felt that the author had this rich world in their head and I unfortunately was not able to enjoy the vision that the author set out to share.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for honest review. This is a super fun upper YA heist story. There is a lot to love about this, the found family, the queer rep, the unique magic system, the politics and religion all add to create some interesting world building. I would have loved for interactions between Cemmy and her friends, and the romance was a bit underdeveloped. But overall very fun and worth a read.

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I liked the premise of it, and I feel like the story had potential, but the magic system and world building were just so over complicated, which made it very difficult to follow. I was so confused between Hues, Typics, Shades, metals, gems, the Church, the Council... even at the end I was still not clear. It was all very complicated considering that the events of the book take place within a week, and all within the same city, so it wasn't even that the whole world was like that. I didn't like Cemmy much, but I understood her motivation was keeping her friends and mother safe. I was confused about Chase being the love interest, as I thought it would be Novi, but there was not really that much chemistry between either of them.

As I said, I feel like it had potential, but I would have liked it better if the characters had been more developed, or if their relationships and friendships were shown more, as I would have felt more connected to them. I guess a couple of the plot twists but was definitely surprised by others, and I feel like the ending was the best part, as not that much happened during the rest of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape, and Kate Dylan for the chance to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

You can sell anything with a good marketing strategy. Including selling readers on a misleading blurb that declares this book an "epic heist fantasy" that combines Six of Crows and a V.E. Schwab novel.

Spoiler alert: it's not, and it doesn't.

Where Six of Crows balances a deeply immersive world with dynamic characters and a fleshed-out plot, the world-building in Until We Shatter is subpar and convoluted, and the actual "heisting" is left almost as a last resort at the tail end of the novel.

The one thing Dylan's book has going for it is the strength of its writing style, and even this is called into question as the world's magic system makes zero sense, the characters' decisions have no real weight or urgency to them, and the heist itself STILL is a mystery to me.

While this novel was entertaining, it did not meet the demands of this genre, and will undoubtedly be left in the dust as newer and richer novels emerge in the future.

Thank you to the publisher for this e-arc.

Enjoyable, but reads more like YA than adult.
The magic system was very interesting, and I enjoyed the premise and the prose of the story.
Unfortunately, the plot had way too many plot holes for me to properly enjoy, and I honestly didn’t really love any of the characters.
Overall, an okay read.

2.5/5 stars

Thank you Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book! The magic and the characters were so cool! The color magic and how each of the colors means a different kind of magic was fascinating and it was so interesting. It took me quite a while to finish this but I blame the fact that I haven’t finished a physical book in 2 months 😂 Once I hit a certain point I didn’t want to put it down. It went so fast after the halfway point. It’s also crazy this book happens over the course of a week because so much happens. The twists and turns were really well done! I loved the romance even though it wasn’t a huge plot point. I’d pitch this as a fantasy with a sub plot of romance. After reading this I’m curious about reading Kate’s other books!

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Dylan, and Hodder and Stoughton for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What a wild ride, Kate Dylan is the master of fast paced and thrilling reads. Following the great sci fi pair of MINDWALKER and MINDBREAKER, this is a fantasy heist following the stubborn and determined main character Cemmy. UNTIL WE SHATTER features a unique magic system where magic users come in one of many "Shades", each with their own powers. In a world where these Shades are under persecution from the non-magic "Typics" and their church, the children of both types of types (half Shade, half Typic), like Cemmy and her friends, are illegal and hunted by both groups. As Cemmy remains in hiding, stealing to buy medicine for her gravely ill mother, she takes a job she can't quite pull off. This throws she and her friends into a thrilling heist where the consequence of failure is shattering.

With diverse characters and something new at every turn, this is great for fans of SIX OF CROWS. It is similar in terms of lovable characters and desperately high stakes, but Cemmy is somehow more stubborn and has a tendency to do first, think it through later. I loved this book, and congratulations to Kate Dylan on it's successful release!

Some books are just not for you as a reader and this was one of them. I was so excited to read this and it just didn’t hook me the way that I wanted it to. Objectively, the writing was good, the characters weren’t bad. I just didn’t feel that connection that I was so looking forward to. It could be a case of right book at the wrong time since I can’t really explain why I didn’t connect. It had all of the elements that I enjoy, it just wasn’t memorable for me. I have had other books like this in the past where I can go back later on and re read them with no expectation and I tend to enjoy them more. So I would like to try that with this one. Kate Dylan is an author that I hear rave reviews about from some of my favorite authors so I hope that is the case. I will be returning to this later to try again, so for now I’m gonna leave this here rate it in the middle since I have to leave a rating until I feel 100 percent that I can be as objective as possible.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodderscape, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I truly loved this book! I found the magic system to be so unique and fascinating while easy to understand and follow, and it was intriguing the entire time. The storyline of the main character and her friends felt realistic and filled with varying levels of love, angst, terror, and shifting alliances. I think the author dove into each character just enough to bring the reader to care about each of them and start to understand them, at least as much as the main character had an understanding of them herself.

The storyline was super engaging and kept me guessing the motives and backstories of the characters we are introduced to. It felt thrilling and exciting and had twists I never saw coming.

I really loved this book and hope others will give it a chance!