2.5 rounded up 🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑

I had high hopes for this one because the premise was right up my alley but I struggled. I struggled from the end of the first chapter all the way through. I wasn’t vibing with the characters and found the magic system hard to keep track of. I hoped for better but sadly it never just clicked for me.

A witchy heist, a colour based magic system and the found family trope? Of course I was going to love this!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC

I was really intrigued by the magic system and multi dimensional world stuff- something actually new and refreshing (at least for me)
But with interesting stuff comes world building... and it wasn't terrible... but it wasn't great either.
It was more naturally explained as the story went on, but the first couple chapters I felt very info dumped and struggled a lot to get into the story. The info dump just felt clunky and confusing.

Come for the world/magic system and stay for the plot.
I love an adventure, I love twists, I love fast pace, I love some romance sub plot- this story had it all.

I really wanted to enjoy this but ended up DNFing. The magic system is overly complicated, I could not understand it

You tell me heist story and I’m there. Unfortunately, I don’t think I was in the right mood for it. I struggled to keep engaged, and while the magic was unique, which I always love, it was also very confusing to understand and took me most of the book to finally get comfortable with. Once I did I was really able to appreciate how clever it is, and I applaud the author for coming up with it. It just took far too long to understand.

I also wish I had liked the characters more. Such a diverse cast of characters is always appreciated, including disability rep, but I was never able to get attached to them. I liked the writing, the plot, even the magic once I got used to it. I just never grew to like the characters enough to care about what was happening to them.

One thing I believe this book would really have benefited from is some sort of chart to help understand that magic better. Maybe at the end to avoid spoilers, but it would have really been helpful with trying to understand how all this magic worked.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for the E-ARC in exchange for a review.

This book had a tighter grip on me than Cemmy’s fear of The Grey has on her.

Found Family
Lost Friends
Magical Heist
Misinformation
Colour Based Magic

The story follows Cem, a thief who can travel via the In-Between, unseen by the Typics. But she can only phase in and out at certain points of the day and if she gets stuck in the In-Between, she will shatter and there is no coming back from that. One evening she is breaking in to an office and the next thing she knows she’s entangled in a web of lies, being blackmailed into a heist and lives are on the line.

But Cem has never been properly trained on how to use her magic and she’s having to learn along the way.

The story is fast paced, full of twists and turns and just when you think Cem understands what’s going on, the poor girl has the rug pulled out from under her again.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC

In all honesty, it was the cover that first attracted me to the book. Then having read the synopsis it really captured my interest.
I haven’t yet read any of the authors previous works, so I went into this one with no expectations, as a first time reader of hers.

On the whole, I enjoyed this one. There were pros and cons to the book, but on reflection, I found myself thinking about it after I’d finished, and thought how much I’d like to see more of the world the author has created.

It’s definitely a full on, hit the ground running kind of book. Which makes for a great reading experience as you’re thrown straight in.
I really did enjoy the Magic System in the story, the author went full on with the world building and intricacies involved. Absolutely fascinated by it.
My only complaint (and this may have just been me), I found it quite overwhelming initially, as much as I found it intriguing, it took me a while to get to grips with it. (I did have to refer back to refresh my memory occasionally). This didn’t affect my enjoyment of it in the slightest!
The characters, were well thought through and developed. There was great thought given to the relationships of the characters and the dynamics were fascinating. Each of them with their own secrets and motivations that really drove the story forward.
I really hope to see more from this truly immersive world.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

“I am the violence the world made of me.”

Kate Dylan never misses! I read her duology at the beginning of the year and when I saw she was releasing a new book? I could not wait to be able to read it.

Although I was slightly slow to understand it all, I adored Kate's magical system because it was so intricate and unique. The colour magic and its different variations were so interesting to learn. The world-building and storytelling make for a very enjoyable read and I was HOOKED.

We can always count on Kate do surprise us with all the twists and turns. And to say I was screaming at my book until the early hours of the morning because I could not put it down is an understatement. I can't wait to see what Kate comes up with next

This book is a MUST read for fantasy lovers

Thank you NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and Kate Dylan for the eARC!

I took a while to read this. Had to put it down for a bit to process. But I really enjoyed this. Really enjoyed it.

I was hooked!

The colour based magic system was actually quite complex and in the early part of the book I had to keep going back and reminding myself what is what. I do think this could benefit from a glossary and I actually wrote myself a note on all the colours and variations to refer back to. However, for me this wasn’t detracting at all and the complexity kept me changing all my theories and predictions. It was fast paced and high stakes and I absolutely loved it.

I loved the found family, though I must say I wasn’t overly attached to any of the side characters, but I did really enjoy Cemmy’s character. You have to remember these are young adults who haven’t had many others in their life to learn from or trust, so her decisions, thoughts and reactions are totally reasonable. I fell for Chase immediately, he was another complex character and I loved the blooming romance forming. I was utterly hooked from around the 65% point and bungee the entire rest of the book. As a serial plot and twist predictor I actually saw everything coming, but it was written so well I still got an element of shock factor just through how it all played out.

Overall I gave this book 4.5⭐️ which I’ve rounded up. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this book I was struggling to grasp the magic initially and because I didn’t connect with side characters I knocked off half a star. It other than that it was practically perfection and my favourite read this month so far.

This just wasn't for me, and I'm really sad about it. The cover is beautiful and premise sounded familiar, but really good. Unfortunately, though, I didn't click with the writing from page one. This is very much a me problem and not a book problem. I just don't usually vibe with modern-feeling language in second world fantasy settings.

I pushed through, because sometimes you can get past a narrative voice that isn't clicking if you really love the characters and the world, but I found the magic system pretty confusing from the jump, and it never fully made sense to me. Again, pretty sure I'm just too stupid for the book, but it hindered my enjoyment. The plot also felt pretty familiar, which meant that there wasn't a lot of intrigue to pull me through the book. Ultimately, I think this was a case of right book, wrong reader, so I wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from reading it. I know a lot of people are loving this one, and I'm so happy for them! I wish that was me.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for granting me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Until We Shatter is an engrossing fantasy book centered around an impossible heist, set in a fascinating world of colorful magic and featuring a brilliant cast of misfits in a kinda messy found-family situation.

Originally known as the “rainbow book”, it definitely lived up to its original title. The magical system is layered and charming in all its aspects, even if a bit too complex to fully grasp from time to time: the idea of associating different powers to each color of the rainbow, and having said powers muted or transformed in those born from a magical and a nonmagical parent, was not only delightfully done, but also served to reflect and highlight a very rigid hierarchy (both in terms of magical ability and social status).

The main concept around which the world is built is one that never fails to be captivating, especially for its realisticity: the conflict between an extremist religion using their faith to justify their never-ending hate on those gifted with magic, and the government body of said people (who constantly decides to sacrifice the weakest of them just go give the Church a scapegoat and pretend that they are better, that they are the "good", in hope of living another day), was so well-built. Telling the story from the point of those outcasts, showing the life they are forced to live for the only crime of being born with half the magic, was a beautiful narrative choice.

The plot was so enjoyable and entertaining: I really liked how each meeting, each exchange of the world, each action and difficult choice ended up reflecting on the overall story, slowly collecting all the pieces that would complete it – and that ended up creating the perfect setting for some extremely gut-wrenching and yet superbly clever twists.

But while the story flows well and the narrative rhythm harmonizes perfectly fast-paced sections related to the heist and more relaxed scenes focus on handling and deepening the complex and beautiful relationships between the characters, their growth and evolution in the midst of a such a multi-faced plot, depth was exactly what was missed from this story.

The prose was sometimes a bit superficial, less atmospheric than its setting required and lacking that level of emotional weight and dramatic attention to feelings I would expect from a story that invests so much on its characters. And due to the choice of having a first-person prose so focused on its main character, the rest of the cast felt a bit dull in comparison - still, they are such lovely and interesting characters, that have flaws and make mistakes and still care so much about each others, and even if some of them are less defined that I would have loved it was impossible to not end up letting them into my heart.

Until We Shatter
Fantasy
Kate Dylan
⭐️⭐️⭐️. 5

• ʜᴇɪꜱᴛ • ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ꜰᴀᴍɪʟʏ • ᴍᴀɢɪᴄ •

I wanted to like this book so much but I was disappointed, to be honest.

The magic system was so complicated and intricate that it did confuse me at times.

The characters were ok but I didn't really relate to any of them. I did like the found family trope and the bond between the characters.

The pacing was fast and the world building was quite heavy. There was so much going on for the first quarter that it became too much. It would've been a lot better if it was slowly introduced and explored more throughout the book rather than such an info dump early on.

I liked the plot twists, although some were quite predictable.

I'm sure other readers would enjoy this book, though.

*Thank you to @Netgalley, the author, and the publishers for providing this ARC. This is my own opinion and an honest review, which I am leaving voluntarily*

I loved the premise, and I wanted so badly to love the book. But with major plot holes, not great world building and a magic system that was so complicated I don't even know if a magic chart would have helped me I just couldn't truly love this book. The characters were hard to relate to so this made everything thing fall even more flat for me. Although the writing was beautiful it just felt too complicated, too hard to follow and required way to much concentration - my tried brain at the end of the night likes a reading journey that allows me to easily (that's the key) escape into rich worlds with relatable characters.

A full on, fast paced, found family heist with an interesting take on propaganda and the effect it can have on people.

I really enjoyed the heist part of this, as well as the dynamics between Cemmy and her created family - all were complicated characters with their own motivations and secrets.

The magic system is unique and fascinating, although especially for the first 20% very overwhelming- I kept having to re read bits and take breaks because of how much information was coming at me. It did ease up after the first chunk though and became gripping once the plot (and all the things that go wrong) fully kicks in

The exploration of the way information flow can affect people, lead them astray and create fear and strife was great to read as the story progressed and more and more secrets and their implications were uncovered.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A found family, an impossible heist and Cemmy is between the grey and a bad place. Shades and Typics are just about coexisting in Isitar but Hues, half Typic and half shade are hunted everywhere. Cemmy and her friends, her family, are forced to into an impossible heist or death. Cemmy’s secret has been shattering her found family for the last year and the two new Hues might just be the reasons she loses everything.

The writing flows really nicely and can almost be lyrical at times. However, the amount of world building was not helpful nor enticing. At 20% of the way through I was seriously considering DNF’ing this book. I feel like a lot of it could have easily been imbedded into later parts of the story and it would have been a better read.
I really enjoyed the heist, the middle was a brilliant read and I couldn’t put it down. The ending again let it down, there are so many questions left unanswered, it’s as though none of the side characters were fleshed out or even given an ending.

I’m glad I stuck with it but I was left disappointed at the end and wouldn’t recommend it to a friend. I gave it a 3 because I enjoyed the writing and loved the middle and overall plot. It’s just missing too much for me to give it anymore.

I don't know what happened but I just did not get along with this book, I really did try but ended on a DNF - As someone who loved Six of Crows, Shadow and bone etc this heist should have easily pulled me in, but fell flat as a re work of other books. This could absolutely work for other readers so if you are interested I would suggest looking at other reviews - I enjoyed Kate Dylans writing style, but execution wasn't for me unfortunately.

This authors writing is elegant yet simple which made this book very enjoyable. The characters were fun and there was great tension! And who doesn't love a good magical heist!

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

This story centers around Cemmy a young woman navigating a perilous world where magic is both a blessing and a curse. Hunted by the Church for her abilities and targeted by the Council of Shades for her perceived lack thereof, Cemmy's life is fraught with danger. To save her sick mother, she ends up turning into a thief.

When presented with a seemingly impossible heist that could solve all her problems, Cemmy finds herself entangled in a dangerous game. The novel's richly detailed world-building and captivating magic system kept me hooked, though I initially struggled to understand it.
I really enjoyed learning about the found family, I just wished their presence had been more sustained throughout the story. I wanted to know even more about this mischief group and understand more of their personalities.

I appreciated the main character's flaws, which added a layer of realism. It was satisfying to experience moments of frustration and disapproval towards her. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed the romantic tension and the underlying secrets that they both keep from each other The hate-love dynamic between the characters created an entertaining dynamic.

While the writing was engaging and often left me on the edge of my seat, I did find some of the plot twists to be a bit predictable. Additionally, especially in the early chapters, there were moments where the story felt too much like Six of Crows.
Overall, Until We Shatter is a captivating story with a compelling protagonist and a beautifully crafted world. I would have appreciated more depth in certain areas, but the novel's strengths undoubtedly outweigh its minor flaws.

I really ended up enjoying this book! The magic system was definitely complex, but unique! The characters were well written and likeable! It was full of action, political intrigue and hints of romance! I look forward to reading more books from this author!