Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Spark Publishing for this ARC of *In the Name of Honor* by Clarke and Courtney Collins.

I ultimately decided to DNF this book at 60%, which was not an easy choice. It took me a long time to get that far, and I kept holding on, hoping the story would finally deliver on its potential, however this was just not the right fit.

*In the Name of Honor* presents a narrative that many may find appealing, but for me, it fell short. The pacing is extremely slow, and while I can appreciate a slow-burn romance, the plot felt stretched too thin, making it difficult to stay engaged. I wanted to connect with the characters and their relationships, but the gradual development felt more drawn out than immersive.

That being said, I can see how readers who enjoy intricate world-building with well-crafted settings and gradual storytelling might find something to love here. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me. For readers who are patient with character arcs and plot-progression, this might still be worth exploring; however, for those seeking immediate engagement or action-packed sequences, it may not be the best fit.

Eh, I probably should have DNF'd this book. The plot was fine, but for some reason I felt like I was slogging through the entire read. The characters felt very one dimensional and I didn't feel an emotional connection to any of them. I'm also super confused why this is part of a series as it seemed to come to a conclusion at the end. The whole thing was fine, but I don't think this is a series I'll be continuing.

I enjoyed reading this book took a while to get into but I did! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

A classic good vs evil fantasy with a little bit of romance, this was a fun read. The romance was developed right from the beginning and done really well. The plot in general wasn't something I personally loved, but I'm sure other people would enjoy this more.

I was excited to read this book because I love the genre, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite land for me. While it had the right elements on paper, I struggled to connect with the plot. I kept hoping it would pick up, but in the end, it just wasn’t for me.

That said, I can see how readers who enjoy lots of world building elements in the style of Lord of the Rings might have a better experience with it. While it wasn’t my cup of tea, I appreciate the opportunity to read an early copy, thanks Courtney & Clarke Collins.

Thank you Shadow Spark and NetGalley for the ARC!

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this. While it was a compelling plot, I felt that it was just a mix and re-telling of already existing epic fantasy stories. The characters also felt one dimensional. Overall the writing also did not grab me since it was a lot of "telling" and not "showing."

I made it to about 25% before I put the book down and just never came back to it. I don't know if it was the pacing of the story or what, but I never felt compelled to pick it back up again.

There were a few parts of the book that I did enjoy but overall I wasn’t really feeling the book. So much was going on it was hard to focus on the main plot when so much confusing info/characters were introduced every few chapters. The world building and character were overall lacking

This fantasy follows reads as YA (not in a bad way) and takes you on a great adventure. The characters are lovable and the plot makes you want to know what happens next. That said, the novel fell flat for me. There were times everything moved too fast, like the end, and moments where everything dragged on. I enjoyed the multi POV but feel like we got to know some characters better than others, I want to know about Dimitir and Olaf’s history! Who IS Ral and WHAT is Karn?
Thank you Net Galley for the opportunity to read this eARC.

Really enjoyed reading this Tolkienesque tale about love, honour and war.
The characters had a lot of depth and the story was just the right amount of adventurous to be a cozy read.
I really like reading books written by multiple authors. This was not an exception here as well. The picturesque writing, detailed character sketches and the constant pace of the narrative kept this story interesting for me. I would love to read more by these authors.

I really loved this book! The fantasy world was very well written and the plot was well thought out. And the romance was so good!

From the first page I knew that I was going to enjoy this book. It’s a very rich fantasy world, with a lot of very interesting and loveable characters.

There’s found family and a wholesome slow burn romance; Alternating povs kept this fast paced and entertaining throughout.

I have to point out that I love when I’m reading a new fantasy world and it’s just queer…there’s no need to talk about it being a ‘thing’; It’s not political or debated in anyway at all, it just exists. More of this in 2025 please!

I did find that towards the latter half, the flow of the story became a little bit choppy. However, I was reeled back in by the the incredible imagery of battle and an ending that had me kicking my feet!

I absolutely will be continuing on with this trilogy, and can’t wait for the next instalment to be released!

I could not put this story down. I stayed up so late to be able to finish it. It was an incredible story of love, loss, and growth!

A pretty standard romantasy book following a princess and her guard. The writing style of Courtney and Clarke was decent and easy to follow, however there were aspects of the character development and character types that I struggled to logically understand in the circumstances.

Oh, this was really good. Fellow fantasy lovers will love this!
What to expect:
• elves, goblins, humans, & the corrupted
• high stakes / good vs. evil
• charming, noble knights
• strong & fierce fmc
• funny, lovable, & diverse group of main & side characters (disability & LGBTQIA+ rep)
• a sweet romance aspect that will leave you wanting more
I can't wait to see where book 2 takes us!

I thought I would enjoy this book more than I did. I felt it wasn’t giving the Lord of the Rings vibes everyone was saying but I was getting D&D feelings from it. I think it just fell a bit flat for me and think it’s more of a fine tuning thing. I didn’t feel like I was really connecting with the character and I found Olaf’s dialogue quite frustrating, this could be though that I felt they were trying to put a Scottish twang to some words with some phrases used and they weren’t written how they would be said. There’s nothing really wrong in particular with the book just think for me personally it just missed the mark.

Probably one of the easiest 5 star reads I’ve come across in a while. It was such an immersive tale, with loveable characters and a great, enchanting plot. It was so beautifully written, with each characters’ arc developing naturally as the story unfolded. 💛

In the Name of Honor is a very traditional fantasy novel with all of your typical roles; the knight, the princess, the guard, the royals and the great evil.

Had the opportunity to read the Arc of this book and I loved the experience. Such a good book!! I will definitely be reading the next books.

Grateful for the opportunity to read this ARC. I can safely say I enjoyed it. It was quite a traditional fantasy novel- with Kaleela’s FMC character a delight to read. Although, I’ll caveat that this fantasy’s book plot wasn’t anything different to the regular fantasy books that I’ve read. Perhaps I’ve just read too many recently though.

Thanks to NetGalley & Shadow Spark Publishing for an eARC of this book. The following review is my honest opinion.

1 star feels too harsh so I bumped it up to two for the premise and initial description of this book but I was incredibly disappointed with the execution - it just felt very....bland, I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters or the overarching story. It had all the makings of a terrific fantasy series but I feel that this book is a mishmash of ingredients from previous epic fantasy's that have come before it (LOTR, ASoIaF, Wheel of Time etc). I struggled through this book which in all honesty I should have DNF'd.
This was all tell and no show, the main characters were flat and actually a bit lifeless. Olaf was supposed to be 25 but spoke down to the main MC as though he were 50 something. The main MC had no personality, he had a lot of honour though as we kept being told, and the main FC was haughty and innocent at the same time. There were too many descriptions of throne rooms and suits of armour and not any actual story development.

I always enjoy the POV style layout of fantasy books but this one felt strenuous with certain characters, we were not left guessing about the ‘bad guys’ motives either as we had a front row seat to that through a characters POV which I’m guessing this was supposed to build tension but the writing style let it down.

Also the names felt wholly ridiculous to me (and that’s hilarious coming from someone who reads a lot of fantasy) Dimitar???

All in all, not terrible but it feels done so many times before and could do with a better writing style.