Another book that was talked about by a booktokker I follow is the newest book by Lynette Noni called Shadow Reaper; it has been released about two months ago. Now, I haven’t seen it that much on booktok yet and I don’t really know why because this book is very good.

What you need to know; Elverdine Isle is where this story takes place in a city called Aravell that has been plagued by black mist, this mist will cause death when it touches you. There are four Obelisks; on the North, East, South and Western most part of the Isle to keep the black mist at bay, but these Obelisks need Magic to keep their wards strong. That’s why, at the age of 14 children are legally obligated to surrender their given magic, only a drop will remain since you need that to stay alive.

Viridia Solace commonly known to her friends as Viri is a hunter. Normally kids don’t graduate as a hunter until they turn 18 but Viri excelled and was able to graduate at 17 being the youngest hunter and the one the shadow reapers all knew about because of her skillset in capturing them. Hunters all carry a mark that will heat up when a Reaper is close by and it’ll burn when a reaper is in close proximity draining a child of it’s Ellixen. Late at night, while every merchant had long closed its doors was when Viri went on her hunt, the only thing still open was a bar and she knew upon approaching that something shady was going on.

Once the reaper was captured and arrangements were made for the surviving kids to be brought home where as someone will be notifying the family of the deceased child about what happened. The next day Viri learns of the arrest of the Reaper Priests right hand man Reeve Ashton. With her drive to find the reaper priest so she can avenge her parents she asks her best friend Soren to take her to his cell which he does but she doesn’t get the answers she’s looking for because he’ll only answer once she frees him from his prison which is tempting. What nobody knows is that she’s known Reeve from a young age and they were once best friends until he chose to follow the reaper priest after her parents were murdered by him.

Viri found out that a large number of children went missing without a trace and that it has something to do with an approaching comet and the kids would be sacrificed by the reaper priest which set her brain in motion. The only way to find him is to free Reeve and consequences be damned, she will find those kids and but an end to the priest.

With a jailbreak that didn’t really go according to plan they finally find a place to lay low a bit and for Reeve to fulfill his side of the bargain only to find out he doesn’t have the answers she’s looking for but is willing to help her on this quest. Letting her meet with his friends, fellow Shadow reapers Sage, Taylor and Ardin who chose to only syphon from each other and not from innocent children learning there is a whole group within the reapers that are doing this instead.

To find the Reaper Priest she needs to find a map her parents left her that will take her and Reeve to someone who can grant Mage wishes, they need to hurry because they need to beat the reaper priest getting there; but the forest they need to cross is a dangerous one, the map will show the most direct path to the Guardian’s tower. The reaper priest also known to her as Braedon Solace, the one that killed her parents; none other than her brother.

Soon all becomes clear, well… somewhat. I did not see that ending coming one bit.

If the Reaper priest isn’t the highest-ranking reaper but someone called the Shadow Lord who the hell is he and where has he been hiding for so long? What if her truth isn’t thé truth? What if a bedtime story her parents told before bed wasn’t a story at all? Will she find the truth, the real truth?

I’m ranking this book at ⭐⭐⭐⭐stars