This is exactly what I was looking for in a fantasy book! Shadow magic is my all-time favorite. Whenever a story separates magic by elements, I always hope the protagonist will have shadow magic. Now, there is an abundance of urban fantasies that give the protags shadow magic but there are way fewer in non-urban fantasies. And usually, if the main character in a fantasy book has shadow magic, they are ostracized and treated like a villain. So, I’m always trying to find books where shadow magic is just another average type of magic and not the sign of the devil, and Night Guild is exactly that. Besides the magic, I’m also really into how important guilds are in the world of the book. I’m used to guilds being a minor detail in books so it’s really interesting to have them be the actual government.
While I loved this book the one thing I was annoyed with was that sometimes Ronan was unnecessarily repetitive. There were a couple of times where he basically repeated what someone else said almost word for word instead of just saying something like “I agree” or “Same” which would have felt a little bit more realistic/normal. But besides that one detail, I loved this book and give it a solid 8 out of 10.
Nerd Thoughts 