Shadow Countess was a fun, short read by M.D. Baker. I’m a sucker for nice covers, and after seeing this on Twitter, I was excited to read it. This is a stand alone novel, though M.D. Baker is also the author of a series titled Second Skin and another standalone as well.
Amarrah is a simple servant for a noble family, doing chores while trying to blend into the background and not draw too much attention. While she’s cleaning the library one day, she comes across a book about magic and feels a connection to it. She discovers the true nature of her past and how powerful she truly is, honing her abilities to protect her home. However, stuck between the conflict of two warring nations, Farren and Cyndhr, she must strategize and plan to stay one step ahead of those in control.
I truly enjoyed the magic system Baker introduced. The simplicity of the base magic was easy to follow and learn how the complex spells branch from the base someone has. Additionally, I liked the possibility of someone dying from the magic building up inside them if they don’t burn through the reserves they have. Though Amarrah learns rather quickly, the way she uses her magic is clever and unique in the different settings she’s in, whether it’s in a fight or trying to gain information. She was a great character to follow and see grow through the story. In addition to Amarrah, there’s several minor characters fully fleshed out instead of being one note characters that are distilled to one characteristic. It helped keeping track of the wide cast of people Amarrah meets.
My biggest gripe was the length. Though it’s a shorter read, with how much goes on in the story, this could have been a series of either two or three books. There was a time skip within the first third and would’ve been a great spot to have a separate book following Amarrah’s adventure, allowing more worldbuilding and character development in the first one. I think spreading out the story would help with the romance subplot as well, giving more time to build on the relationship.
Overall, I give Shadow Countess 4/5 tomes.
Get it here.
Deepest apologies for not posting the last few months. Life has been overwhelming with work and personal reasons as well. However, I’m going to try and post more. I currently have two indie books ready for another book review as well. If you have any indie suggestions, I’d love to hear about them in the comments! I love fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal the most.
And as always, happy writing!
Kaylen Azalea Grimm 