Book Review- Carved Amidst the Shadows by M.T. Fontaine

Carved Amidst the Shadows captures a lot of what is popular in modern fantasy stories. You have multiple POVs, a soft magic system, strong humour and plenty of dark moments to shock you. If you’re looking to read something you’ve never experienced before, then I’m not convinced this book does enough to distinguish itself from the crowd, but if you’re comfortable with the trappings of the fantasy genre then this one might just be for you.

I found the characters here to be quite well defined, and while some take time to grow on you, this matches the slow burn pacing the book sets. I particularly liked seeing the author throw her characters into situations where they had to completely redefine their expectations, as much of the sharpest development came out when they were pushed down paths that they never intended to tread. M.T. Fontaine is unafraid to challenge readers who become set on seeing a character in only one light, and it’s a quality to her writing that I can see a lot of people loving.

I did have issues with the tone and dialogue however. Teenagers often had the voice of adults, and the writing felt juvenile and crude at times. Likewise, reactions to horrific events seemed weirdly subdued in service of delivering lines that were snarky and derisive. It made certain point of views hard to sit through in longer chapters, especially when characters who had started showing growth were forced to temporarily regress in order to make some eye-rolling remark. I didn’t always hate the dialogue when it was like this, but it did make later scenes seem inconsistent with the progress that had been made up until that point.

I did quite enjoy the romance in this book, even more so because I wasn’t expecting to find any. M.T. Fontaine did a great job convincing me that the couple thrived together in spite of their negative traits, and I came to greatly enjoy the dynamic they shared. There’s also spice included here, which I think was nicely handled overall, although I do have something to say about the word choice. ‘Crab crawling’ is an actual thing, but it’s a decidedly unsexy term, and if you use it in a sex scene, I’m only ever going to imagine a crab walking sideways; impishly snipping its claws.

While I had my criticisms, Carved Amidst the Shadows is still a fun book. I even read the second half in one sitting – which is something I rarely do. For an authorial debut, there’s a lot of promise to be found and it’s clear that M.T. Fontaine has the talent to last as a writer, so I will patiently wait to see what she does next.