Hunter Astley has always known that he is different: being a witch-hunter that can use magic has sealed his fate.
He must destroy the Shadow Witch once and for all, with the help of some unlikely allies.
We delve even deeper into the world of the Malleus Maleficarum; into myth, rumour and history that refuses to stay in the past.
In The Shadow Falls, the final installment of K.S. Marsden’s Witch-Hunter series, Hunter is lost in the aftermath of the events of book 2 and runs off to seek out any information he can find on the Benandanti. If he can learn more about them, and himself, maybe he can stop the Shadow Witch and save the world. But things are never that easy, and the more he learns, the more complicated things get for him, for Sophie, and for their son. A war is coming and there’s only one way it can end.
Overall, I enjoyed this series. There was just the right amount of twists, turns, and revelations. And the ending was perfect, even if it was a little bittersweet.
After losing the war against the witches and all his allies, Hunter decides to search for the Benandanti. Being on the witches’ radar, he spends a lot of time traveling the world to avoid capture, until he manages to reach Italy and finds the Donili temple.
The Benandanti were a branch of the Donili. Since Hunter’s “powers” were similar to theirs, they agree to train him. This implies that Hunter spends more than a year learning with them with his 13-year-old companions who take advantage of teasing him .
“If you want my opinion, and I know you won’t like it.” The Abate stated. “Anti-witches and Donili have a lot more in common with witches than normal humans.”
When Hunter is finally ready to return, he encounters a new moderately organized resistance and meets Mel among them. Quite an interesting girl who seems to be as crazy as the hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
Mel danced around the table, making ure her two guests were seated before skipping to the door and yanking it open.
“Hello Dave.” She trilled to the with-hunter on sentry.
“We’re having a tea party. Can you bring the tea?
Now they must find a way to permanently end Sophie, carefully selecting their allies and setting aside all their previous prejudices.
The first thing I have to say is that Adam is 4 years old when Hunter finally meets him officially … I really can’t believe it was so long without looking for him, but well.
This book pleasantly surprised me. When I felt that the story had nothing new to deliver, an enormity of new mysteries appeared. Among them Hunter’s dreams, Mel’s real identity, and characters like Kristen.
Demons, and the prophecies, and greatness. It all seemed far-reaching. But then again, if someone had told him five years ago that the world would fall to ruin, and witch-hunters would use magic, he would have thought it equally unlikely.
Mel is a very cute character who just wants to make friends. But a genuine chill ran down my spine when Hunter finds out who she really is.
After taking a moment to work out who Hunter was, Mel turned and went back to the house with all the appearance of a kicked puppy.
Knowing that this story was about a forbidden love, I expected another type of relationship. Normally I like stories in which forbidden love is achieved at all costs, while in this story love only served to complicate things, however they never really intended to have a relationship. Honeslty this was not bad, it was just different from what I expected.
This book deserves 4/5 stars for me. It is a good story and I find it to be recommendable and entertaining. However, many questions remained without satisfactory explanation, such as the origin of the dreams and the connection between Hunter and Sophie, the powers of Adam, Mel … complete . Also, I find it difficult to believe that a character like Lucy was a mere spectator in the story, I hoped that would influence much more.
Honorary mention to a character that I did not mention in my previous reviews and who is probably the best character in this saga. Mrs. Astley
The Shadow Falls (Witch-Hunter #3) by K.S. Marsden is a wonderful story that I have read. This is book number three in this wonderful series that I have read and really enjoyed very much. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about witches and magic in their stories.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
It was a great series indeed.
I liked the world and the ideas about the witch-hunters, witches and so on.
A recommendation for sure!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I went into this one expecting an intense, fiery showdown, with the Shadow Witch being taken out in some dramatic way…but it kind of didn’t turn out like I expected it to. It starts off a little slow as Astley is still hiding from the witches and searching for help, and the witches have taken control of the world. Things start to pick up in pace as plans are put into motion to take care of the witch problem, and then some issues seem to be resolved rather quickly, too quickly to really make sense. Some things happen that frankly confused me, and I still honestly don’t quite understand how the Shadow Witch was taken down. I kind of do, but kind of don’t. It kind of left me at the end going “huh…” and I can see how some are saying they’re not sure how they feel about the ending. The whole series is great though, and I’m glad I read it. It’s an original story, and it ends in a way the series can be expanded later with other characters in the story, such as the kids. I see there are already a couple of prequel books written/in progress.
Okay, so I am so torn here. I have absolutely loved this series, and though I wanted to know how everything would end, I didn’t want it to end.^^ This was a fantastic end to the trilogy. I won’t say anything about what happens because I think anyone reading this series deserves to have the pleasures, drama, and shock for themselves. I’ll just say this trilogy was an absolutely terrific, creative, unique story with great characters. I loved it, and I can’t wait to see what K.S. Marsden writes next.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I have been hooked on this series since book one. Hunter us an amazing character and I thoroughly his story. This was a great conclusion to Witch-Hunter series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.