The Shattered Veil Series- The First Scar by Celeanne Dorrington🗡️🖤 Review

So I'm gonna change up a little bit of how I write reviews, particularly for ARC reviews. I don't post spoilers for ARC reads because that's just rude, obviously. With that said I feel like sometimes it's hard to read a big review without knowing what the story is about so I'm going to start including a blurb of the book before my actual review. I feel like doing so will result in a better understanding of my reviews. I know it's gonna seem like a lot to read but if you want to just get to the review you can skip the blurb. 😊 That being said let's get into it. 

Blurb:

In the realm of the fae, your soul mark is your fate. Revered luminar, or enslaved shadowmarked. But you were born with both.

They call you a threat. An abomination. He is the Crownforged Hunter, and his sole purpose is to strike you down. But the prophecy hints at a chilling truth, and a forbidden bond reveals a soul-deep connection you can’t ignore: the same wound, in two different bodies. Is he your true mate, or your true enemy?

First and foremost, disclaimer:

I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I have so many thoughts about this one.

This book is a lot to digest and I don’t mean that as a negative. It truly drops you straight into the world and expects you to keep up. At times it can feel like you’re trudging through the setup, but that’s the nature of heavy world-building. For some readers it’ll hook immediately; for me it took about halfway through before everything clicked… but when it clicked, it HIT. Like a sack of bricks straight to the face.

This is a true slow burn and a true enemies-to-lovers, and wow did it deliver. I haven’t felt this strongly about an MMC since the Heirs in Zodiac Academy, which says a lot because that’s my all-time favorite series. One minute I wanted to punch him, the next I had warm fuzzies and was questioning my sanity.

One thing I really need to highlight is how beautifully the trust development was written between Amaria and Eryndor. Romantasy often has that moment where the FMC suddenly trusts the MMC and we just accept it. Here, the author does something different and brilliant.

Amaria realizes she trusts him from a tactical standpoint. I think this is something to be commended in this situation because Celeanne stayed true to her characters. She portrayed growth versus the FMC just changing her mind and this isn't something that I see very often in stories. 

During a mission, she follows Eryndor without hesitation, something she hasn’t done even with people who haven’t tried to kill her. Because of her training, that moment carries huge weight. It’s subtle, logical, and deeply rooted in her character. Watching that realization dawn on her felt incredibly earned and was one of my favorite moments in the book.

The pacing in the first half reminded me a lot of how I felt reading Anathema by Keri Lake: slow, heavy, and requiring patience but absolutely worth it. While the plot builds, the story is quietly doing something equally important, serious character development, especially for Amaria. The woman we meet at the beginning is not the same woman we see by the end, and the journey between those versions of her is done so well.

Once the story reaches the meat of the plot, it picks up fast and becomes incredibly hard to put down.

If you love slow burn, enemies-to-lovers, deep world building, and strong character growth, this is absolutely worth the journey.

Of course we are going strong into ARC April so next up is another ARC I've been trusted to read and it's gonna be a good one. I'm extremely excited about this one. 😊

Until the next last page 🤎🌻