Title: Shadowless
Author: Alison Robinson
Publisher: Village Editorial
Release Date: April 2, 2025
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Christian Fiction
Synopsis:
In a kingdom where souls are bound to magical animals called Shadows, Rowena’s Shadow is a ghost—silent, powerless, and a death sentence if anyone finds out.
The citizens of Wyre share a soul with their Shadow, a supernatural animal companion that gives them the ability to perform magic. But Rowena was born with a ghost for a Shadow, incapable of magic and marking her as a dangerous anomaly. Her superstitious neighbors would say she must be reported to the king (and executed for good measure!). And they would if they knew she existed—but they don’t.
Hidden from the world with only her father and ghost for company, Rowena’s made the best of her secret life. She fills her days tinkering, inventing, and longing for the magic everyone else has.
When Penalynn Graft, a disgraced Scholastic who refuses to use her own Shadow’s magic, is banished to Rowena’s city, rumors swirl about her rebellion.
Both Rowena and Penalynn are one hidden, one exiled. Both are cut off from one by birth, the other by choice.
Together, they could unearth the truth about the bond linking humans to Shadows, which, until now, has been lost under a veil of ancient mythology.
But in a world where souls are split in two, the truth might shatter everything.
With the stakes of The Golden Compass, the thrilling action of The Wingfeather Saga, and the heart and spiritual depth of the Chronicles of Narnia, Shadowless is a gripping fantasy tale that will captivate fans of epic adventures and magical worlds.
It took me a minute to sort out the main characters of Shadowless and what roles they played in the story. But once I got into it, it was off to the races!
Rowena Faye has never left her home. She’s grown up hidden from the world for…reasons. In Wyre, the kingdom where she and her father live, everyone has a Shadow, a magical animal they’re bound to. Everyone but Rowena, that is. Her Shadow isn’t an animal at all. It’s a stunted, weird, ghostlike thing that she can’t communicate with as others can their Shadows, and it’s got absolutely no magic. Rowena hasn’t let that stop her from creating, though, from learning as much as she can about the physical and mechanical world and how things work. But as things go, she can’t stay hidden forever, and her existence becomes known. People’s reactions to her and her freakish Shadow vary, with most coming down on the side of shock and horror.
But not Penalynn Graft. She is a Scholastic, a researcher for the Crown. She has magic, but refuses to use it. She is banished to the city where Rowena lives, pretty much the farthest reaches of Wyre. And when Rowena – magicless Rowena, with the barest runt of a Shadow – comes to her attention, Penalynn recruits her as her Scholastic Assistant almost immediately. Many try to advise her against it, but Penalynn has her reasons.
This book, y’all. I was stunned to learn that it’s Robinson’s debut novel. It doesn’t read like a debut novel. It’s a compelling fantasy tale, with characters you quickly come to care about (or not, in some cases). Penalynn seems like the perfect fit for Rowena, offering her the protection of her office and giving her a purpose that doesn’t require magic. Irritatingly for Rowena, though, Penalynn doesn’t feel the need to enlighten her as to what those reasons are, or as to the true nature of her research.
The stakes are high for Rowena – there are those in high places who would see her dead because they’re so frightened of what she could represent. But as it turns out, perhaps her lack of magic isn’t really a bad thing at all. There’s a twist to people’s unfettered use of magic. You know how the stories say magic always has a price? So it does here, but it wasn’t one I expected.
The romantic storyline isn’t the main focus of the story. Rather, it gives Rowena a reason to engage with the outside world, to care about someone other than her father and herself. It’s nice to see clean romance in a fantasy setting, and shows that on-page spice isn’t essential to telling an engrossing story.
And if you don’t like cliffhangers, well, this book ends on a doozy. Waiting on more of the story is going to be positively torturous!
Shadowless gets five stars from me. Highly recommended for anyone who loves a well-written fantasy with an undercurrent of clean romance. It’s one of those books I enjoyed so much, I wish I could go back and read it for the first time again! It’s in the running to be a favorite of 2025, and Alison Robinson is on my list of authors to watch.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book from JustRead Publicity Tours. I was not required to leave a review. All opinions are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
