Where Shadows Bloom by Catherine Bakewell describes itself thus: A mesmerizing daydream with a subtle edge of darkness that will leave you utterly unable to put it down, Where Shadows Bloom pits terrifying monsters, chilling secrets, capricious gods, immortal kings, and death itself against the unstoppable love between two girls. Sadly, I found this set my expectations too high. The monsters barely scared me, the secrets felt predictable and tame, and the only thing it gets right is that the gods are capricious, because they had no consistency whatsoever. I’ve been on a streak of really good books recently, but sadly, this one has broken that run.
We follow Ofelia, a girl who dreams of living in safety and luxury at Le Château Enchanté, and Lope, her knight who only wants to escape from the Shadows that hunt them with Ofelia at her side. They get swept up in adventure when Ofelia’s mother disappears, and the two of them must brave the world outside their country estate to go find her.
I don’t know if it’s YA fantasy in general that has me feeling this way, or if it’s just this book, because I found it dull. It never had me at the edge of my seat, despite all the characters worrying so much about all the Shadows that were going to get them. I do think it’s likely this book in particular, though, because I’ve read many YA fantasies that I liked a lot more than I did Where Shadows Bloom. The writing was flowery, and while sometimes I like to read beautiful prose, I felt it was too purple, especially in Ofelia’s chapters. Ofelia spent a lot of time being very tearful and overdramatic, and none of the decisions she made helped endear herself to me.
The romance was something else that really bothered me. Right from the start, we know that both Ofelia and Lope are into each other. Lope writes love poetry about Ofelia, and at one point while she’s asleep, Ofelia reads Lope’s journal full of it! Without permission! What a wild decision to make. For other characters I might have been able to let that slide, but I didn’t like Ofelia enough to give her a pass for that. And for a knight/noble romance, there wasn’t nearly enough angst to make me care. My favourite part of that kind of pairing is the inherent conflict caused by it being a power imbalance. It is literally Lope’s job to keep Ofelia safe, but because Ofelia is a noble and ranks above her, any other feelings aside from duty have to be stuffed down. There wasn’t enough exploration of that dynamic for me to be truly invested. Lope did have one good line in her internal monologue, however, and I wish that energy of pushing down how much she cared had carried through more of the novel.
“I was not made for love or for courtship. I had been trained to be a knight. I was made for killing Shadows.”
I will give Where Shadows Bloom credit for Lope, because I enjoyed reading her sections far more than I did Ofelia’s. She was interesting and logical, and I wish we had gotten more of her backstory than what was provided.
Finally, I was extremely disappointed by the ending. I wasn’t expecting much, based on my thoughts for most of the book, but it would have been nice to end on a good note. It felt like everything was wrapped up too neatly, with no real sacrifices made by any of the characters despite everyone’s proclamations about how much they had given up. For a book so determined to tell you every single feeling the characters were experiencing, I felt almost none except boredom.
Hopefully, if you’ve read Where Shadows Bloom, you liked it more than I did. The pretty cover definitely lured me into reading it, and I’m glad it’s over now so I can find something more enjoyable to read.
