Beauty and the Beast meets Labyrinth in this YA romantic fantasy about a deadly dream world and the shadow-cursed girl who must venture its depths to save her family, all while she falls in love with the prince of darkness.
The Kingdom of Noctis is plagued by Corruption: a curse that spreads through dreaming. The Shadow Bringer rules from his castle in the Dream Realm, stealing souls one dreamer at a time. Only an elixir, taken every night before sleeping, can ward off the dreams and halt Corruption. But for some, the allure of the Dream Realm proves too strong.
Esmer Havenfall desperately wants to escape her dreadful village. When her sister, Eden, succumbs to Corruption and their elixir-dealing parents are accused of a horrific crime, Esmer’s life unravels into a nightmare. Then she dreams of the Shadow Bringer and learns that his sinister magic might be a part of her, too.
Enticed by the prospect of ending her kingdom’s curse and avenging her family, Esmer follows him deeper within the Dream Realm. But the prince of darkness has a haunted past, one that might change the fate of Esmer’s kingdom–and her heart–forever.
Lush and vividly imagined, this seductive gothic fantasy is filled with magic, secrets, and dreamy shadow-haunted romance.
The Kingdom of Noctis is plagued by Corruption: a curse that spreads through dreaming. The Shadow Bringer rules from his castle in the Dream Realm, stealing souls one dreamer at a time. Only an elixir, taken every night before sleeping, can ward off the dreams and halt Corruption. But for some, the allure of the Dream Realm proves too strong.
Esmer Havenfall desperately wants to escape her dreadful village. When her sister, Eden, succumbs to Corruption and their elixir-dealing parents are accused of a horrific crime, Esmer’s life unravels into a nightmare. Then she dreams of the Shadow Bringer and learns that his sinister magic might be a part of her, too.
Enticed by the prospect of ending her kingdom’s curse and avenging her family, Esmer follows him deeper within the Dream Realm. But the prince of darkness has a haunted past, one that might change the fate of Esmer’s kingdom–and her heart–forever.
Lush and vividly imagined, this seductive gothic fantasy is filled with magic, secrets, and dreamy shadow-haunted romance.
Title: Dream by the Shadows (The Shadow Weavers Duology #1)
Author: Logan Karlie
Public\
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Expected Publication Date: August 26, 2025
Review:
Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an audio copy of this title to listen to and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I received a paper ARC of this book and wanted an option to listen along while I read. Mia Hutchinson Shaw and Jared Zeus are new narrators to me and I was interested to hear their voices. I enjoyed their narration. The tone, the inflection, the pacing with their voices was all done well.
The premise of the book caught my attention right away. Dark and deceitful with demons and shadows and just all around evil lurking. I like magic mixed with good and evil. I know this was a Beauty and the Beast retelling and I did get that vibe as I was reading it. I was hooked right away with the two realms, dreaming and waking worlds. And I was interested to see how the worlds were built and interconnected. While this did happen, I'm sad to say it was quite confusing and really hard to keep the two worlds apart. I kept having the flip back or rewind to see what world I was in. I was spending too much time trying to figure out what was going on. And the development just kind of stalled and went nowhere.
As the book progressed, I lost the plot and the pacing started to slow down. I felt like the book was going in circles and really didn't know what the agenda of any of the characters were.
While the initial introduction of the characters seemed strong with their development, they never grew or changed or became more interesting to me. I found myself not caring or being invested in their story lines. I didn't understand their motivations or why they did anything they did during the course of the story. And I did not believe the romance at all. Where was the chemistry? At least build some tension. But it wasn't there and I could not believe in it.
I can see where the author's writing could potentially be really good. But the execution of this book was not lending itself well to that.
Sadly I found myself skimming just to get finished. The narrators of the book were the best thing about this read for me and I would definitely give them another try. I won't be moving on to read the rest of this series.
Author:
Logan Karlie writes books brimming with gothic themes, atmospheric worlds, and characters who fight to overcome the shadows that haunt them.
Logan holds a MA in English Literature from the University of Arkansas. She currently lives in Illinois, with her family, where she also taught high school English.
Connect with Logan Karlie on social media!
• Instagram: @authorlogankarlie
• TikTok: @authorlogankarlie
Logan holds a MA in English Literature from the University of Arkansas. She currently lives in Illinois, with her family, where she also taught high school English.
Connect with Logan Karlie on social media!
• Instagram: @authorlogankarlie
• TikTok: @authorlogankarlie
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