Review: Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends #1)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publication: April 8th 2014 by HarperCollins
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Source: Owned
Goodreads

In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.

Only this year, the souls will not be quieted.

Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court—one that will alter the balance of their world forever.

-- My Rating --

5/5 Oscars: Loved it

-- My Thoughts --

     I have heard a lot about Kelley Armstrong, who hasn't it? So, I was expecting a lot from her writing and her world-building, and it totally blew me away!
     Ashyn and Moria, two twin sisters, are the Seeker and the Keeper in their little town. They rest the souls of the damned in the Forest. But this time, the souls do not want to rest. And with terrifying creatures, shadows, and much more, the path of the two sisters is separated. And with their journey to the Empire's capital, they might even find love in their path.
+ World-building: This is the book's strongest suit. The world that Kelley Armstrong created is so full of imagery and so vivid, it's like you're there. Her descriptions are never boring and never too much. They make you imagine the world in your head, every little detail, and it was such a beautifully terrifying world she created.
+ Characters: So, many authors excel at creating three-dimensional characters. So, it wasn't a surprise for me. BUT a lot of authors concentrate on making the main characters seem three-dimensional, that they forget the supporting characters, and they come out as shallow and unreal. But Kelley Armstrong made her main characters, plus the secondary characters, as real as possible. None of them were perfect in anyway, so it was easy to connect with them on many different levels.
+ Character Development: The most evident character development, as usual, was with the main characters. Ashyn and Moria are polar opposites, but twins. Moria is the kind of confident, sure, strong-willed girl that everyone wishes to be. But Ashyn is the shy, emotional, and low-self-esteemed one that most of us are. But throughout the book, they develop and become more aware of their flaws and trying to fix them. I loved witnessing that.
+ Plot: The plot was swift-moving and it was not boring, not even for one second. Then they're are those horrible, scary creatures that the author created, that are so chilly, they scared me to the bone. With the plot she created in this book, Kelley Armstrong has a LOT to follow in the follow-up to this amazing first introduction.
+ Romance: This is what I LOVED the most about this book. Okay, so it wasn't full of romance, there were only small touches of romance here and there. But the love interests were so real. For Moria, we have Gavril, who is a warrior and is anything but open with his emotions. They hate each other, at first, but underneath it all, you can see the love. With Ashyn, we have Ronan, who disappeared after three-fourth of the book, but his presence was there. The attraction between them was obvious but Ashyn was very hard on herself and believing that a guy would actually like her, not her sister. I think there is much more potential to the romance, and the book in general, for the sequels to come!