The Darkest Bloom Book Review

The Darkest Bloom by P.M. Freestone

From Goodreads: In the empire of Aramtesh, scent has power.

When disaster strikes and the crown prince lies poisoned, long suppressed rivalries threaten to blow the empire apart. It’s up to a poor village girl with a talent for fragrances and the prince’s loyal bodyguard to find an antidote.

To succeed, the pair must uncover secrets – cryptic, ancient tales as well as buried truths from their own pasts – in an adventure that will ignite your senses.

Thanks to Book Box Club for including this book in their February Magic Potions box. I actually liked the premise of this one so much that I went out and bought a copy before I realised it would be included in the box, so now I’ll be passing along the second copy to my friend to share the bookish love.

Admittedly, the pacing of Shadowscent is a little slow, and it takes a while to truly take off, but that sort of works in the book’s favour. I’d liken it to the slow majesty of novels like Strange the Dreamer by Lainia Taylor. It is slow to start with, but it’s that delicious slow uncurling where you want to take a moment or two to treasure the journey. So if super-fast, action packed narrative is your thing, this book might not be quite your cup of tea.

I imagine what will likely draw a lot of curiosity to P.M. Freestone’s debut is the world-building. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever read before, and I was very intrigued by a world where scent is so important. Freestone does it justice—the description is packed with gorgeous and mouth-watering smells, and I learned quite a bit about different fragrances while reading it. The style lends itself nicely to the voice of one of the protagonists, Rakel, who has a talent for fragrances, since it really feels like we’re seeing through her eyes when she picks up on all the smells. There were lots of little elements that made up the world-building, but my favourite was definitely the inclusion of the scents and how the world is structured around them. Sometimes, it felt a little like the book could have gone one step further, moments when I felt myself a bit separated from the world by the page, but ultimately it was a solid and tantalising start to a series and a very promising debut.

Although I enjoyed the world, I wasn’t entirely sold on the characters. Rakel was pretty okay, in that cookie cutter YA kind of way. She’s smart and feisty and she’s often put in danger because of the world around her, but she also seems to lack the essential spark that I’ve come to expect from exceptional YA heroines. The first person narration goes some way to addressing this, offering readers a glimpse inside her head, but it just didn’t quite cut it for me. Similarly, Ash isn’t that interesting a character. I thought he was decent enough, and there were moments when I thought he was cool, but he’s also not really interesting enough to fit the role of a love interest. I didn’t buy it, and I didn’t feel any particular way about the romance sub-plot of the novel… which was, disappointing, I have to say. One of my favourite things about YA is the dramatic, awesome love stories, and this just wasn’t one for me. In fact, it felt a little insta-love to me, simply because I don’t think the characters or the chemistry were developed enough to sell me a romance.

Of course, readers should keep in mind that this is a debut, and I think, all things considered, that it is a pretty strong one. Although I wasn’t a massive fan of the characters, the plot and the world are interesting and kept me going, and I got through this book quickly, despite it taking a little while to properly kick off. There’s also several witty one liners and I did appreciate the narrative voice, even if I thought the characters were ultimately lacking a bit.

Also, I know this doesn’t have any real impact on the enjoyment of the novel, but how gorgeous is this book cover? I absolutely adore foiling on jackets, and this is no exception. The rose-gold and the blue work so well and I thought it fit the theme perfectly. It’s simple enough and yet intricate, and it was one of the main reasons why I ended up picking up the book in Waterstones before Book Box Club sent me a second copy.

Overall, I’d give Shadowscent a 6/10. I think there are a lot of good story elements here, and I feel like it might get there in a book or two’s time, but the lack of interesting characters personally affected my rating quite a bit. I’m happy with slow-burner books, but for me there has to be strong world-building and characters to make up for that initial pacing. And for me, the world-building was definitely there, but could have done with just a touch more, and the characters were pretty standard.

Has anyone else read this book already or plans to? What do you all think of it? Let me know in the comment section down below ❤