Shadows of the Lost is a fast-paced queer fantasy story

2023 has truly been the resurgence of fantasy romances and I’m here for it. One I absolutely devoured was Shadows of the Lost by Maxym M. Martineau.

I’m relatively new to fantasy romance so I’m dipping my toes into a bit of everything. Shadows of the Lost was my first LGBT fantasy romance story and honestly, it’s coming out just in time to be a pride month staple.

While the character’s sexualities and romance do play a huge role in the story, I feel like Shadows of the Lost doesn’t box itself in. If anything, it can be read by those who are looking for a fantasy romance or even, just a compelling fantasy.

Either way, I’d like to thank Sourcebooks Casablanca for sending me an ARC to read early because I have a lot of thoughts on this book.

Shadows of the Lost is a fast-paced queer fantasy romance.

Upon picking this book up, I was immediately intrigued because the book follows Gaige who is recently undead and is dealing with the aftermath of that. Add in Kost as his “mentor” and eventually something more along with their rag team found family, and it’s hard to put down.

While I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, I will say the magic in this world is really interesting. I enjoyed seeing how the shadows played a role for each member of the team, especially Gaige. Additionally, it was cool to see how all of their abilities seemed to work in tandem.

As for the romance between Gaige and Kost, that was equal parts agonizing and hot. It was agonizing because I was dying for these two to share their feelings. Once they did though, things quickly heated up between the two. I mean that’s part of the reason why I was able to read this book in two sittings.

If you’re a fantasy newbie like me, I feel like this is a good story to start with as you quickly get pulled into the world and you don’t want to stop reading. The only qualm I had was that I wish I’d had a bit more backstory on the character’s past. However, this is also a spinoff of another series so I’m sure things would clearer if you read that series.

Either way, I had a lot of fun with this book and I’m intrigued by what happened towards the end to pick up book 2. If you’ve read the previous series, I’d love to know your feelings on this one.

Shadows of the Lost by Maxym M. Martineau is out now wherever books are sold. 

Will you be picking up Shadows of the Lost for Pride Month? Share with us in the comments.