Serena’s Review: “The Shadows That Listen”

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Book: “The Shadows That Listen” by Louisa Carmody

Publishing Info: Orbit, August 2026

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: It’s been five years since the world was brought to its knees by an immortal war. Daemons crawled from the depths of hell and the sky bled gold as the angels arrived. Humanity thought it was saved, but the angels did not come to protect us.

Amara is a human warrior working for the Angel Intelligence Agency. She spends her days searching for those who don’t make it home after curfew. But when her boyfriend Jeremy goes missing, she decides to venture into the shadows to bring him back. Even if it means death.

Nathaniel is an archangel tasked with leading the destruction of humanity, for which he cares little. He doesn’t have time to protect little humans running around in the dark, especially those who stab him in the stomach.

But Nathaniel and Amara will soon realise they share a foe, one that lurks in the shadows and stalks them from the skies. She might long to kill him, but Amara knows that having an angel at her side is the only way to find the man she loves.

The shadows lengthen. They listen. Who will survive the night?

Review: I’ve always felt like fantasy books have been sleeping on angels. We have a bunch of demon stuff, but, as “Supernatural” proved, you can make angels just as badass as demons, if not more so! I also missed the train on “Angelfall,” which is one of the more popular angel series that currently exists. But I heard some comparisons being thrown around between these two books, so I thought I might get another chance at this sort of book with this series. Well, let’s just say the comparisons aren’t warranted, because this was a pretty big disappointment for me.

Honestly, there wasn’t much I liked about this one. I would say that the general idea was interesting, but, like I said, angels seem to be an untapped paranormal being in the current fantasy landscape, so their inclusion was always going to make this one stand out from the crowd. I’ll also say that this is one of those easily digestible romantasy reads that I know clicks with a lot of readers out there. The distinction between romantasy and fantasy romance is a big one, and I know that I fall more into the latter category. So this one, playing more toward romantasy (romance is the primary focus, fantasy secondary), was always going to be a bit of a tougher sell for me. However, readers with a strong preference for romantasy books and their current trends will likely connect with this one better.

But even still, this book was simply not well written. No other way to put it, really. From a technical standpoint, I’ve seen worse. But even on a line-by-line basis, it lacked any sense of voice or style, feeling flat and mechanical more often than not.

The worst sins of the writing came with the characterization, however. And, since characterization is king for me, this was a true enjoyment killer. The characters simply didn’t make sense. The world is set up in a very specific way, with a very specific dynamic between angels and humans. And yet, from the start, our main leads do not behave as if this is the case whatsoever. It’s one thing to have an almost all-powerful being come to appreciate those they have seen as beneath them and reflect on their own errors, eventually coming to a place where they are capable of forming a true connection with someone they would have historically seen as beneath them. But this wasn’t that. This was a being whom we were told saw humans as insects who immediately treats the heroine as anything but that, flirting away and in every way behaving as if she is not only worthy of any attention, but extra attention. Beyond that, this main romantic lead was simply boring. You know everything you need to know about him from the first introduction.

The same can be said of Amara. She’s exactly the sort of fantasy lead you’ve seen a million times before, especially in urban fantasy: feisty, seemingly competent, and the dreaded “not like other girls.” For all of her spunk, we’re never really given any reason that she should stand out to a being like Afriel. If anything, more often than not, Amara’s actions and choices don’t make a lick of sense.

The entire thing was boring, predictable, and, believe it or not, pretty cheesy. The dialogue was clunky, with characters randomly dropping tons of lore into responses in a context that makes no sense (the character to whom they’re speaking would already know this information, for example). And there were so many clichés it was almost a joke. Look, I’ve read some great paranormal romances. In fact, I’m right in the middle of reading Ilona Andrews’ “Burn for Me” trilogy and am absolutely loving it. Spunky heroines and overpowered love interests can work. But here, the author didn’t seem to have anything new to say and relied too heavily on tropes and clunky delivery to get her story across. Even for romantasy fans, I think there are better options out there that deliver on this same concept.

Rating 5: Not for me. Too many tropes, clichés, and poor characterization to really make any sort of impact other than an eye roll.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Shadows That Listen” can be found on this Goodreads list: Dystopias I Would Like To Make An Exception For.