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Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm

A.J. Blakemont (Goodreads Author)

3.13 · Rating details · 24 ratings · 18 reviews

They are immortal, deadly, ruthless. I don’t belong to their dark underworld. I won’t be a victim. Never again.

She has nothing—not even a roof above her head. She has unimaginable powers, but these powers come at a price: she has to feed on the mental energy of human beings, killing them in the process.

Her name is Griffen and she is a newborn. She is a copy, a paranorm ...more

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Kindle Edition, 304 pages

Published February 4th 2017 by Dark Romantic Worlds (first published November 4th 2016)

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Average rating 3.13 ·

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· 24 ratings · 18 reviews

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Nov 20, 2016 Annika rated it liked it

Shelves: read-to-review-arc, paranormal-fantasy

Love and hate. Eros and Thanatos. Creation and destruction. Two forces that shape the universe.

This book wasn't bad at all, but it certainly wasn't perfect either.

The good:
1) Griffen was great. Her badassery, her vulnerability, her humanity and her refusal to give in to her nature and her urges. She was young but mature enough to know when it was best to step back and capitulate.
2) The plot was very original and unique, can't say I've ever read anything like it. The idea of the simulacra, mi ...more

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Jul 02, 2017 Melinda Howard rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-off-netgalley, death, fantasy-supernaturalbeings-romance, fantasy, mystery, time-travel, romance, science-fiction, sci-fi

*This book was received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I really enjoyed this book. The world building was really good and I enjoyed discovering more about the main character Griffen. The story of Griffen's origins was really interesting as were the abilities she possessed by being a mirror soul. The concept of time travel and Griffen's moral debate about her means of survival were really intriguing however I disliked the ending. Overall, this was a unique and intriguing read full ...more

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Nov 28, 2016 Erica Burton rated it liked it

~ ~ I was given this book by the publisher via netgalley for an honest review ~ ~

I found Griffen hard to get into, it jumped right into an action scene but still straight after that it started moving at what felt like a snails pace. Yeah, it was good to find out all about how Griffen came to be but really she just seemed really needy and kinda dull. I personally prefer something that is a bit more gripping but I'm positive that this type of story would be up a lot of peoples alley. I say give it ...more

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Nov 11, 2016 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-1st-ng

3.5 stars

This paranormal fantasy novel jumps right in with an action scene, and follows up shortly after with details of how our narrator, Griffen, came to be who and how she is. In author A.J. Blakemont’s world, Simulacra exist – “doppelgangers, ghostly twins, the harbingers of death” – complete with immortality and various skills and abilities. They are trained, organized, and deadly. Fantasy readers, hold on tight and enjoy the ride.

I voluntarily reviewed this book provided by NetGalley.

Read ...more

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Mar 04, 2017 Kathrin rated it did not like it

Shelves: netgalley, ya-fantasy, young-adult, arc-first-reads

I received a free copy via Netgalley.
This could've been a great read but in the end, it just didn't work for me.

'Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm' is the story of a newborn mirror soul, Griffen, shaped after a mortal girl called Letitia. Mirror souls are mystical creature, like doppelganger, which are born into our world but also transfer to other realities. Torn between the politics of her world and her need to find a place for herself Griffen is faced with multiple challenges and the que I received a free copy via Netgalley.
This could've been a great read but in the end, it just didn't work for me.

'Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm' is the story of a newborn mirror soul, Griffen, shaped after a mortal girl called Letitia. Mirror souls are mystical creature, like doppelganger, which are born into our world but also transfer to other realities. Torn between the politics of her world and her need to find a place for herself Griffen is faced with multiple challenges and the question who she can trust.

The synopsis was awesome and I was really looking forward to reading the book but right from the start there was one major question in my head - would it haven been possible to spot the young adult genre right away? The book was advertised as Fantasy & Science Fiction, New Adult. If you ask me this is a serious case of false advertisement.
I was constantly confronted with an annoying main character saying in one sentence she doesn't care about her experience but then goes on describing clothes in detail. Not only her clothes but seriously the clothes of everyone around her - and this was not necessary at all for the story to progress. Don't get me started on the important questions she faced (Can a mirror soul wear make up?) or how the author tried to shorten her descriptions (looking like a X-Men uniform).

Besides my problems with the genre I was disappointed with the character development. It might be harsh to say that there was none but let's agree on very little. So, Griffen is new to her world but there's a constant info dump about how things should work (I stopped caring for it to make sense a few chapters unto the book) and of course, she's super special and strong (let's not forget snappy and rude). In fact, stronger than much older mirror souls (a mary sue at it's finest) and just like this she uses new attacks and finds instant fixes for whatever problem she encounters. There are also a lot of other, really handy explanations that progressed the story and probably should make her easier to connect to. I couldn't relate to her at all.
My biggest problem was the romance in this book. The author spends pages to tell us that we're faced with a brave heroine saving the world but the instant a hot guy comes along she abandons her quest. Although she barely knows him she wants to spend her life with him and make him happy. At this point, I was done with the book.

Okay, I was not a fan of the main character - I still had hopes for the world building. The idea of mirror souls intrigued me. I wanted to know more about the worlds they live in but was faced with very short descriptions on how things work and longer ones that I couldn't understand. I got the impression that it just wasn't important enough. I asked myself more than once why she can use special powers but none other of her species? There were attempts to explain the political system but for me it wasn't enough to get into the story. There were some great aspects to the other world Griffen visits and I hoped the author would spend more time on them.

In the end, there were some good aspects to the story but the author, at least in my opinion, focused on the wrong ones. I know there are many excited opinions about the book which makes me believe that I'm just not the right reader. Marketing the book in another way might find more suitable readers - I was disappointed. ...more

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Feb 21, 2017 D. Messing rated it really liked it

This was an interesting book, it was far different than I thought it would be but it was still a pretty good read. It was very technical in places, and that was pretty hard to follow. Otherwise it was an interesting story, with a storyline that is totally unique, that I haven't read before. ...more

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Jan 22, 2017 Ruth rated it it was ok

Review to Come Soon

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Mar 05, 2017 Beth rated it it was ok

http://vampirebookclub.net/review-gri...

Doppelgangers. Everyone is rumored to have a twin somewhere out there, and stories abound about the mysterious relationship a doppelganger might have with its copy. But what if they were real? Beings that appear out of nowhere, identical to their twins in every capacity—except that they are not truly human? Griffen is one such being, otherwise known as a mirror soul. However, mirror souls gain their sustenance from humans, killing them in the process. As G http://vampirebookclub.net/review-gri...

Doppelgangers. Everyone is rumored to have a twin somewhere out there, and stories abound about the mysterious relationship a doppelganger might have with its copy. But what if they were real? Beings that appear out of nowhere, identical to their twins in every capacity—except that they are not truly human? Griffen is one such being, otherwise known as a mirror soul. However, mirror souls gain their sustenance from humans, killing them in the process. As Griffen becomes more aware of what she is and how she needs to survive, she begins to question whether living is worth killing for.

Griffen started off rocket-fast, and had me going until about halfway through. From there, it took a sudden left-turn and I had a hard time sticking with it after that. While I do not mind romance, as long as it is story-centric, this one appeared to have been written in as a second thought, a way to get more audience. It was fairly abrupt and sort of felt like hitting a wall where there shouldn’t have been one.

The settings of the story were pretty interesting—it varied from current day to the past, even to worlds that really don’t exist. The descriptions, particularly of those places that were not real, were quite well done and definitely evoked the imagery in my imagination.

The characters were an odd mix of human and mirror souls, and the humans suffered by comparison. The mirror souls had more material to work with, and were better fleshed out, though they did seem to be a bit one-dimensional at times. Plus, the story—again with that sudden left turn—changed from ‘all death, all the time’ to ‘Wait! Never mind!’. It was a bit frustrating, and I honestly liked the arc of the first half of the story much better than the second, even though it was quite a bit darker.

Overall, Griffen definitely had some things going for it, but it seems to have stalled on the way to the finish line. The storyline was certainly an intriguing one, and a viable one for further stories. However, the romance was bland and sudden and the arc lost its fizz, and for those reasons it would be very difficult for me to recommend. ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Nancy (The Avid Reader) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2017, read-january-2017, goddess-fish-promotions, fantasy, paranormal, urban-fantasy, a-j-blakemont

Griffen is a young woman who is a copy of a human girl, Letitia. Griffen is a newborn and doesn’t know much about whom she is or where she came from. She does know that she is Letitia’s twin her doppelganger as some people call them but to Griffen and her kind they call themselves mirror souls.

Griffen soon learns that she is not the only one of her kind and soon meets others of her kind but would like to stay all to herself but unfortunately that may not be the case. She learns that there are n Griffen is a young woman who is a copy of a human girl, Letitia. Griffen is a newborn and doesn’t know much about whom she is or where she came from. She does know that she is Letitia’s twin her doppelganger as some people call them but to Griffen and her kind they call themselves mirror souls.

Griffen soon learns that she is not the only one of her kind and soon meets others of her kind but would like to stay all to herself but unfortunately that may not be the case. She learns that there are numerous groups of mirror souls out there some that are worse than others. Some of which you don’t want no part of ever.

Griffen is taken by one the factions who want her to be a part of their group but they want her to do things and be a part of things that she doesn’t want to do. But they do teach her a lot about herself like how she is supposed to feed and how to use her abilities. But as soon as she gets the chance she is out of there. She is not into hurting or killing people.

I loved the concept of Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm, how Griffen is the mirror image of Letitia and how Griffen is another way of explaining how Letitia feels and all the things she has been through and her family as well. When Griffen feeds it is as if Letitia is sucking the life out of her family and herself because of all the things that she did or has been through.

I have really loved reading Griffen and can’t wait to read more of Griffen’s story or maybe even more about other mirror souls like Griffen. I love the world that the author has created for Shadows of the Mirror Realm series it is definitely unlike anything I have read before but is kind of an eye opener and explains a lot of how people may feel about a lot of different things that is going on in their lives no matter how big or small it may be. As I have always said “what may be a big deal to one person may not be a big deal to someone else or vise verse but you treat it as if it is the same size”.

I would like to recommend Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm to anyone who loves to read fantasy, paranormal or just a very good story. ...more

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Feb 04, 2017 S.J. Higbee rated it liked it

This feels like the start of a series about this group of superbeings who have existed in our world alongside us for millennia. We see this world through the viewpoint of this newly created being, who has the memories and emotions of Letitia – yet needs to kill in order to stay alive. Traumatised and loathing the need to kill in order to keep alive, Griffen attempts to learn more about who she is and what she is capable of, in order to continue to be able to cope with her abilities.

It is a nifty This feels like the start of a series about this group of superbeings who have existed in our world alongside us for millennia. We see this world through the viewpoint of this newly created being, who has the memories and emotions of Letitia – yet needs to kill in order to stay alive. Traumatised and loathing the need to kill in order to keep alive, Griffen attempts to learn more about who she is and what she is capable of, in order to continue to be able to cope with her abilities.

It is a nifty idea – provide someone right at the start of their journey and give the reader a front row seat as she begins to learn more about who she is and what she is capable of. I very much liked the idea of how the mirror world is created and the factions and politics of the power struggles between those factions is by far the strongest part of the book. Blakemont nicely blends parts of our history, such as the Knights Templar being one of the early powerbases of the mirror beings for instance. And there are pleasing echoes of the vampire legends embodied in some of their attributes that I enjoyed.

What hampered my full reading enjoyment was my inability to bond with the main protagonist, Griffen. Perhaps had I known a bit more about Letitia before Griffen’s creation, in order to get a real sense of what she feels she has lost, I would have found her more interesting. It wasn’t until well into the book, I really began to care more about her aims and goals and with many books that would have been a dealbreaker, but I found the alternate world Blakemont has created sufficiently engrossing that I was able to continue enjoying the read. For while I didn’t fully identify with Griffen, neither did I actively dislike her. Overall, this is a pleasing adventure about an interestingly original set of superbeings, whose opposing aims and cultures pulled me into this story.

While I obtained the arc of Griffen from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
7/10 ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Debbie rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal, fantasy-sci-fi

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I as gifted my copy of this book.

Alrighty.

So.

Okay then, here we go.

I apologise if this review is a little disjointed.

I very nearly dumped this one, I got past half way and told myself to finish it, to see if it began to make sense, to become clearer. Unfortunately, while I I DID finish it, I still am not sure what the whole point was.

Griffen is newborn, a copy of Tish, a mirror of her soul. She has all Tish's memories. But Griffen needs to feed and she ...more

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Jan 17, 2017 Naturalbri (Bri Wignall) rated it liked it

This was a good read. I found it had a decently unique story and was written well enough to have me wanting to find out what happened. It also had a good main character, who would be great for young ladies to read and feel strong.

I felt like the book had a fast pace, which matched the suspense and thrill of the story. It was carried throughout the book, which kept a steady feel and flow. This also set out the expectation that things were going to be coming at your quick, just like they were the ...more

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Jan 02, 2017 Jantine rated it it was ok

Shelves: netgalley

I received a free copy through Netgalley, in return for an honest review.

This book has so many interesting concepts, that it could have been awesome. Some parts were pretty good and well paced.

However, this was overshadowed by way too much information crammed into one novel. Griffen could've been a great main character, but because of this information overload she was just explaining every technical or philosophical detail all the time - regularly repeating the same information, as if there was ...more

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Jan 17, 2017 Melissa Smith rated it really liked it

In Griffen, the pacing was off and there was far too much info-dumping going on. Now that the negative is out of the way, let’s talk about the good stuff! This is a very imaginative and unique novel. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Griffen was great, she was a strong character. The universe was detailed and developed. I enjoyed the writing style a lot.

I’m only giving it 3.5 stars simply because I think this is a book that would only be enjoyed by people who are already fans of the ge ...more

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Dec 07, 2016 Megan (Bookish_Raider) rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 13, 2016 Mary Hartshorn rated it did not like it

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have to say that I am sorry that I was unable to get into this book. It just started off depressing and to me, doesn’t get any better a few chapters into it.

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Dec 19, 2016 Scelest rated it liked it

Shelves: adult, urban-fantasy, read-in-2016, arc

ARC copy for review.
Review coming soon!

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Apr 22, 2017 Elizabeth Wheeler added it

I am really torn about this book. There are things I really like and find unique and fascinating. There are things that I find overly dark and humorless. I almost wish that the book started at the end. I was intrigued by what the relationship between Griffen and Ande would be "now". I recommend that people who like way out there fantasy read this book. Those who are more into prn would probably not like it. In the long run, I'm glad I read it. ...more

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NetGalley Readers: Griffen: Shadows of the Mirror Realm. Apologies, ARCs no longer available	2	41	Jan 07, 2017 04:37AM

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About A.J. Blakemont

A.J. Blakemont

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A. J. Blakemont is a novelist and essayist interested in speculative and gothic fiction. He is also passionate about music, history and its mysteries. He grew up in Paris where he studied literature. He lives near London and he is a member of the Society of Authors.