Realm of Shadows Review

Realm of Shadows by Rektok Ross
Series: Heir of Hades #1
Published by Ic13 Books on April 21, 2026
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction / Magical Realism
Pages: 360
Format: eARC
Source: Provided by author for honest review
Goodreads

In a world where gods and monsters walk hidden among us, falling for the wrong guy might do more than break her heart—it might awaken a war.
College freshman Alysander Smith has never fit in her small beach town of glossy smiles and airbrushed perfection. All she wants is to escape and prove she’s more than just the punchline everyone laughs at. The only bright spot? Hayden Vassilios, her gorgeous childhood best friend turned campus football god—and the guy she’s been secretly in love with for years. But when she uncovers a dark family secret about her long-lost, deadbeat father, everything changes.
Alysander starts to wonder if her mother’s crazed whispers about ancient mythological bloodlines and a secret Underworld might be less delusion and more danger. Something old and powerful is awakening, and Hayden is at the center of it all. When the truth shatters everything she thought she knew, Alysander will have to walk away—or step into the shadows and fight for a love that was never hers to keep.
Realm of Shadows is a romantic fantasy retelling of Hades and Persephone. This is a slow-burn, best-friends-to-lovers romance filled with dark yearning, ancient mythic secrets, and a supernatural reveal that changes everything.

 Julie’s Review of Realm of Shadows: A Slow Burn Hades & Persephone Gothic Romantic Fantasy Retelling (Heir of Hades Romantasy Series Book 1):

Something about this book really got under my skin. The emotions and angst I felt, right alongside our main character!

Going into it I knew it was a Hades and Persephone retelling, the blurb gives away a lot, and the tropes shared by the author give away more. Except… that’s not how this book goes. In this book we are just getting to meet the characters. The majority of the book was YA angst, and so much of it. Aly (Alysander) is 17 and just starting college when the book starts, and her sister is exactly just one year and two days younger. And her sister Amber (she refuses to go by her actual name Ambrosia) is on again off again with Aly’s best friend Hayes, who Aly has been secretly in love with for years.

If you like slow burn, really slow burn, the kind of burn that doesn’t resolve in the first book, here you go. Because it’s always been perfect little Amber getting everything she wants, and Aly left always feeling less than. From her sister getting the lead in the local town play, the one thing Aly wanted and needed for her transfer application to a better performing arts school, to continually being the one chosen by Hayes, Amber has always been the princess favorite. Well.. iykyk.

But there are secrets, so many secrets. And until the FINAL FREAKING CHAPTER we don’t get to know the truth. And you have to read the bonus POV chapter to really understand Hayes, because I really disliked him for most of the book. Like what are you doing man. Figure it out, stop pushing her away. But, it makes sense now, I suppose. Family rules and legacy and all that. But knowing the story from the blurb and the tagline, I was waiting and waiting and waiting. Like, when are we going to get to the actual supernatural stuff? And why does Hayes keep acting all strange about his family and their expectations? Well, we finally get to know.

I hated Amber though. I still don’t know for sure when she knew all the truth, was it just near the end when things were unraveling or has she known much longer? Because there is no reason for her to have treated her sister like that. You’re already always winning, why be so antagonizing? Then there’s the mother who is a hippy dippy, abandoned by the girls’ father when the second was born because “The Underworld” was after him, and Aly growing up thinking her mother is mentally ill for saying things like that. But the truth was kept from her so of course when she found more hints she didn’t believe them.

My favorite character? Yep, the dog. Hell hound? The beautifully frightening sweet monster dog who instantly bonds with Aly. I want more of this dog in the next book.

Speaking of the next book – I mean, that ending! WOWZA! I think all the gothic romantasy blurb things are going to come to party in the second book. I am here for it.

But for now? I’ll just sit here with my strange angsty feelings that I wasn’t prepared for. Because this author writes in such a real life way, that I lived the story right with Aly. Or maybe it’s all the nostalgia and late 90s stuff that Aly was so fond of (Buffy, Beetlejuice, Freddy, and even the music), that brought me right back to when I was that age and feeling all those feelings for real. It’s a show of a good writer if you get actual emotions out of me.

 

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