The walled city of Isitar is home to those who have magic, and those who do not. Pretty much the only thing they can all agree on is that any children born of a mix of both are unstable and bad news. The magic system in this world is very well realised and built around colours. The practitioners are known as Shades, and each shade of colour denotes a different kind of magic. Greens can heal, Blues can hasten, and so on. It feels somewhat like character classes in an TTRPG, and not in a bad way. It would not surprise me if Kate Dylan had worked out all the rules in enough detail that she could practically write one. The subversive half-Shades are known as Hues, and their half-magic is a bit on the broken side - much like most of the Hues that we meet throughout the story. There is the regular world, and a parallel world layered directly over it known as the Gray. Shades can happily phase in-between the two, but Hues not so much. If they spend too much time in the Gray, they will attract the attention of the shadows that live there, and end up literally shattered into pieces. Cemmy is a thief, a Hue, and a frequent disaster. She steals to support her ill mother, and makes a string of bad decisions that end up with her trapped into pulling off the heist of a powerful relic. Worse, her friends get dragged into the plan too, including her ex-girlfriend-with-benefits. The book is a pleasing mix of fantasy and heist tropes, with a healthy measure of smouldering bad boy on top. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that things don’t exactly go according to plan. In the months leading up to the release, Kate Dylan has warned readers about a given chapter in the book where things go off the rails. I misremembered the chapter number and thought it wasn’t actually too bad. Some poor decisions on the part of the main character, sure, but on the whole not too bad. And then I kept going and hit the actual chapter. Reader, I was not ready. But I forgave her, eventually. I was already a fan of the author's excellent cyberpunk series, Mindwalker and Mindbreaker, but I think this is a step up. By the end of the book all the pieces of plot slide perfectly together with a very satisfying click, much like the locks that are picked along the way. Recommended. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for the review copy.

This was wild. The magic system in this book is like nothing I've read and I'll be honest, it took a few chapters for me to get my head around the specifics but what helped with this was the pace that Dylan sets for the plot. Spoiler alert: it's fast! We're thrown straight into the thick of it with sneaky thief Cemmy. Cemmy lives a chaotic half life as a' Hue', a half magic half norm. Did I mention her existence is literally illegal? Through every fault of her own she ends up embroiled in a heist plot, with a dubious creep and an infuriating (but kinda hot) guy called Chase. Given the pace of this book the world building is lighter touch and not over described. I am a neuro diverse reader and I don't need pages upon pages to describe a room or place, which this book is more in the style of. If you like messy relationships, a fast paced plot, quippy dialogue and unique magic systems, this book is for you. If you like books to hurt your feelings, this is also very much your jam.

A unique, colour-based magic system. A heist in the shadow world with everything at stake. Queer found family. Super messy characters. Secrets, lies, betrayals and twists. Evil organisations on both sides. “I am the violence the world made of me.” Gripping, unique and high stakes, a great read.

I loved Kate Dylan’s sci-Fi duology so I was really excited to get an advanced copy of her foray into fantasy, and Until We Shatter did not disappoint! This ragtag group of half-magic young adults had my heart immediately. It took me a second to get to grips with the magic system but it expkained in a natural way and not info dumped. And the magic system is one of my favourite things about this book. I’ve never read anything quite like it before and I’m really excited to learn more about it in the next book. The main character Cemmy (Kemmy, Semmy?) is an absolute disaster and and honestly I was so on edge following her decision making process! This was a shouting at the screen watching the heroine go up the stairs in a horror movie type scenario! I had my heart in my mouth waiting for her to figure things out. Also for a no-spice book, the chemistry and tension between Cemmy and MMC were unmatched. I really enjoyed their developing relationship. This was altogether a really great read and a really engaging cast of characters and I highly recommend.

5 / 5