Rising Shadows

I received Rising Shadows from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program.
Rising Shadows is a story for teens/young adults. As a 40 something woman, I enjoyed the book. The main characters ( Sarah, Karen, & Will)were well written and likable. The other characters need a little growth and personality. The overall concept of ttime travel to the 12th century was done well. Some reviewers have mentioned the speech of the characters. But since we aren't really sure where or when Sarah and Karen have ended up (Karen was only guessing, since Serimone isn't in our history books or on any kind of map).
More questions should have arisen over 3 young girls coming to town seemingly alone. And even though this is book one of a trilogy, some of the loose ends could have been tied up before the end of the book. The identity of The Green Shadow was predictable. I appreciate the religious aspects to the story.

All in all, I would recommend reading this book. It was easy to read and enjoyable. I would guess even more so for younger minds. ( )

First off, I want to preface this rating with kudos to the young author, who has realized her dream of being published. This is an accomplishment to feel good about. Writing was my dream when I was in my teens, but I never got around to churning out a full-length novel until just a few years ago (still revising though - busy schedule and all that).

Having said that, there are some things about this book which I feel are a bit ... rough around the edges and could do with some more polishing. First off, the spirituality thing - while not a turn off - felt thrown together haphazardly about halfway (or more) through the book. It could probably have been interwoven a bit better and earlier than it was because when it did enter the picture, it didn't come across as effectively integrated and felt out of place. The characters were OK, but a bit cardboard-cutout. The family that Sarah stayed with felt vanilla - and it seemed odd to me that they would have so readily accepted her as part of the family in just the span of a day or so, to the point that they were clamoring loudly in their objections when she announced it was time for her to leave. So, character development could be strengthened a bit, and the stereotypical representations toned down somewhat.

All in all, the plot was decent enough; I didn't realize this was be part of a series, so I was disappointed to find that the story didn't wrap up completely. I look forward to the second book. :) ( )

Disclosure: I won a copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers programme.

This book attempts to hit several genres in what I believe is to lure readers of the following genres: time travel, Christian theme, historical fiction, young adult, fantasy and paranormal.

Unfortunately, by setting the story in an England that was both violent and led by a King deeply suspicious of foreigners, and by using modern tropes such as female independence, leaves the reader without a foundation.

The premise is good and had it been more widely developed - meaning had it the story been set over a longer period of time, I think the author might have been more successful.

It is a quaint story, if one is not bothered by all the inconsistencies and the ease with which the characters can interact, but I would hesitate to suggest that anyone with knowledge of history be offered this title.

A note on the Christian theme of the book. I do not typically discuss this sort of thing as my beliefs are my own. However, I got the sense that the author was attempting to link modern Christian approaches with the strong religious themes in history. Unfortunately, the motives for Medieval "devout" religious beliefs and those of the modern Christians are decidedly different both in context and practice. Thus, the unified understanding of prayer in the novel seems quite strange and out of place. For me, the Christian themes were overbearing and stilted the narrative. ( )

Rising Shadows by Ashley Townsend

I have read many books where the Author was a new one. I usually find their works readable and really good, but I found that this book was distracting, timing was off, and not interesting. The story should have been put together more by a better choice of words, and the story should have been a little longer. I was facinated at first but then it got very distracting.

I give this book a 2 star rating.

FCC DISCLOSURE: I received this book from the publisher via Library Thing for free in exchange for a review. My reviews are based on my own judgement and are unbiased. ( )

I found that a number of issues added up to distract me a fair amount while I was reading this book. It's an engaging enough story, and I think that with a bit of smoothing out it could be a lot of fun, but I think my needs are a little different in a fantasy story than what this book provided.
The characters seemed to oscillate in the age they were portraying. Sometimes acting in a way that felt very much younger than they were supposed to be. Sometimes I felt like there should be more of a reaction - for example, in Lily - than there was. They didn't feel "real" a lot of the time.
While I am happy to give period books some leeway, there were numerous unbelievable aspects in some events, and inconsistencies with history. I know, for example, that the dialogue cannot reflect the period, as that would render the story unreadable to most people, and would basically render the heroine mute - on the other hand, three young women turning up in someone's barn unescorted, and welcomed openly is not hindered by such considerations, and is very strange to me. I kept expecting things to happen which felt like they should logically happen given the period, but which did not occur. Approaching events in the plot with rising incredulity was very distracting.
I ultimately found it very difficult to lose myself in this book. I kept feeling increasingly distanced from characters and plot. ( )