Shadowland

I was so confident I'd enjoy this book, I bought the first two books in the series at once. I'm sorry to say I wasted my money, and absolutely would not recommend this series.

There are two big issues. The first and simplest is derogatory language. For a young adult book published in 2004 and reprinted multiple times sense, this book has a disturbing amount of casual homophobia/'gay jokes' and, to a lesser extent, fat-shaming and bullying. The fact that the jokes/comments are made casually as asides, are clearly meant to add humor, and come from characters who are supposed to be sympathetic... well, I don't have any patience for it. If I had read this when I was a teen, in the late 90s, I'm not sure I would have noticed the fat-shaming show more or bullying for what they are, vs. them just being elements that make the main character unlikeable for me, but I know the homophobic comments would have bothered me even then, when CWs and a lot of the more contemporary PC discussions re. literature were far off my radar. Now, reading the book in 2021, the casual comments made me both unable to like the main character, but outright annoyed that the comments and jokes slipped through as they did and haven't ever been corrected.

But beyond the offensive jokes, the book also has story problems, primarily around character consistency. What it comes down to is that all of the details simply don't add up. We're told that she's been a mediator since she was two and has a ton of experience...but, to be blunt, she doesn't act like it. This isn't just a matter of her boasting to others and the reader, and being a little bit full of herself--that makes her less likeable, certainly, but in making her choices and interacting with ghosts and others who can see them, she literally doesn't act like she has the experience which we're told she does, either in her decision-making or her language. To avoid giving away any spoilers, just one small for-instance of this is in the fact that she approaches ghosts herself, when she could just as easily ignore them and says that's what she'd prefer (repeatedly), and she also seems annoyed/frustrated/confused when a centuries-old ghost doesn't understand her use of contemporary idioms. Someone accustomed to talking to ghosts, as she'd professed, would know that and be used to avoiding them, especially when it comes to idioms that would be in common use for a conversation between her and a ghost (idioms centered on death & dying, in other words). Yet, she really acts like it's her first time talking to a ghost. And supposedly she's never been a popular girl...but she sure acts like she was/is and is used to it.

Add all this to the coincidences, the unbelievable turns in plot, and the mean-girl behavior that even comes from the protagonist....? It's a big no for me.

I'm not entirely sure how readers made this such a popular series or found ways to sympathize with the main character, honestly. For the most part, I wavered between finding her unlikeable and unbelievable, if not outright annoying and unrealistic. I actually thought about DNFing the book, but because I was curious about how one element would be wrapped up in the plot, I decided to read this one to the end. That sequel that I bought, however, will not be read, and I can't see myself wasting my time on this author's books again, much as I dislike saying that.

No, I would not recommend this book. show less

I've never read any of Meg Cabot's oeuvre until now, so my first exposure was very amusing. I'm impressed how this author developed an authentic voice that reflected the hierarchical social difficulties in school. Her presentation was a genuine perspective of teenager realities.

Although clearly aimed at the Tween-mid YA audience, I admired the vibe she put forth, not ascribing childishness or boring on about what the adults thought. The main character, Susannah (Suze), was a sharp, snappy protagonist and Cabot's dialogue struck me as genuinely "16 years old with an Attitude". Perfectly nuanced, though I found the 'fist in the face' a tad unrealistic. That type of slugfest can hurt one's fist (not to mention the victim) considerably more show more than portrayed, as does the event of having a breezeway falling on you.

Despite these niggles, the interplay within the classroom and Suze's step-brothers resonates with the situations in today's Middle school as much as high school, so kudos for painting a realistic picture. The paranormal aspect was well done and very intriguing with the way those scenes slipped into the narrative. Highly recommended for teens coping with new schools, social hassles and who are open to some paranormal episodes. A good type of story similar to Zilpha Keaetly Snyder's Stanley family series. show less

I read Shadowland for my Trick or Treat square on Halloween Bingo. Normally, the Young Adult books I read are Science Fiction but I thought this would be a better fit for Halloween Bingo.

I’d heard about Meg Cabot, mainly for her Princess Diaries but I'd never read one of her books before. She delivered a light, entertaining Young Adult tale about a teenager who can talk to the dead.

It's the start of a series so it had a Season 1, Episode 1 feel to it but it did deliver a complete story in which, in addition to learning about our heroine's backstory (lives all her life in NYC, has seen ghosts forever, doesn't want to end up in a psych ward, moved to Carmel when her mother remarried), current challenges (living in California - why no show more Mass Transit?, attending a new posh school, having a dead guy in haunting her bedroom and having three new step-brothers) and general attitude to life (mostly positive and tolerant but very committed to performing her role as a 'mediator' helping ghosts to move on- whether they want to or not), we see a dangerous ghost being bested.

Most of the mileage came from our heroine’s move to Carmel from NYC but there was also a baddy worthy of a Buffy Season 1 episode. Our heroine's speech patterns were a little odd. Her vocabulary seemed old-fashioned and overly formal. Still, the story was told from her point of view and it rolled along nicely.

I was a bit surprised at how some of the topics were handled. The plot centres on a teen suicide which is described casually but in enough detail to be very easy to visualise. Our heroine's attitude to the ghost of the suicide? 'Yeah, I know you want your life back but you should have thought of that before you killed yourself. Get over it and move on.' How's that for empathy. Still, she was a very unpleasant ghost.

Even though I'm not the target audience for this, I had fun with it. The audiobook was a pleasant way to spend five hours. show less

Cabot writes frothy YA books that are weirdly good. She has a real skill for writing realistic, fully-realized young female protagonists. They never feel by-the-numbers, despite the cliched positions they find themselves in (this particular narrator can talk to the dead)--they're always very definitely *themselves*. Also, even her most otherworldly of books has an edge of common sense to them, which is a welcome change to the "vampires are just like humans, only sexier" route most "otherworldly romance" takes.

For more reviews, gifs, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.

So Gillian (Writer of Wrongs) and I decided that a reread of this series was totally necessary to life happiness. The Mediator series was my favorite of Meg Cabot’s stuff back in the day, and I love revisiting old favorites. Though I don’t have time to binge, they are fun, fast reads and will totally prevent slumping with their awesome. In some ways, Shadowland wasn’t as good as I remembered, but mostly it was still totally bitching and I loved it.

Meg Cabot brings the humor like few people can. She is at her best when she’s being totally silly and going for pure entertainment. The Mediator series actually blends in some dark paranormal stuff, but the show more overall tone remains hilarity. Suze is a Mediator, which means she can see dead people Haley Joel Osment style and talk them to the next life or whatever. Only her dead people don’t look like they did when they died with bullet holes or whatever; they look nice, because hello we’re trying to have fun here.

Susannah Simon is wonderful. The reason I loved these books so much is in large part due to her. She’s kind of a bitch, but in the best way. Nobody messes with Suze without getting punched in the face or told off, depending on her mood at any given time. Basically, Suze defends herself and also other people. She is not someone to stand by and watch bullying happen. Also, she comes up with hilarious names for people, like her new step-brothers, who she calls Sleepy, Dopey, and Doc.

So far, Doc is the most interesting of Suze’s family members. He’s the youngest son of her mom’s new husband, and he is a genius. Doc (David) is adorably awkward, constantly feeling the need to unload his knowledge on people. That could be annoying, but he also really cares and is so sweet to Suze. Sleepy (Jake) shows hints of becoming the awesome character I think I remember him being later, but mostly he lives up to his name. Dopey’s the worst. The parents are nice, but not all that much part of the story yet. I do like how the step-family is shown in a good light, with no real drama.

Also, Jesse de Silva. I’d forgotten how relatively minor his role was in this first book. He’s fabulous of course, but he’s not really shining yet. He’s this super hot ghost living in her room of the family’s old house. He is a bit overly interested in her too quickly, but I also feel like he was probably really bored and astounded to find someone who could see and touch him, so I get it.

Shadowland is hilariously dated. Like, Susannah discusses things like second phone lines and looking up phone numbers in her date book. The slang is all over the place and quite frequent. Some of it is in line with 2000 when the book came out, and some things like “hosed” are ones I’ve only heard people of my parent’s generation say. But, whatever, it’s hilarious. Also hilarious is when Suze asked Doc if their school had computers. We had a computer lab and computers in the library at my public elementary school back in the early 90s, so I’m pretty confident that in 2000 an expensive private school would definitely have them. Pretty much any school anywhere would.

If you need something light that will make you laugh, you cannot go wrong with an old school Meg Cabot novel. This is a universally acknowledged truth, y’all. show less

Fast-reading, more than a little fluffy, and ridiculously fun. Suze Simon is a sixteen-year-old mediator - she can see (and touch) ghosts, and spends a lot of time helping them resolve their business on earth and move on. She, too, is moving from New York to California to live with her mother and her new stepfamily. Only... her new bedroom is haunted by a hot 150-years-dead cowboy, and her school is haunted by a girl filled with murderous rage. There's not much to critique here; it's not intended to be a serious novel, so complaining about the overuse of high-school novel tropes or something seems beside the point. It's a faced-paced and well-plotted read, although Suze's narration style got a little annoying, but the main point is that show more it's fun, light escapism. Also... where was the hot cowboy haunting my bedroom when I was sixteen? show less

After her mom marries her second husband Andy, Suze moves from New York to California to live with mom, Andy, and her three new stepbrothers, Sleepy, Dopey, and Doc. (I have stepsiblings, that cracked me right up.) She's leaving behind her best friend Gina, but she'll still have visits from the ghost of her dead dad and all the new ghosts she might find, including the one living in her new bedroom. Suze sees dead people. She's a mediator and it's her job to help them find out why they haven't moved on and fix whatever problem there is. Suze gets in trouble a lot because sometimes her "job" calls for a little breaking and entering.

The new school isn't so bad. She's at Junipero Serra High School (alma mater of Tom Brady!) and her new show more principal--Father Dom--is a mediator like her, the first one she's ever met. Father Dom thinks talking to ghosts and filling them with love and understanding is the way while Suze realizes that since she can touch ghosts she's te one who's called upon to give a swift kick to some ghost ass when called for. And it's called for when the ghost of a girl who killed herself wants to kill a boy, Suze, and eventually take out the entire school. show less