Shadow

Switching the girls at birth - not a unique plot element. There's not even a new twist on it. Still, good character development of Shadow. Ending was a bit of a let down - expected more of a confrontation and for Shadow herself to have a bigger hand in the take down.

My thoughts...I adored this story. The story has a fairytale feel, complete with a queen, a knight, beautiful castles, and silk dresses. However, it surprised me with a dark side full of dungeons, dark secrets, betrayals and lies. The heroine Shadow, is just that, a Shadow to the beautiful queen. Queen Audrey treats Shadow very poorly, as do her ladies. Despite her situation, Shadow keeps her head held high and demands respect, even though it usually results in her punishment. Her character grew significantly as the book progressed. She became more bold and determined. Moss did a brilliant job of telling the story from the heroine's point of view, I got a really good sense of her character.

The plot of the story flowed very smoothly and show more I had a very hard time putting it down. Although it is geared to very YA (ages 10 and up), I think readers of any age would find it enjoyable. The plot held mystery, a bit of romance, midieval action complete with swords, and magic. Moss did a very good job capturing that time period. The descriptions of the lands, the dialect and customs displayed by the characters allowed me to be part of their world. It was very well written.

The cons...I am very hard-pressed to say anything negative about this book. Some readers may be able to predict the ending of the story, but if you are a fan of this type of fairy tale story, you won't mind a bit. show less

Promising premise. Possibilities. Intriguing situations and relationships.

BUSTED.

The style is abrupt, and bluntly lacking in information. The plot-twist is predictable from the first chapter, the characters have what another reader aptly described as "emotional ADHD," and, Oh!, it could have been SOOOOOO much better. It had promise, and it failed. Unlike other books that need editing, this one needs EXTENSIVE editing and should have been rewritten another ten times, with a greater amount of time spent observing human nature and less time reading Twilight and paperback romances.

As the appointed 'shadow' of a young queen, our protagonist has been the subject of unmerited scorn and mistreatment at the hands of Queen Audrey and her court. She dreams of life far away from the castle that is her, and the queen's, prison. Unfortunately for her, freedom is constantly out of reach. Shadow's duty is to always be at the side of the queen. For what reason, no one knows. They can only speculate that it has something to do with the mysterious prophecy that foretells Audrey's death prior to her sixteenth birthday.

When this prophecy is fulfilled, Shadow is quickly ushered out of the castle under the protection of a young knight, Sir Kenway. Despite the dangerous circumstances that surround her, Shadow can't help but be show more excited for this is the escape that she has longed for.

Shadow's journey through the slowly dying country is richly imagined and full of action. The setting is well-drawn and almost palpable. The characters that populate it are varied and each brings something special to a plot that, despite a hole or two, is pretty intriguing.

My only complaints with the story lie with the two primary characters, Shadow and Sir Kenway. I had a hard time liking either of them. At times, Shadow came across as entirely too selfish and bitchy. While I understand that her background merits some of her attitude, sometimes she took it too far. Because of this her change of mindset towards the end of the novel seemed less like growth and more like she just suddenly, and inexplicably, flipped the script. Likewise, Kenway came off as a bit bipolar as well...

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A decent fantasy read, but I had such a tremendous difficulty liking the characters or feeling like the politics were making sense that it was far from a pleasant reading experience. It was all a little too vague and read like it was being told third-hand. The idea of exploring Shadow's role as the shadow of the ersatz Queen Audrey (that whole switch was apparent to me pretty much once they were both introduced) appealed to me (a teeny bit), but what I instead received was a rather mushed conglomeration of goddesses, an ancient earth religion and a romance that was devoid of any spark of authenticity.

Amazing! Similar to Graceling in that the main character is blessed/cursed with a gift. Interesting mystery/adventure. I think middle school kids will really enjoy this.

It was an all right read.