Rhiannon
There are some wonderful whispers of Neil Gaiman and C.S. Lewis in this uniquely absorbing dark fantasy/light horror tale of a boy whose shadow is stolen. Young Connor must journey to the Shadowlands and navigate his way through this dark, grim world to retrieve the part of his stolen shadow and prevent further loss of it – and himself – the loss of your shadow means the loss of yourself, your identity. This clever allegory leads beautifully into the doubts and fears that plague Connor in the real world and Shadowlands both – themes of trust, loss, sacrifice and friendship are paramount in this story and Connor must confront them all.
There is some ambiguity and a bit of confusion about Connor’s age – at first, I thought I was reading about a much younger child based on Connor’s inner monologue. In the beginning he seems to be constantly thinking of and crying for his ‘mommy’. For at least the first half of the book I found his dialogue to feel much more juvenile than his actual age (I thought he was about 7 years old!) which it turns out is 11 years old. The age of the MC and the target audience (“YA” – what even is that anyway?) seemed to run contrary to several of the plot points in the story which are very strongly adult themed: Connor witnesses the literal hanging of a man that is very graphic, he is regularly threatened with torture and whippings, and eventually experiences being hung by the neck himself. Pretty serious stuff.
Now to be fair, I was rather advanced as a young reader (way before the invention of the YA marketing juggernaut that exists today) so my personal tolerance for this kind of stuff was always pretty high (I’d read Carrie, Helter Skelter, The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror by the time I was 11) so ‘mature themes’ never bothered me per se, but I could see how some of the scenes in this book might have an adverse lasting effect on some children reading it. But maybe ‘young adults’ are all secretly yearning for that kind of upgrade in their reading material?
The thing is, apart from that, this is a pretty great story. If I’d come across this book as a kid, I would have loved very nearly all of it – I always enjoyed being challenged as a young reader – but the issue with Connor’s initial maturity level might have turned me off a bit as a kid, but I would have still stuck with it! As an adult I absolutely enjoyed Najberg’s engrossing and engaging worldbuilding and imagination, and as a dark fantasy that incorporates adventure and mystery with some dark themes and strong character development this book is well worth the read!
Highly recommended for all adults who like a good dark fantasy and for all ‘extra’ mature young readers.
My thanks to the author, for the complimentary copy in exchange for a free and honest review.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.
There are some wonderful whispers of Neil Gaiman and C.S. Lewis in this uniquely absorbing dark fantasy/light horror tale of a boy whose shadow is stolen. Young Connor must journey to the Shadowlands and navigate his way through this dark, grim world to retrieve the part of his stolen shadow and prevent further loss of it – and himself – the loss of your shadow means the loss of yourself, your identity. This clever allegory leads beautifully into the doubts and fears that plague Connor in the real world and Shadowlands both – themes of trust, loss, sacrifice and friendship are paramount in this story and Connor must confront them all.
There is some ambiguity and a bit of confusion about Connor’s age – at first, I thought I was reading about a much younger child based on Connor’s inner monologue. In the beginning he seems to be constantly thinking of and crying for his ‘mommy’. For at least the first half of the book I found his dialogue to feel much more juvenile than his actual age (I thought he was about 7 years old!) which it turns out is 11 years old. The age of the MC and the target audience (“YA” – what even is that anyway?) seemed to run contrary to several of the plot points in the story which are very strongly adult themed: Connor witnesses the literal hanging of a man that is very graphic, he is regularly threatened with torture and whippings, and eventually experiences being hung by the neck himself. Pretty serious stuff.
Now to be fair, I was rather advanced as a young reader (way before the invention of the YA marketing juggernaut that exists today) so my personal tolerance for this kind of stuff was always pretty high (I’d read Carrie, Helter Skelter, The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror by the time I was 11) so ‘mature themes’ never bothered me per se, but I could see how some of the scenes in this book might have an adverse lasting effect on some children reading it. But maybe ‘young adults’ are all secretly yearning for that kind of upgrade in their reading material?
The thing is, apart from that, this is a pretty great story. If I’d come across this book as a kid, I would have loved very nearly all of it – I always enjoyed being challenged as a young reader – but the issue with Connor’s initial maturity level might have turned me off a bit as a kid, but I would have still stuck with it! As an adult I absolutely enjoyed Najberg’s engrossing and engaging worldbuilding and imagination, and as a dark fantasy that incorporates adventure and mystery with some dark themes and strong character development this book is well worth the read!
Highly recommended for all adults who like a good dark fantasy and for all ‘extra’ mature young readers.
My thanks to the author, for the complimentary copy in exchange for a free and honest review.
Originally posted at www.instagram.com.