Thursday, June 30, 2011

Shadowspell by Jenna Black (Faeriewalker #2)

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Shadowspell by Jenna Black
January 4, 2011; St. Martin's Press


Summary

On top of spending most of her time in a bunkerlike safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking has long been the nightmare of the Fae realm. A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana’s in trouble, since it’s common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking’s got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind? (courtesy of Goodreads)

Review

Dana is a hot commodity in Avalon. With her abilities as a faeriwalker, both the good and bad guys want a piece of her. For her safety, Dana is practically a prisoner in her dad's safe house. This definitely does not sit well with Dana. She gives her bodyguards the slip numerous times and encounters great danger and real consequences because of it. The biggest danger is the Erlking, the faery hunter who is loose in Avalon and apparently looking for Dana.

I go back and forth between admiring Dana and wanting to smack her. She is a strong, independent girl, probably a result of having to be the "adult" with her alcoholic mom. If someone tells her no, Dana finds a way to do it anyway, either by convincing the person to change his mind or simple defiance. This enables Dana to be brave and to save the day. It also causes her to do some really dumb things and people get hurt by her thoughtlessness. On the other hand, she's definitely a girl you want on your side. She'll fight to the death to defend her friends.

Shadowspell introduces a new concept in YA literature: A love rectangle (or square). There are now three hot, sex guys in this series. Of course, one of them is out to kill her...but little details. I'm not a huge Ethan fan, although I did feel a little better about him at the end of the book. For the most part, he's an arrogant, showy playboy. Dana should know better. We don't get to see his good side enough. There wasn't enough Keane in Shadowspell. I love Keane. The bad boy type who's really a good boy. He was around, but I didn't feel like his character went through much growth - or as much as I would have liked. The Erlking is intriguing. He's either evil or he's not. Or perhaps he's a bit of both. He is the biggest reason that I am foaming at the mouth for the third book.

It took me awhile to get hooked on Shadowspell, but once I was, the pages were flying. If you enjoyed Glimmerglass, you must read Shadowspell. It may suffer a little bit from second book syndrome, but it sets up everything perfectly for Sirensong.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

9 comments:

  1. Great review! I've been thinking about whether I should try out this series and I might now :)

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  2. I loved Shadow Spell better then Glimmerglass. There was a whole lot more going on. Nice review!

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  3. I haven't read the first in this series, though I'm intrigued. Sounds like it's worth a read! Thanks for the great review!
    Happy reading,
    Mary @ Book Swarm

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  4. I haven't read this series yet, but I am a sucker for all things Fae! I can't wait to start. Thanks for the recommendation!

    My Latest Review: Dead Rules by Randy Russell

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  5. Oh my. A love square? That's a lot of guys after just one girl. That never happens to me. *pouts* I like the sound of this series overall, but I don't know if I'm ready for the square, the triangle is almost doing me in as it is! Awesome review though Alison!

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  6. Have you read Born at Midnight? There is kind of a love square there, too. I hope this is not a new tread! I'll gag all over myself if it is.

    Yeah, these are probably not for me, but I'm always glad to know why.

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  7. This is one of those series that I keep reading the synopsis, putting it down, coming back, putting it down...and on and on. I can't decide whether I'm going to like it!

    I'm going with love parallelogram.

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  8. Wow..never heard of a love square! I have the first book and this one in my TBR pile. Not big into faeries, but I think this series seems like provides an interesting twist. Great review!

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  9. I recently purchased Glimmerglass, I'm hoping to get to it soon.

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