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beastreader's review
2.0
Another book that I started a long time ago and just circled back to trying again. Obviously I liked what I read enough to get half way into the book. Yet, not enough to keep me reading and finishing the book. I picked it up again and just started from where I left off. I do like Darcy's ability as a Shade to turn invisible. Although she was not able to sustain it all the time as she was still learning how to use her ability. The story read for the younger reading audience. This is fine but I was wanting more. There are young adult novels that can translate for both the younger and older audience alike but I did not think this one achieved this goal. The last half of the story was fine. There was some action but most of it is unmemorable. An alright ending but nothing in this book that would make me want to continue reading this series.
johnmcosta's review
3.0
Gostei bastante da história, do mundo criado, e da escrita! Não me liguei muito ás personagens, mas não desgostei delas! Bom livro! :)
bibliophile1019's review
3.0
When I heard that Marie Rutkoski had written other books than the Winner's Curse, I simply had to read them. I can see aspects of her genius here, and if I hadn't read The Winner's Curse first, I probably would have given it a higher rating, but it just pales in comparison!
Darcy Jones was abandoned at a fire station when she was five years old with no memory of what happened before. Through the years, she was bounced from foster home to foster home, labelled as dangerous and strange, but she may have finally found a home with foster mother Marsha. On the first day of school--her first time starting school at the same school two years in a row--Darcy makes eye contact with Conn, a new student, and can't seem to forget about him. But then he betrays her and she discovers the reason she's never really fit in anywhere: she's from an alternate universe in which the Great Chicago Fire never happened, and she's a Shade, a mysterious being that was eradicated in the Alt, which is the "real world". To save herself and hopefully make it back to the Alt, Darcy agrees to go undercover to find out what the Shades are planning next, but it isn't easy.
While I found Rutkoski's writing beautiful, I was not as attached to the story as I was to The Winner's Curse, which moved me to tears multiple times. While strong characters, Darcy isn't Kestrel, and Conn pales in comparison to Arin. Without their passion, the story of the Shades just didn't come to life for me. I gave this review three stars instead of two simply because I think it's unfair to compare it to The Winner's Curse, and it may be tainting my opinion just a bit. Overall, I think it's definitely worth a shot for anyone who likes The Winner's Curse!
Darcy Jones was abandoned at a fire station when she was five years old with no memory of what happened before. Through the years, she was bounced from foster home to foster home, labelled as dangerous and strange, but she may have finally found a home with foster mother Marsha. On the first day of school--her first time starting school at the same school two years in a row--Darcy makes eye contact with Conn, a new student, and can't seem to forget about him. But then he betrays her and she discovers the reason she's never really fit in anywhere: she's from an alternate universe in which the Great Chicago Fire never happened, and she's a Shade, a mysterious being that was eradicated in the Alt, which is the "real world". To save herself and hopefully make it back to the Alt, Darcy agrees to go undercover to find out what the Shades are planning next, but it isn't easy.
While I found Rutkoski's writing beautiful, I was not as attached to the story as I was to The Winner's Curse, which moved me to tears multiple times. While strong characters, Darcy isn't Kestrel, and Conn pales in comparison to Arin. Without their passion, the story of the Shades just didn't come to life for me. I gave this review three stars instead of two simply because I think it's unfair to compare it to The Winner's Curse, and it may be tainting my opinion just a bit. Overall, I think it's definitely worth a shot for anyone who likes The Winner's Curse!
elizawuen's review
5.0
Marie Rutkoski HOW DO YOU WRTIE SO WELL PLEASE TEACH ME YOUR WAYS.
So yeah this book WAS GREAT and THE CHARACTERS yesSSSSSSS
So yeah this book WAS GREAT and THE CHARACTERS yesSSSSSSS
krish_'s review
2.0
Three words sum up my overall experience with The Shadow Society: I don't know. I didn't know what I was reading and I still am not quite sure. I do know that I didn't like it very much. The plot was uninteresting, the world building was lacking, and the characters were mediocre.
It's about Darcy, a foster child of many, always being returned to the system, always needing a place to belong. Finally she's found a place where she has a home, a school, and friends. The mystery to her is her past -- she is missing the first five years of her life. Intriguing, non? Well, not really. As a character, Darcy was kind of undetermined for me. She had no solid personality with which I could identify her. I didn't know if she was the sweet, vulnerable, sensitive type. Or the badass, take-no-crap kind of girl. I don't take kindly to books that pigeonhole a protagonist with two-dimensionality, but you have to add some colour to the central lead and I felt like Darcy not only was a dull grey-ish, beige-ish, pale-ish colour in the most energizing of scenes but actually lacked colour all together for the rest.
I report, sadly, the same of the love interest. Conn, the boy with the "past", the "secret", who everyone refers to as "ruthless". I think the airquotes say enough. I just didn't get the intensity of him. His dramatic contribution came and went without even a hello. The secondary characters were flavoured just a bit more -- as it often happens -- but only because they were too joke-y, too snobbish, or too bossy. You had no choice but hang a name tag identifying them as The Best Friend, The Jokester, The Pining Boy, and The Bitch.
The plot. I think this book achieved the shortest, laziest, most anti-climatic climax ever in the history of all young adult fiction K. has read. It was gone before I even realized it'd arrived. It is a countdown to midnight: two opposite ends of the city, there will be an attack, two sides will be coming to a head, and a massacre about to be carried out. It must be stopped. And it was, if I remember correctly, all within fifteen minutes. If even. And when you discover the key with which they solved this problem...ay!
But besides that, the entire book was simply implausible. The characters' reactions to situations, revelations, and each other were just unrealistic -- at the very least, I can't imagine myself or anyone I know reacting as such. There is an alternate world here, people. Darcy (who learns something shocking about herself) gets stuck in this world. Her oh so loyal human friends (who have no qualms whatsoever when they learn this "something shocking" about Darcy) find the portal to this other dimension, and somehow get away with just being there -- no guide, no knowledge at all of this place except what they observe on the streets. They renttrespass into an abandoned house, somehow able to buy groceries/clothes/other necessities (and even go clubbing!). Huh?
The world building. Well, I did say I don't know what I'd read, right? Then you'll understand why I can't explain to you in any great detail about this one. I know that there are two worlds. They are parallel, split in half by a single event -- the Great Chicago Fire. In both worlds, there is the existence of another...population. In our world, this "population" has been eliminated. But in the other world, they have not and because of this, there is a great divide between this other world's inhabitants. That was all I gathered, and all I can safely relay with any confidence. It was muddy. And when it wasn't, it was not convincing.
This was a weak story. My heart is not at all in this review. I cared so little that I don't even have the energy to dislike it properly -- with indignation and supreme pomposity. I'd never tell you not to read a book because each to his or her own and I can certainly see how many might find this a really good read. The problem, truly, for me (which is a shame as I was really excited and hopeful) was that it just didn't have anything new to distinguish it from the masses of young adult books in the market.
But, nice cover.
2
This review also appears on The Midnight Garden. An advance copy was provided by the publisher.
It's about Darcy, a foster child of many, always being returned to the system, always needing a place to belong. Finally she's found a place where she has a home, a school, and friends. The mystery to her is her past -- she is missing the first five years of her life. Intriguing, non? Well, not really. As a character, Darcy was kind of undetermined for me. She had no solid personality with which I could identify her. I didn't know if she was the sweet, vulnerable, sensitive type. Or the badass, take-no-crap kind of girl. I don't take kindly to books that pigeonhole a protagonist with two-dimensionality, but you have to add some colour to the central lead and I felt like Darcy not only was a dull grey-ish, beige-ish, pale-ish colour in the most energizing of scenes but actually lacked colour all together for the rest.
I report, sadly, the same of the love interest. Conn, the boy with the "past", the "secret", who everyone refers to as "ruthless". I think the airquotes say enough. I just didn't get the intensity of him. His dramatic contribution came and went without even a hello. The secondary characters were flavoured just a bit more -- as it often happens -- but only because they were too joke-y, too snobbish, or too bossy. You had no choice but hang a name tag identifying them as The Best Friend, The Jokester, The Pining Boy, and The Bitch.
The plot. I think this book achieved the shortest, laziest, most anti-climatic climax ever in the history of all young adult fiction K. has read. It was gone before I even realized it'd arrived. It is a countdown to midnight: two opposite ends of the city, there will be an attack, two sides will be coming to a head, and a massacre about to be carried out. It must be stopped. And it was, if I remember correctly, all within fifteen minutes. If even. And when you discover the key with which they solved this problem...ay!
But besides that, the entire book was simply implausible. The characters' reactions to situations, revelations, and each other were just unrealistic -- at the very least, I can't imagine myself or anyone I know reacting as such. There is an alternate world here, people. Darcy (who learns something shocking about herself) gets stuck in this world. Her oh so loyal human friends (who have no qualms whatsoever when they learn this "something shocking" about Darcy) find the portal to this other dimension, and somehow get away with just being there -- no guide, no knowledge at all of this place except what they observe on the streets. They rent
The world building. Well, I did say I don't know what I'd read, right? Then you'll understand why I can't explain to you in any great detail about this one. I know that there are two worlds. They are parallel, split in half by a single event -- the Great Chicago Fire. In both worlds, there is the existence of another...population. In our world, this "population" has been eliminated. But in the other world, they have not and because of this, there is a great divide between this other world's inhabitants. That was all I gathered, and all I can safely relay with any confidence. It was muddy. And when it wasn't, it was not convincing.
This was a weak story. My heart is not at all in this review. I cared so little that I don't even have the energy to dislike it properly -- with indignation and supreme pomposity. I'd never tell you not to read a book because each to his or her own and I can certainly see how many might find this a really good read. The problem, truly, for me (which is a shame as I was really excited and hopeful) was that it just didn't have anything new to distinguish it from the masses of young adult books in the market.
But, nice cover.
2
This review also appears on The Midnight Garden. An advance copy was provided by the publisher.
kkdemarco's review
4.0
This was a great, fast-paced fantasy book! It was intriguing (inter-dimensional - one society exists in present-day Chicago, while the other exists in a Chicago where The Great Fire never happened and history has run a different course) and exciting. I enjoyed the main character, Darcy, and her struggle with finding out she's not exactly human...
crowandnightingale's review
4.0
I was worried I wasn't going to like this one when halfway through I stalled out. I just wasn't sure I cared about the characters enough to continue. Then things began to get interesting. I like Darcy and Conn very much. I liked the mythology a lot as well. Particularly the Shades. I am curious to know more about them and how they interact in the human world. I hope this continues.
krupagrace's review
A book with a difference ... Shades aren't creatures that hear so much about . Try it it's not quite what u expect
indreamsandnightmares's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars for me.
We follow the story of Darcy who happens to be an orphan. She has however been lucky with her foster homes and is now currently living with a very cheery foster mum who accepts her without minding the fact that she has been labeled as violent on her file.
Darcy meets new boy Conn (which is kind of a very odd name mind you) who is shy and VERY HANDSOME except for his nose which apparently looks as if it has been broken. Mysterious boy really attracts her, even when her friends don't seem to like him very much *THAT GURL IS WHAT YOU CALL AN INTERVENTION*. She soon finds out her friends were right and that the weird things she has seen in the past few days were not at all a coincidence and she might not be who she thinks she is.
Not going to lie, the beginning made me want to drop this book and go find something else. There just was something about the structure and the writing that felt kind of unnatural for me.
The whole idea of a shadow society really hooked me. I wanted to know how their world worked and the place they lived in but we don't get much of that. We do get however a bit of history which was fine by me.
I loved her friends. I don't think I had a favourite but I do feel like some of them weren't as developed as the other *Hint: Rafael* and that kind of bothered me. Also I wanted to know more about the council's members.
Conn was a very complex character and I did like him I just felt like maybe the whole love thing and getting to know Darcy was a bit rushed? I mean they were kind of going against everything they believed in and most of the book Darcy was angry at him (within reason of course) but he still went out of his way which was cute really cute, just not so very believable.
Still I enjoyed the whole book overall and I would read another one if it came out but just out of curiosity of what the author will do with the story.
We follow the story of Darcy who happens to be an orphan. She has however been lucky with her foster homes and is now currently living with a very cheery foster mum who accepts her without minding the fact that she has been labeled as violent on her file.
Darcy meets new boy Conn (which is kind of a very odd name mind you) who is shy and VERY HANDSOME except for his nose which apparently looks as if it has been broken. Mysterious boy really attracts her, even when her friends don't seem to like him very much *THAT GURL IS WHAT YOU CALL AN INTERVENTION*. She soon finds out her friends were right and that the weird things she has seen in the past few days were not at all a coincidence and she might not be who she thinks she is.
Not going to lie, the beginning made me want to drop this book and go find something else. There just was something about the structure and the writing that felt kind of unnatural for me.
The whole idea of a shadow society really hooked me. I wanted to know how their world worked and the place they lived in but we don't get much of that. We do get however a bit of history which was fine by me.
I loved her friends. I don't think I had a favourite but I do feel like some of them weren't as developed as the other *Hint: Rafael* and that kind of bothered me. Also I wanted to know more about the council's members.
Conn was a very complex character and I did like him I just felt like maybe the whole love thing and getting to know Darcy was a bit rushed? I mean they were kind of going against everything they believed in and most of the book Darcy was angry at him (within reason of course) but he still went out of his way which was cute really cute, just not so very believable.
Still I enjoyed the whole book overall and I would read another one if it came out but just out of curiosity of what the author will do with the story.