erinarkin20's review against another edition
4.0
I’m not going to lie, I picked up The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski because I loved The Winner’s Curse so much and I wish I had picked it up sooner.
Darcy has been living in foster home after foster home ever since she was abandoned outside a Chicago Firehouse at the age of five. She’s always wondered where she came from and what happened but now she is staying with Marsha and things are ok. As the prologue states, this book is about how Darcy met Conn, got arrested, and discovered the truth about herself.
As Darcy begins her junior year of high school, a few things happen. First, her memories begin to come back in flashes. For whatever reason, she has been having visions of an alternate world…similar to the Chicago she lives in yet different. Second, Conn McCrea starts at Lakewood and while Darcy is drawn to him, she knows something is off about him and tries to keep her distance. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the same plans.
Conn was an interesting character. It was clear from the start that he had an ulterior motive to getting to know Darcy but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. As things change between these two, I definitely wanted things to be different between him and Darcy but while he recognized that Darcy was different from everything he knew, he also had to do what he felt was right. I loved getting to know more about him and his background and while there was one piece that I thought may have been a bit predictable (I can’t say what because I don’t want to give anything away), it didn’t hurt the story at all.
As the story progresses, we find out there is, in fact, an alternate world where things are not the same. In this world, people called Shades exist and they are terrorizing the humans in that world. When Darcy is yanked into the alternate world, she is forced to join the Shadow Society to find out what they are plotting. Along the way, she finds out more about herself than she ever thought she would.
There were a number of things I loved in this story. The first thing was the banter between Conn and Darcy. They definitely didn’t trust each other when they first met and both have enough sarcastic wit to make me enjoy the dialogue. They also have a number of moments when you really, really know their relationship is truly changing and I loved them all.
Another piece I loved was Darcy’s friends. There is a section where Conn is telling Darcy what he thinks of her friends that I highlighted because it was a perfect description of their relationship.
“It is. They’re like a fortress with a sign that says TOUCH DARCY JONES AND WE WILL DESTROY YOU. I find it surprisingly…touching, actually. I admire loyalty.”
Raphael, Jims, and Lily were great secondary characters and added a layer to the story that allowed Conn to re-evaluate what he really knew about Darcy.
So there you have it, I can’t say much more without ruining the story….so I won’t. Definitely check this one out. There are some great characters, solid world building, and a fantastic story that drags you in from the moment you learn about Marsh’s smashed fish tank.
Darcy has been living in foster home after foster home ever since she was abandoned outside a Chicago Firehouse at the age of five. She’s always wondered where she came from and what happened but now she is staying with Marsha and things are ok. As the prologue states, this book is about how Darcy met Conn, got arrested, and discovered the truth about herself.
As Darcy begins her junior year of high school, a few things happen. First, her memories begin to come back in flashes. For whatever reason, she has been having visions of an alternate world…similar to the Chicago she lives in yet different. Second, Conn McCrea starts at Lakewood and while Darcy is drawn to him, she knows something is off about him and tries to keep her distance. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the same plans.
Conn was an interesting character. It was clear from the start that he had an ulterior motive to getting to know Darcy but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. As things change between these two, I definitely wanted things to be different between him and Darcy but while he recognized that Darcy was different from everything he knew, he also had to do what he felt was right. I loved getting to know more about him and his background and while there was one piece that I thought may have been a bit predictable (I can’t say what because I don’t want to give anything away), it didn’t hurt the story at all.
As the story progresses, we find out there is, in fact, an alternate world where things are not the same. In this world, people called Shades exist and they are terrorizing the humans in that world. When Darcy is yanked into the alternate world, she is forced to join the Shadow Society to find out what they are plotting. Along the way, she finds out more about herself than she ever thought she would.
There were a number of things I loved in this story. The first thing was the banter between Conn and Darcy. They definitely didn’t trust each other when they first met and both have enough sarcastic wit to make me enjoy the dialogue. They also have a number of moments when you really, really know their relationship is truly changing and I loved them all.
Another piece I loved was Darcy’s friends. There is a section where Conn is telling Darcy what he thinks of her friends that I highlighted because it was a perfect description of their relationship.
“It is. They’re like a fortress with a sign that says TOUCH DARCY JONES AND WE WILL DESTROY YOU. I find it surprisingly…touching, actually. I admire loyalty.”
Raphael, Jims, and Lily were great secondary characters and added a layer to the story that allowed Conn to re-evaluate what he really knew about Darcy.
So there you have it, I can’t say much more without ruining the story….so I won’t. Definitely check this one out. There are some great characters, solid world building, and a fantastic story that drags you in from the moment you learn about Marsh’s smashed fish tank.
blakehalsey's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I really loved the premise for this book. Very unique and the backdrop of both a modern day and a interdimensional Chicago added to its intrigue. A good fantasy with a satisfying, if somewhat easy, conclusion.
girlgoesbookish's review against another edition
3.0
I was really excited because this had so many good reviews, and it really was good in the beginning, but then as it got to the middle and started delving more into the romance, I started getting bored. And truthfully, a little disgusted too because it was so cheesy and tacky. So much that I couldn't even finish the book.
I also felt like Darcy was... it's weird, I don't know how to explain it. Let me put it this way, in a lot of books, people always complain about bland characters and how they should've acted in certain situations, so I feel like Rutkoski combined all those complains and made the "perfect" YA heroine. Except I still felt like she lacked something...
I did love the writing style, and to some extent, the story itself, but none of the characters were likable. I guess that sort of ruined it for me.
I also felt like Darcy was... it's weird, I don't know how to explain it. Let me put it this way, in a lot of books, people always complain about bland characters and how they should've acted in certain situations, so I feel like Rutkoski combined all those complains and made the "perfect" YA heroine. Except I still felt like she lacked something...
I did love the writing style, and to some extent, the story itself, but none of the characters were likable. I guess that sort of ruined it for me.
shinysylveon's review against another edition
4.0
This book is the exact opposite of YA novels these days. How exactly would you say?
Strong female lead who can think for herself.
Strong female lead who is smart without everyone else having to be an idiot.
Female lead still has weaknesses she tries to overcome, done in a realistic and organic way.
Romance that builds and takes time to develop.
Cliches are...where exactly? Not in this novel.
A defined world.
The romance, while prominent, doesn't overshadow everything else in the book to the point where the other elements suffer.
Pure originality.
Nothing in this book made me think of another book. It's almost crazy how often that happens now.
Oh, and this book is just a good read all around. After reading the Winner's Curse series, I decided to search out other novels by this author. It's a shame she doesn't have more out there.
I highly recommend.
It's a shame I still only want to give it 4 stars. Sadly it's missing that extra "oomph" that makes it impossible for me to resist giving a book 5 stars.
Strong female lead who can think for herself.
Strong female lead who is smart without everyone else having to be an idiot.
Female lead still has weaknesses she tries to overcome, done in a realistic and organic way.
Romance that builds and takes time to develop.
Cliches are...where exactly? Not in this novel.
A defined world.
The romance, while prominent, doesn't overshadow everything else in the book to the point where the other elements suffer.
Pure originality.
Nothing in this book made me think of another book. It's almost crazy how often that happens now.
Oh, and this book is just a good read all around. After reading the Winner's Curse series, I decided to search out other novels by this author. It's a shame she doesn't have more out there.
I highly recommend.
It's a shame I still only want to give it 4 stars. Sadly it's missing that extra "oomph" that makes it impossible for me to resist giving a book 5 stars.
amarylissw's review against another edition
4.0
This is a hard book for me to rate, simply because of the drastic changes of the tone a quarter way through the book.
We start off with Darcy and her friends, and the new guy, Conn, who seems mysterious, and strangely interested in Darcy. The two become art partners and form a connection. At this point, I was just a little involved with the book. Both Darcy and Conn were a bit bland to me, but then things really picked up. At first, I was a bit weirded out by the onslaught of information and the changes the characters went through. Then, I become actively involved in the story, and I loved it.
While there is much to be desired, the plot, characters, and setting remain fairly solid. I started to fall in love with Conn and Darcy, and their interactions. The side characters had small parts, but they were pretty memorable, something that is nearly unheard of in today's YA books.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and, given some more time to reflect upon it, might even consider buying it. I admit, I was slightly disappointed when I came on Goodreads to see that there wasn't a sequel in the making. Oh, well. It's a great stand-alone novel, nonetheless.
EDIT: I also just found out that I've had experience with this author before in form of "The Winner's Curse." I thought the author's name was familiar. Hm. I might have to watch this one. Two books that I loved each time? I gotta have more.
We start off with Darcy and her friends, and the new guy, Conn, who seems mysterious, and strangely interested in Darcy. The two become art partners and form a connection. At this point, I was just a little involved with the book. Both Darcy and Conn were a bit bland to me, but then things really picked up. At first, I was a bit weirded out by the onslaught of information and the changes the characters went through. Then, I become actively involved in the story, and I loved it.
While there is much to be desired, the plot, characters, and setting remain fairly solid. I started to fall in love with Conn and Darcy, and their interactions. The side characters had small parts, but they were pretty memorable, something that is nearly unheard of in today's YA books.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and, given some more time to reflect upon it, might even consider buying it. I admit, I was slightly disappointed when I came on Goodreads to see that there wasn't a sequel in the making. Oh, well. It's a great stand-alone novel, nonetheless.
EDIT: I also just found out that I've had experience with this author before in form of "The Winner's Curse." I thought the author's name was familiar. Hm. I might have to watch this one. Two books that I loved each time? I gotta have more.
krish_'s review against another edition
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.