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A review by scriptedsolstice
The Girl with the Whispering Shadow by D.E. Night
2.0
I want to start this by saying I really enjoyed the first book in this series for its whimsy and unique magical elements. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
This one honestly felt too much like a Harry Potter copy. Just some of the examples I found:
- there is a teacher playing good and bad (AKA Snape)
- Thestral like creatures that are invisible horses
- a stone that is hidden inside a bank
- dementor like creatures
- memory bottles that you can enter
- a magical sport called “Quogo”
There were a few HP similarities in the first book but I overlooked it due to it being a series set in a magical school and therefore there’s bound to be similar situations. However this one just got too much for me.
Also, the characters are 17-19, but the dialogue is very basic and reads very much like a younger end middle grade. I’m not a fan of the villain as there has been no development as to why she is evil and I personally prefer my villains to have a reason.
The author also referred to a homeless man as a ‘hobo’ which I felt was very derogatory. Overall, I love the unique elements that the author has created themselves, however far too much of it seems similar to HP for it not to have been directly influenced. The characters fall quite one dimensional and the writing just doesn’t match up with the age group. Sad to say I don’t think I’ll be continuing.
This one honestly felt too much like a Harry Potter copy. Just some of the examples I found:
- there is a teacher playing good and bad (AKA Snape)
- Thestral like creatures that are invisible horses
- a stone that is hidden inside a bank
- dementor like creatures
- memory bottles that you can enter
- a magical sport called “Quogo”
There were a few HP similarities in the first book but I overlooked it due to it being a series set in a magical school and therefore there’s bound to be similar situations. However this one just got too much for me.
Also, the characters are 17-19, but the dialogue is very basic and reads very much like a younger end middle grade. I’m not a fan of the villain as there has been no development as to why she is evil and I personally prefer my villains to have a reason.
The author also referred to a homeless man as a ‘hobo’ which I felt was very derogatory. Overall, I love the unique elements that the author has created themselves, however far too much of it seems similar to HP for it not to have been directly influenced. The characters fall quite one dimensional and the writing just doesn’t match up with the age group. Sad to say I don’t think I’ll be continuing.