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A review by briarrose1021
The Shadow's Servant by Justin Swapp
5.0
It's been a year since the events of the previous book. Ellie is still missing and Marcus is extremely frustrated because he's being kept as a prisoner in his home in order to make sure he isn't taken as well. Unfortunately, Marcus has never done well with captivity. He doesn't care that his grandparents think he's "too important." His sister is missing, and he is determined to find her, though he doesn't know how.
That changes when a letter is delivered to him one day. Though it takes him a while to figure out the secret to the letter, when he does, he discovers that a plan to help save his sister is already in motion and he can join in, but he has to move quickly. Unfortunately, Marcus has never been great at making good decisions and frequently makes rash decisions without thinking them through. Will those decisions cost him his sister, or will they actually help him find her and bring her home? And who is this new cousin that is suddenly allowed to live at his home with him? And how does he have all this knowledge of magic when Marcus is kept in ignorance?
This book is another home run. I loved the mystery combined with all the twists and turns in this book. Though I missed the back-and-forth interactions between Marcus and Ellie that were present in the first book - and I'm still mad at the author for having Ellie kidnapped at the end of book 1, though I will admit it provided a great opportunity to get to know Marcus more and to see him grow and develop throughout this book.
In addition, since the world was largely established in the first book, there was more room for plot and character development in this book. We also got more information about shadow magic in this book, which really fed into the twists and turns in this book.
There was so much that happened in this book, and I cannot wait to see where the plot goes from here. Also, with all the moving, I'm beginning to think that Grandma and Grandpa may not be the most trustworthy family members, and I can't wait to learn more information about them.
For this book, as with the first book, I listened to the audiobook. The same narrator returned for The Shadow's Servant and while he gave another wonderful performance, I still don't like his standard narrating voice. I'm not really sure why, but it sounds like he's trying to make himself sound younger and ends up coming out whiny. I do like the voices he does, though, so as with the first and second book, that won't necessarily prevent me from listening to the next book. After all, it's not a bad performance and after the first hour or so I've sort of gotten used to the voice and can tolerate it to keep listening. Of course, all of that is entirely a me thing, and others are likely to enjoy his voice and performance.
That changes when a letter is delivered to him one day. Though it takes him a while to figure out the secret to the letter, when he does, he discovers that a plan to help save his sister is already in motion and he can join in, but he has to move quickly. Unfortunately, Marcus has never been great at making good decisions and frequently makes rash decisions without thinking them through. Will those decisions cost him his sister, or will they actually help him find her and bring her home? And who is this new cousin that is suddenly allowed to live at his home with him? And how does he have all this knowledge of magic when Marcus is kept in ignorance?
This book is another home run. I loved the mystery combined with all the twists and turns in this book. Though I missed the back-and-forth interactions between Marcus and Ellie that were present in the first book - and I'm still mad at the author for having Ellie kidnapped at the end of book 1, though I will admit it provided a great opportunity to get to know Marcus more and to see him grow and develop throughout this book.
In addition, since the world was largely established in the first book, there was more room for plot and character development in this book. We also got more information about shadow magic in this book, which really fed into the twists and turns in this book.
There was so much that happened in this book, and I cannot wait to see where the plot goes from here. Also, with all the moving, I'm beginning to think that Grandma and Grandpa may not be the most trustworthy family members, and I can't wait to learn more information about them.
For this book, as with the first book, I listened to the audiobook. The same narrator returned for The Shadow's Servant and while he gave another wonderful performance, I still don't like his standard narrating voice. I'm not really sure why, but it sounds like he's trying to make himself sound younger and ends up coming out whiny. I do like the voices he does, though, so as with the first and second book, that won't necessarily prevent me from listening to the next book. After all, it's not a bad performance and after the first hour or so I've sort of gotten used to the voice and can tolerate it to keep listening. Of course, all of that is entirely a me thing, and others are likely to enjoy his voice and performance.