This was such a wonderful surprise! Oftentimes when authors try to do creative, different projects like mixed media it falls totally flat on its face. Not the case with In the Shadows. The story alternates between all-text chapters and all-illustrations chapters for a completely unique and delightful reading experience. I will say that, at times, the strictly picture chapters were slightly confusing, but seeing how it all comes together in the end I think that might have been on purpose. When looking through the images, you just know there are clues ripe for the picking, but they are not always obvious.
As for the text chapters, I believe White has really come a very long way and matured as an author since I read her first book, Paranormalcy. Her characters are wonderfully complex and, despite having five main characters, each has an equally well-developed and distinct personality. The character development and overall tone reminded me a lot of Stiefvaters characters in The Dream Thieves novels, particularly the details around Mary the town witch. Mary is by far the most tragic, complicated, and disturbing member of this books cast. Her words and actions will continue to haunt you long after the book is closed.
Also similar to The Dream Thieves, In the Shadows contains a very small love triangle which is unbelievably subtle and remarkably believable, making me love these characters all the more. The story itself is shrouded in mystery and thrills, similar in tone to The Diviners by Libba Bray, but White and Bartolos story is less verbose and less focused on cultural details.
"In the Shadows" was just the right amount of creepy mystery without being totally scare-your-pants-off frightening, the illustrations are beautiful, the setup of the chapters themselves is unique, and the characters are fantastic. I would highly recommend this to fans of supernatural thrillers, mystery, and overall spooky/strange stories. Fans of Maggie Stiefvaters "The Dream Thieves" or Libba Brays "The Diviners" will particularly enjoy this one.
As for the text chapters, I believe White has really come a very long way and matured as an author since I read her first book, Paranormalcy. Her characters are wonderfully complex and, despite having five main characters, each has an equally well-developed and distinct personality. The character development and overall tone reminded me a lot of Stiefvaters characters in The Dream Thieves novels, particularly the details around Mary the town witch. Mary is by far the most tragic, complicated, and disturbing member of this books cast. Her words and actions will continue to haunt you long after the book is closed.
Also similar to The Dream Thieves, In the Shadows contains a very small love triangle which is unbelievably subtle and remarkably believable, making me love these characters all the more. The story itself is shrouded in mystery and thrills, similar in tone to The Diviners by Libba Bray, but White and Bartolos story is less verbose and less focused on cultural details.
"In the Shadows" was just the right amount of creepy mystery without being totally scare-your-pants-off frightening, the illustrations are beautiful, the setup of the chapters themselves is unique, and the characters are fantastic. I would highly recommend this to fans of supernatural thrillers, mystery, and overall spooky/strange stories. Fans of Maggie Stiefvaters "The Dream Thieves" or Libba Brays "The Diviners" will particularly enjoy this one.
I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This is a creepy novel that alternates between graphic novel format and traditional book format. I ended up enjoying it a lot, but was a bit confused about what was going on for the first section of the book.
The graphic novel portion of this book is all done in pictures and shows a man chasing some creepy people and running into people with completely white eyes. The traditional book portion of the story tells about two brothers Thomas and Charles that have been sent to a small town for the summer in an effort to help Charless poor health. They end up staying at an inn where two girls their age live; Cora and Minnie. Cora and Minnie have noticed a lot of strange things happening around town, one of which is the arrival of one of their relations...an older boy named Arthur who has a mysterious past.
I am going to be honest here, it took me a while to get into this book. Up right until the end I would have given it three stars. Then at the end things are so wonderfully and creatively tied together that it just blew me away. The whole thing was very cleverly done.
I was seriously confused for a while trying to figure out how everything was related. Trust me, just go with it, you'll figure it out. And when you do figure out what is going on you will think "OMG, that is awesome!" Half of it is told in pictures in a wordless graphic novel type of format and half is told traditional book format. The two formats alternate, but it is quickly apparent that they are not telling the same story. The graphic novel portions and traditional book portions do not start at the same place in time...and to prevent spoilers thats all I am going to say about that.
The story is mostly a dark mystery surrounding some strange dark events. Thomas, Charles, Arthur, Cora, and Minnie set out to solve this mystery...especially when they find out their lives are at stake. Its a dark story involving demons, dark magic, and sacrifice.
All of our characters are engaging, although we dont get to know any of them all that well. It was a fun read. The thing that really sets this book apart from others is the way the graphic novel part and the written part come together at the end in a very clever way. This is a book that keeps you on your toes and really makes you think.
Overall this was a very creative book and a very interesting read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read some a bit different and clever. I would especially recommend if you are a fan of dark mysteries involving black magic.
The graphic novel portion of this book is all done in pictures and shows a man chasing some creepy people and running into people with completely white eyes. The traditional book portion of the story tells about two brothers Thomas and Charles that have been sent to a small town for the summer in an effort to help Charless poor health. They end up staying at an inn where two girls their age live; Cora and Minnie. Cora and Minnie have noticed a lot of strange things happening around town, one of which is the arrival of one of their relations...an older boy named Arthur who has a mysterious past.
I am going to be honest here, it took me a while to get into this book. Up right until the end I would have given it three stars. Then at the end things are so wonderfully and creatively tied together that it just blew me away. The whole thing was very cleverly done.
I was seriously confused for a while trying to figure out how everything was related. Trust me, just go with it, you'll figure it out. And when you do figure out what is going on you will think "OMG, that is awesome!" Half of it is told in pictures in a wordless graphic novel type of format and half is told traditional book format. The two formats alternate, but it is quickly apparent that they are not telling the same story. The graphic novel portions and traditional book portions do not start at the same place in time...and to prevent spoilers thats all I am going to say about that.
The story is mostly a dark mystery surrounding some strange dark events. Thomas, Charles, Arthur, Cora, and Minnie set out to solve this mystery...especially when they find out their lives are at stake. Its a dark story involving demons, dark magic, and sacrifice.
All of our characters are engaging, although we dont get to know any of them all that well. It was a fun read. The thing that really sets this book apart from others is the way the graphic novel part and the written part come together at the end in a very clever way. This is a book that keeps you on your toes and really makes you think.
Overall this was a very creative book and a very interesting read. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read some a bit different and clever. I would especially recommend if you are a fan of dark mysteries involving black magic.
