Review: Shadowspell

Title: Shadowspell
Author: Jenna Black
Genre: YA Fantasy


On top of spending most of her time in a bunkerlike safe house and having her dates hijacked by a formidable Fae bodyguard, Faeriewalker Dana Hathaway is in for some more bad news: the Erlking and his pack of murderous minions known as the Wild Hunt have descended upon Avalon. With his homicidal appetite and immortal powers, the Erlking has long been the nightmare of the Fae realm. A fragile treaty with the Faerie Queen, sealed with a mysterious spell, is the one thing that keeps him from hunting unchecked in Avalon, the only place on Earth where humans and Fae live together. Which means Dana’s in trouble, since it’s common knowledge that the Faerie Queen wants her – and her rare Faeriewalker powers – dead. The smoldering, sexy Erlking’s got his sights set on Dana, but does he only seek to kill her, or does he have something much darker in mind? --Goodreads

Oh, Shadowspell… How you disappointed me.
It wasn’t bad, just average. A quick, entertaining second installment to the Faeriewalker series, but I had issues. The first one I really enjoyed, and in most cases for me, a series usually gets better with each book. When reading a book that gets an average rating, it’s hard to review. Yes, I enjoyed it in some ways-- but there were also a lot of nitpicks at the same time.


Unfortunately it didn’t get better with the second book (and I loved Glimmerglass!). I suddenly got disconnected and lost. The action felt forced and the romance (what was it? A love triangle, quadruple? I don’t know.) got a bit cheesy. I read it only a week and a half ago or so, and I’ve already forgot most of what happened, so that says it really didn’t make a lasting impression on me.


There was one event in particular that I felt was completely unnecessary to write. Not because of it being a YA book, but for the simple fact that it was poorly written, insane, and off-the-wall. The reactions afterward of Dana’s worries were also ridiculous.


I love the writing style and some of the characters are very entertaining to read, but there’s just situations/events that really had my eyes rolling. In the end, however, it was still good, and I’m still likely to read the final installment-- hoping it’ll be much better than Shadowspell, and as good as Glimmerglass was.


Good, but average. If you’ve read the first book, I might recommend reading this just to see your own thoughts.


3 stars!