First, let me say this: my sister bought this book, Shadowcry, from Barnes and Noble. I didn't know a thing about it when she stopped reading it halfway through, but I was bored, so I decided to pick it up. Somewhere in chapter four or five, I began to wonder why the book was called Shadowcry, and why it wasn't called Wintercraft, which not only would have sounded better, but it would have made more sense.When I finished the book, I discovered that some stupid idiot decided to change the name of the book and the cover when it was published here--the cover which was just gorgeous and now is boring. That name and that cover have nothing whatsoever to do with the content of the book, when the old ones were perfect for it. I'm still disgusted by that to this day.
On to the review. I wasn't impressed by the book overall. The characters were mostly dull as cardboard and/or just not too bright between the ears. The overflowing coincidences, which I don't have the heart to name here, were so ridiculous they had me laughing sarcastically from time to time, or even teasing the book aloud. But it was the writing style that really killed it for me--the writing had no flavor, no personality at all. It stated, very bluntly, what happened, and it left it at that. I don't need flowery writing and dancing around the point, but I do prefer it when I can tell an author's writing style as their own. Sadly, I didn't see that here.
On the upside, though, the climax of the book was good. If the whole of the book had been like the last thirty or so pages, I'd have been thrilled, no matter what the writing was like or how irritating the heroine was. Also, I just adored Silas. He was awesome--intelligent, nasty, brutal, but not completely defined by his evilness. He was a wonderfully three-dimensional character that I immediately connected with, and every time he left a scene in the book I wanted to cry or punch things until he came back. If Silas had been the main character, or if they at least hadn't done what they did to him at the end of this book, I might even have picked up the sequel just for his sake.
All right, my review sounds terribly harsh, so let me say: it's not a bad book. It's boring and often annoying and I couldn't care less about the heroine and her boyfriend--and her uncle--but it's not a bad book. I just think most of it rubbed me the wrong way. I'd recommend it to a lot of people, to see what they think of it if nothing else, because I can see why some people do love it.
